CHAPTER 17 — The Woman Who Was Never Buried
The words destroyed everything I thought I knew.
"Your mother may still be alive."
I stared at my father.
Waiting for him to say it was impossible.
Waiting for him to tell me the voice was fake.
Waiting for someone to bring logic back into the room.
But nobody did.
Because every person there had already seen too many impossible things become real.
"My mother died."
My voice cracked.
"I was eight years old."
My father looked at me.
And for the first time...
He looked like a man who had been carrying a burden too heavy for too long.
"I believed she did."
I stepped back.
"You believed?"
The words hurt.
"How do you not know whether your wife died?"
My father closed his eyes.
"Because I never saw her body."
The room went silent.
Even Detective Harris looked shocked.
"You never saw the body?"
My father shook his head.
"No."
"The official report said the explosion destroyed everything."
"Authorities told me there was no chance of survival."
"But..."
He looked at the screen.
"I always wondered."
Dominic quietly approached.
"Vivienne..."
I turned toward him.
"Don't."
He stopped.
Because he understood.
Not tonight.
Not after everything.
Victoria continued examining the archive system.
"There is something strange."
"What?"
"The recording wasn't uploaded today."
Everyone looked at her.
"It was scheduled."
"When?"
She checked the data.
"Twenty years ago."
The room froze.
"Twenty years?"
"Yes."
"It was programmed to activate only when someone with Vivienne's inheritance authority accessed the archive."
My father's face changed.
"My wife planned this."
Victoria nodded.
"She expected this moment."
Detective Harris looked around.
"So Elena knew someone would eventually come after Vivienne."
"Yes."
"She knew Project Orion wasn't finished."
"Yes."
"And she created a message for this exact situation."
My father slowly nodded.
"She always thought ten steps ahead."
A soft sound came from the archive speakers.
A recording resumed.
My mother's voice.
"Charles..."
Everyone turned.
"You're probably angry."
A small smile appeared on her face.
"But if you're hearing this..."
"Then I was right."
My father's eyes filled.
"You were always stubborn, Elena."
The recording continued.
"Adrian is alive."
The room froze.
"And he believes you abandoned him."
My father whispered:
"No..."
My mother's voice became softer.
"But he doesn't know the whole story."
"He doesn't know what happened after that night."
The screen changed.
A photograph appeared.
A young Adrian.
Standing beside a woman.
A woman with dark hair.
My breath stopped.
Because the woman was my mother.
The date appeared.
Two years after Elena Ashcroft's reported death.
My hands shook.
"No..."
My father stepped closer.
"I never saw this."
The recording continued.
"Adrian was not taken from us."
"He was protected."
"By me."
Everyone stared.
Detective Harris frowned.
"Protected?"
"From what?"
The recording continued.
"Someone inside Project Orion discovered Adrian knew too much."
"Someone wanted him removed."
"I had to disappear."
"I had to make everyone believe I was dead."
I couldn't breathe.
My entire childhood...
Built around a lie.
The recording changed again.
A different image.
A man.
Older.
Standing beside Adrian.
The name appeared.
Richard Bennett.
Everyone froze.
My mother's voice continued.
"Richard helped me hide."
My father looked stunned.
"Richard?"
The same man who had manipulated everyone.
The same man who had returned from the dead.
"He wasn't always the enemy."
Detective Harris looked confused.
"Then when did he become one?"
Nobody answered.
Because that was the question.
The archive door suddenly unlocked.
Everyone turned.
Slowly.
The heavy metal door opened.
Darkness beyond it.
Then...
Footsteps.
Someone was walking toward us.
One step.
Two steps.
Three.
Everyone prepared themselves.
Detective Harris raised his weapon.
My father moved in front of me.
Then the figure stepped into the light.
I stopped breathing.
Because the woman standing there...
Was impossible.
She looked older.
Her hair had silver strands.
Her face carried years of pain.
But I knew her.
A face from old photographs.
A face from childhood memories.
A face I had dreamed of seeing every night for twenty years.
"Mom?"
The word escaped before I could stop it.
The woman looked at me.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Vivienne..."
My knees almost gave out.
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Because the dead woman standing in front of us...
Was alive.
My father whispered her name.
"Elena."
She looked at him.
And her expression changed.
Not anger.
Not happiness.
Something much more complicated.
"You promised me."
My father's face fell.
"I know."
"You promised you would protect them."
"I tried."
"No."
Her voice broke.
"You protected the company."
Silence.
"You protected the empire."
"But you didn't protect our children."
My father looked destroyed.
"I thought you were dead."
"I know."
"Why didn't you come back?"
Elena looked at me.
At Adrian's photograph.
Then back at him.
"Because someone was still watching."
Detective Harris lowered his weapon slightly.
"Mrs. Ashcroft."
"Who?"
"Who was watching you?"
Elena looked toward the ballroom above.
Toward the hundreds of guests.
Toward the people connected to the wedding.
Then she whispered:
"The person who has controlled Project Orion from the beginning."
Everyone waited.
"Who?"
Elena's eyes moved to me.
"I'm sorry, Vivienne."
"Sorry for what?"
She took a deep breath.
"Because the person you need to fear..."
"Is not Adrian."
"Not Richard."
"Not Eleanor."
A pause.
The kind of pause that changes lives.
Then she said:
"It's someone who has been protecting you your entire life."
My blood ran cold.
Everyone looked at my father.
But Elena shook her head.
"No."
She looked past him.
Toward another person.
Dominic.
My husband froze.
"What?"
Elena stepped closer.
"Dominic Bennett."
His face turned pale.
"I don't understand."
"You should."
"No."
"I never met you before tonight."
Elena's expression became sad.
"Yes."
"But your father did."
Richard's face changed.
For the first time...
He looked afraid.
Elena continued:
"Because Dominic was never just Richard Bennett's son."
"He was the last piece of Project Orion."
Dominic shook his head.
"No."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Elena looked at me.
"Vivienne..."
"The reason everyone fought over you..."
"The reason everyone wanted your inheritance..."
"Was because of what was hidden inside Dominic."
Nobody understood.
Until Elena spoke the final words.
"The night Adrian disappeared..."
"He didn't take the secret."
A pause.
"He gave it to Dominic."
The room went completely silent.
Because the secret everyone had been searching for...
May you like
The secret Project Orion had been built around...
Had been with Dominic all along.
