Chapter 12 - The Betrayal
I turned toward my father.
He looked destroyed.
“What did you do?”
He stared at Elizabeth’s image.
“I made a choice.”
Rebecca laughed without humor.
“That is what men call betrayal when they want to sleep afterward.”
My father ignored her.
Elizabeth continued on the recording.
“Jonathan believed Orpheus could only be destroyed from inside.”
“He agreed to work with Halden.”
My chest tightened.
My father spoke.
“I became his informant.”
Elizabeth’s recording continued.
“He gave Victor names.”
“Accounts.”
“Operations.”
“Enough to earn his trust.”
I looked at him.
“That sounds like infiltration.”
“At first.”
Elizabeth’s voice softened.
“Then Victor discovered Evelyn.”
My father closed his eyes.
The recording continued.
“He told Jonathan that if he wanted his daughter to live, one file had to disappear.”
“Mine.”
My father whispered,
“Yes.”
I stared.
“What was in Mom’s file?”
“The evidence against Halden.”
“You destroyed it?”
“I thought I did.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“Elizabeth anticipated him.”
Jonathan looked at her.
“She duplicated everything.”
“Yes.”
Elizabeth continued.
“I never hated Jonathan for choosing Evelyn.”
My eyes filled.
“I hated him for not trusting me enough to tell me.”
My father whispered,
“I was afraid.”
The recording seemed almost to answer him.
“Fear makes cowards of good men.”
Jonathan looked away.
Elizabeth continued.
“After my staged death, I stayed inside Orpheus’s remaining network.”
“I followed Halden.”
“I tracked every surviving participant.”
“I believed I could finally expose them.”
Her expression changed.
“Then I discovered the Cross Foundation warehouse.”
Images appeared.
Crates.
Files.
Pharmaceutical boxes.
Passports.
Children’s documents.
My stomach tightened.
Elizabeth continued.
“Orpheus never ended.”
“It changed names.”
“Changed countries.”
“Changed methods.”
“But the network survived.”
I looked at Rebecca.
“That warehouse is active?”
“It was.”
“Was?”
“Elizabeth emptied it three months ago.”
“Where are the children?”
“Safe.”
I exhaled for the first time.
Then a new file appeared.
CURRENT ORPHEUS COMMAND.
One name was encrypted.
Elizabeth said,
“Halden is not the leader anymore.”
Everyone froze.
“He believes he is.”
“He is wrong.”
The encrypted name began decrypting.
My father stared at it.
“Elizabeth.”
The letters appeared slowly.
M.
A.
R.
I.
A.
Then the surname.
ROWAN.
I stared.
“Maria Rowan?”
My father whispered,
“President Rowan’s widow.”
She was ninety-one.
A national icon.
Beloved.
Philanthropist.
Grandmotherly.
Untouchable.
Rebecca said quietly,
“She created the original cover.”
I felt sick.
“She imprisoned Catherine?”
“Yes.”
“Her own adopted daughter?”
Rebecca nodded.
“Because Catherine threatened the Rowan legacy.”
The archive suddenly flashed red.
EXTERNAL OVERRIDE.
TRANSFER INITIATED.
Rebecca moved to the keyboard.
“No.”
“What?”
“Halden found us.”
Files began uploading.
My father shouted.
“Disconnect it.”
“I can’t.”
The percentage climbed.
12%.
19%.
27%.
If Halden obtained the archive, he could erase witnesses or blackmail half the country.
I looked around.
“How do we stop it?”
Rebecca stared at the screen.
“There’s only one way.”
“What?”
“Physically destroy the servers.”
My father grabbed my arm.
“Then the evidence disappears.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Not all of it.”
She looked at me.
“Elizabeth created one remote mirror.”
“Where?”
Rebecca swallowed.
“She never told me.”
The transfer reached 41%.
Then a new message appeared on the screen.
EVELYN.
DO NOT DESTROY THE ARCHIVE.
My breath stopped.
Another line followed.
I AM STILL INSIDE THE ESTATE.
May you like
It was signed with one letter.
E.
