CHAPTER 17 — THE SECRET BENEATH BLACKTHORN MANOR
The message remained on Nathan's phone.
Four words.
Four words that changed everything.
YOUR FATHER WAS THERE.
Nobody moved.
Because everyone understood the meaning.
Blackthorn Manor.
The mansion where my marriage collapsed.
The mansion where Nathan showed his true face.
The mansion where Celeste watched me suffer.
The mansion I believed was simply a symbol of Nathan's arrogance.
But it wasn't.
It had been hiding something.
Something connected to my mother.
To my father.
To the war that had followed me my entire life.
I looked at Adrian.
"Is it true?"
He didn't answer.
And once again...
The silence told me everything.
My voice became colder.
"You were there."
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Yes."
The room exploded.
Alexander stepped forward.
"You never told me."
Adrian looked at him.
"Because I promised Elena."
I stared.
"Another promise."
My laugh was empty.
"Everyone in my life seems to have made promises that destroyed me."
Adrian looked hurt.
But I didn't care.
Not this time.
I needed the truth.
"Why were you at Blackthorn Manor?"
Adrian looked toward the window.
Toward the ocean.
Toward a past he had spent thirty years running from.
"Because that was where your mother hid the final piece of the Genesis Archive."
Nobody spoke.
Nathan looked sick.
"My family's mansion..."
He whispered.
Adrian nodded.
"Was never just an Ashford property."
"Then what was it?"
"A Cross family location."
I stared.
"How?"
Adrian looked at my grandfather.
"Because before the Ashfords became powerful..."
"They worked for us."
Charles immediately reacted.
"That is a lie."
Everyone turned.
For the first time, Charles looked genuinely angry.
Adrian smiled bitterly.
"You didn't tell him?"
Charles said nothing.
My grandfather spoke.
"The Ashford family began as partners."
"Not rulers."
A pause.
"They helped protect the Genesis Archive."
I looked at Charles.
"And then?"
My grandfather's expression hardened.
"They wanted ownership."
Of course.
Power.
Always power.
Charles stepped forward.
"You have no idea what you are talking about."
I looked at him.
"Then explain."
He stopped.
Because he couldn't.
Marcus pulled up the old property records.
"He's right."
Everyone looked at him.
Marcus continued:
"Blackthorn Manor was originally registered under a company called Cross Heritage Holdings."
He looked at me.
"The transfer happened twenty-seven years ago."
"To Ashford Global."
My stomach tightened.
"The year my mother disappeared."
Adrian nodded.
"Exactly."
Nathan looked at his family.
"You knew?"
Charles ignored him.
"You think this changes anything?"
I looked at Charles.
"It changes everything."
He smiled.
"No."
He stepped closer.
"It proves only one thing."
"What?"
"Your family built the game."
A pause.
"And my family learned how to play it better."
The words were disgusting.
But they revealed something.
The Ashfords weren't innocent.
But neither were the Crosses.
Everyone had blood on their hands.
Nathan suddenly spoke.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Everyone looked at him.
He stared at Charles.
"You knew Blackthorn Manor was important."
Charles looked away.
"You were not ready."
Nathan laughed.
"Ready?"
His voice cracked.
"You used me."
Charles didn't deny it.
"You were useful."
That single sentence destroyed Nathan.
Because he finally understood.
To Charles...
He had never been a son.
Never family.
Just another tool.
We returned to Blackthorn Manor before sunrise.
The mansion looked exactly the same.
Beautiful.
Cold.
Empty.
The place where my old life died.
I stood outside the entrance.
The marble steps.
The same steps where Nathan had walked past me after hurting me.
The same place where I once believed I had nobody.
Now I knew.
Everything had been beneath my feet.
Marcus scanned the area.
"No security systems."
I frowned.
"That's strange."
Adrian nodded.
"Because the real security system isn't visible."
We entered the mansion.
The grand hall looked untouched.
The chandelier still hung above.
The black marble floor still reflected everything.
Including memories.
I walked toward the center.
The exact place where Nathan had forced me to kneel.
My fingers touched the floor.
And I felt something.
A vibration.
"Here."
Everyone looked at me.
"What?"
I pointed down.
"Something is here."
Marcus immediately scanned.
After a few seconds...
His expression changed.
"There is a hidden structure."
The floor opened.
A staircase appeared.
Leading underground.
Nobody spoke.
Because we all knew.
This was the place.
The secret beneath Blackthorn Manor.
The underground chamber was unlike anything I expected.
Not a vault.
Not a weapon room.
A library.
Thousands of books.
Files.
Records.
Photographs.
Everything preserved.
At the center was a single table.
And on it...
A diary.
My mother's diary.
I reached for it.
But before I touched it...
Adrian stopped me.
"Elizabeth."
I looked at him.
"What?"
His expression was full of fear.
"Your mother wrote that diary for one reason."
"Why?"
"Because she knew someone would find it."
I frowned.
"Who?"
His answer was quiet.
"You."
I opened it.
The first page contained a date.
The night before she disappeared.
"If you are reading this, then the final stage has begun."
My heart raced.
"I know everyone will tell you the story of what happened to me."
"Some will say I was murdered."
"Some will say I escaped."
"Some will say I betrayed my family."
The next line made me freeze.
"All of them are wrong."
I turned the page.
"Because the truth is..."
A tear fell from my eye.
"I chose to disappear."
I looked at Adrian.
"What?"
He whispered:
"Keep reading."
The diary continued.
"But there is one thing I never planned for."
"Someone inside our family discovered my plan."
"Someone I trusted."
The next sentence was underlined.
"The person who betrayed me was not trying to kill me."
"They were trying to replace me."
The lights suddenly flickered.
Marcus looked up.
"Someone entered the mansion."
Everyone immediately became alert.
"Who?"
Marcus checked the cameras.
His face changed.
"Impossible."
I looked.
"Who?"
He turned the screen toward us.
A woman was walking through the grand hall.
Slowly.
Confidently.
I recognized her.
Celeste Monroe.
Nathan's former mistress.
But that was impossible.
She had disappeared after the Ashford collapse.
Adrian whispered:
"She wasn't working for Nathan."
I looked at him.
"Then who?"
The camera zoomed in.
Celeste stopped in the center of the hall.
And looked directly at the camera.
As if she knew we were watching.
Then she smiled.
The speakers activated.
Her voice filled the underground chamber.
"Elizabeth."
Everyone froze.
"I know you found the diary."
A pause.
"But you haven't found the final page."
My blood ran cold.
"Because your mother didn't write it."
Silence.
Celeste smiled.
"She did."
A pause.
"But someone else finished it."
The camera moved closer.
Celeste held up a piece of paper.
A page torn from my mother's diary.
And on it...
Was a name.
The final name my mother wrote before she disappeared.
I couldn't see it clearly.
Until Celeste turned it toward the camera.
The room went silent.
May you like
Because the name was:
ELIZABETH CROSS.
