Chapter 15 - The Price of Power
The vault door released eleven minutes later.
Charlotte collapsed into the corridor, gasping for air.
Daniel followed.
Alexander came last.
He turned once toward the smoke-filled vault.
Decades of Northstar secrets were gone.
Charlotte expected anger.
Instead, her father looked almost relieved.
"You did what I never had the courage to do."
Charlotte wiped soot from her face.
"Mother would have."
Alexander nodded.
"Yes."
Police searched for Victor throughout Manhattan.
He had escaped the tower before Daniel arrived.
Adrian remained in custody.
Marcus Reed had vanished.
Dr. Sloan requested a deal.
Celeste had already begun cooperating.
But Charlotte cared about only one remaining name.
Rebecca Vale.
Daniel traced Rebecca to a private clinic outside Geneva.
Charlotte flew there with her father.
They hadn't repaired twelve lost years.
That couldn't happen in a few conversations.
Sometimes they spoke.
Sometimes they sat in silence.
Sometimes Charlotte wanted to embrace him.
Sometimes she wanted to scream.
Both feelings were real.
Rebecca lived under another name in a secluded medical facility overlooking Lake Geneva.
When Charlotte entered her room, she barely recognized her aunt.
Rebecca looked thin.
Older.
Afraid.
She stared at Charlotte.
"Eleanor?"
Charlotte stopped.
"No."
Rebecca's eyes filled with tears.
"Charlotte."
"Did you kill my mother?"
Alexander stepped forward.
Rebecca recoiled.
"You."
Alexander's jaw tightened.
"Answer her."
Rebecca began crying.
"I didn't know what was in the tea."
Charlotte's heart pounded.
"You poured it."
"Victor gave me the bottle."
"Why?"
"He said Eleanor was going to destroy everything."
"That doesn't answer me."
Rebecca covered her face.
"They had my son."
Charlotte frowned.
"You don't have a son."
Rebecca looked up.
"That's what everyone believes."
Alexander went pale.
Rebecca continued.
"His father was Richard Kessler."
Charlotte stared at her.
Adrian.
She suddenly understood.
"Adrian is your son."
Rebecca nodded.
Alexander stumbled backward.
Adrian Cross wasn't merely connected to the Vale family.
He was Charlotte's cousin.
Rebecca whispered.
"Richard took him when he was six."
"He raised Adrian to hate us."
Charlotte felt sick.
"Did Adrian know?"
"Not at first."
"When did he find out?"
"Before Eleanor died."
Charlotte looked toward Daniel.
"That's why he said he didn't order the murder."
Rebecca nodded.
"Adrian tried to stop it."
Charlotte remembered him shooting Victor only in the shoulder.
Needing Victor alive.
Everything became more complicated.
Rebecca reached beneath her blanket.
She removed a small envelope.
"Eleanor came to me before she died."
Charlotte stared.
"Mother knew you were involved?"
"She knew everything."
Rebecca handed her the envelope.
Inside was another letter from Eleanor.
Charlotte unfolded it.
The first sentence made her stop breathing.
Charlotte, if you have reached Rebecca, then Adrian has probably become your enemy.
But he is not the person you should fear most.
Charlotte continued reading.
May you like
At the bottom was a single name.
MARCUS REED.
