Chapter 10: The Father Behind the Shadow
For a moment, Alexander forgot how to breathe.
The abandoned church became completely silent.
Only the sound of rain hitting the broken windows remained.
“My father?”
The word came out almost like a whisper.
Maria looked away.
“I wish I was wrong.”
Alexander stared at her.
“No.”
His voice became colder.
“My father died ten years ago.”
Maria nodded.
“Yes.”
She looked directly into his eyes.
“But the damage he created lived on.”
Alexander felt a painful emptiness inside his chest.
His entire life had been built around one belief.
His father was strict.
Cold.
Difficult.
But still his father.
A man who protected the Valemont family.
Now he had to face the possibility that the man he admired...
Was the person who destroyed Isabella.
Maria slowly opened an old envelope.
Inside was a letter.
“The night Isabella disappeared, she left this with me.”
Alexander took it.
The handwriting was familiar.
His sister.
Again.
His hands shook as he opened it.
Alex,
If you are reading this, then the truth has finally reached you.
I wanted to tell you everything.
But Father was watching every move I made.
He discovered Daniel and I were going to expose the family secrets.
The Valemonts were not only protecting wealth.
They were protecting a stolen legacy.
Alexander frowned.
A stolen legacy?
He continued reading.
The royal bloodline was never supposed to belong only to the Valemonts.
There was another branch of the family.
A branch they erased from history.
Alexander looked up.
“What does this mean?”
Maria answered quietly.
“Your family didn't inherit power.”
She paused.
“They took it.”
For generations, the Valemonts had claimed they were the last descendants of an ancient royal bloodline.
Their wealth.
Their influence.
Their reputation.
Everything came from that claim.
But Isabella discovered documents proving another family line existed.
A forgotten child of the royal family.
A rightful heir.
And that heir was...
Lily.
Alexander looked at Maria.
“My father knew?”
Maria nodded.
“He knew Isabella discovered the truth.”
“And Daniel?”
“He helped her find evidence.”
Alexander closed his eyes.
Everything connected.
Daniel wasn't killed because he was poor.
He was killed because he knew too much.
When Alexander returned to the mansion, something had changed.
He wasn't searching anymore.
He was fighting.
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But when he entered the house...
Lily was gone.
