Alexander's armored convoy disappeared into an underground tunnel beneath the mansion.

I sat beside him inside the bulletproof SUV.

Neither of us spoke.

Behind us...

New York burned.

The news was already calling the ballroom attack an attempted terrorist assassination.

But Alexander knew better.

"It wasn't terrorists."

"It was a cleanup."

"They wanted everyone dead."

Including Vanessa.

Especially Vanessa.

An hour later...

We arrived beneath Kane Tower.

Not inside.

Beneath it.

Four stories underground.

A hidden command center filled with surveillance screens.

Maps.

Encrypted servers.

Armed personnel.

Alexander walked straight toward a locked vault.

He entered a twelve-digit code.

Then placed his palm against a biometric scanner.

The massive steel door slowly opened.

Inside...

Thousands of files.

Photographs.

Financial records.

Names.

I stared.

"They're identical."

Alexander looked at me.

"What?"

"My father's files."

Everything inside the vault matched the evidence hidden in my father's attic.

Except Alexander possessed far more.

He pulled out one black folder.

Across the front...

One name.

BLACKWELL FOUNDATION

Inside were photographs dating back thirty years.

Judges.

Governors.

Police commissioners.

FBI officials.

Every one of them connected.

Bribed.

Controlled.

Blackmailed.

Then I found the final page.

My hands began shaking.

It wasn't a financial document.

It was a birth certificate.

Mother:

Sophia Carter

Father:

Unknown

Child:

Emily Carter

Attached beneath it...

A DNA report.

99.98% probability.

Biological father:

Richard Blackwell.

I couldn't breathe.

"No..."

Alexander slowly nodded.

"Daniel Carter wasn't your biological father."

"He adopted you."

"He protected you."

"From your real family."

My knees nearly gave out.

Richard Blackwell.

Founder of the empire.

Vanessa's father.

Which meant...

I looked at Alexander.

"My God..."

"Vanessa..."

"...is my sister."

The room fell silent.

Alexander closed the folder.

"Half-sister."

"But yes."

Every answer I'd searched for...

Only created a thousand more questions.

Before we could speak again...

The alarm exploded.

Every screen turned red.

One message appeared.

SYSTEM BREACH DETECTED

Then another.

WELCOME HOME, EMILY.

The monitors switched on.

Vanessa appeared.

She smiled directly into the cameras.

"I've been waiting for this reunion."

Behind her...

Richard Blackwell slowly walked into view.

The man who had supposedly died eight years earlier.

He smiled at me.

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