Part 5
The silence in the room became heavy, suffocating. Alexander stared at the small black flash drive resting on the white bedsheet, then slowly looked up at his mother. The fragile, recovering woman he had been desperately trying to protect suddenly looked like a stranger.
"Ten years," Alexander said, his voice barely a whisper, yet trembling with a volatile mix of betrayal and rage. "For ten years, I believed Dad died because his heart gave out from stress. I blamed myself for not taking over the company sooner. And all this time, it was a lie?"
Evelyn closed her eyes for a brief second. When she opened them, the warmth was completely gone, replaced by the steely gaze of a woman who had survived a war. She set her teacup down on the nightstand with a soft clink.
"If you knew the truth back then, you would have gone after them," Evelyn said, her voice terrifyingly calm. "And they would have buried you right next to your father. I didn't lie to you to hurt you, Alex. I lied to keep you alive."
"Who are 'they', Mom?" Alexander stepped closer to the bed, picking up the flash drive. "Victoria mentioned the board directors. Who is running the Crescent Project now?"
Evelyn sighed, looking at the drive in his hand. "The Crescent Project was never a failed real estate venture. It was a global money-laundering network operating under the guise of our charitable foundations. Your father discovered it too late. When he tried to whistleblow, his medication was swapped. It looked like a natural heart attack."
She leaned forward, her eyes locked onto his. "I spent the last decade quietly tracking the offshore accounts, finding out which of our board members were corrupted. That drive contains the digital keys to every single one of those accounts. If that data goes public, the Reed empire collapses overnight—but the people behind it go to prison for life."
"So Victoria was working for someone on our own board," Alexander deduced, the pieces finally clicking together. "She didn't marry me for my money. She was planted in my life to get close to you."
"Yes," Evelyn whispered. "But she grew impatient. The night of the gala, she saw me taking the drive from the study safe. She followed me to the staircase, demanding I hand it over. When I refused, she pushed me."
Suddenly, the lights in the master bedroom flickered.
Downstairs, the faint, high-pitched whine of the estate's backup generators kicked in. Then, absolute silence. The house was plunged into darkness, save for the pale moonlight filtering through the heavy rain outside.
Alexander’s security instincts, honed by years of protecting the family asset, immediately screamed. He reached into his jacket for his phone, but the screen displayed a chilling message: No Signal. Network Jammed.
The exact same tactic Victoria had used.
Before Alexander could move, a muffled pop echoed from the courtyard below—the unmistakable sound of a silenced firearm, followed by the heavy thud of a body hitting the wet grass. The estate's perimeter had been breached.
Alexander grabbed his mother’s hand, pulling her out of bed. "They're here for the drive. We have to go. Now."
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Evelyn didn't panic. She reached under her pillow, pulling out a small, sleek pistol that Alexander had never seen before. She racked the slide with a practiced efficiency that stunned him.
"They think I'm still helpless," Evelyn whispered, a dark, dangerous smile cutting through the shadows. "Let's show them what happens when you cross a Reed."
