⚡ Chapter 17 –
The world seemed to tilt as I stared at her, gun still aimed, the air too heavy to breathe.
"What… about Dad?" My voice cracked, even as I tried to sound steady.
Her grip on the gun tightened. "He's not dead, Valerie. He never was."
The words slammed into me like a train.
I blinked. "What?"
"He's alive," she continued, her voice breaking just slightly, "and he's been hiding for years… because he's the one who started all of this."
Jace groaned on the ground, trying to push himself up. Ethan's jaw clenched so tightly I thought it might snap.
"Your father," she said, "isn't the man you remember. He's the leader of the Syndicate. The one who's been pulling every string in your life from the shadows. The reason you met Jace. The reason Ethan was assigned to protect you. The reason you've never been free."
"No…" I shook my head, my chest tightening. "That's not true. He loved me—"
Her eyes softened for a flicker of a second. "He still does. But love doesn't erase what he's done. And if we don't move now, he will find you before I can get you out."
Ethan finally spoke, voice low and dangerous. "You're too late. They're already here."
Before I could ask what he meant, the roar of engines filled the night, headlights flooding the trees around us. Black SUVs closed in from every direction.
And standing in front of the lead car… was my father.