Chapter 40 - The Unbroken Web
|
I unlocked the phone screen.
The text message contained no words—only an image file.
I tapped the image to open it.
My heart stopped. The warm mug of tea in my hand froze midway to my lips.
The photograph showed a high-resolution, long-distance shot taken from the woods near my estate.
In the foreground of the photo was my veranda, where I was sitting right now. And in the center of the frame, zoomed in with terrifying clarity, was Nicolás sitting at his bedroom window upstairs, holding his guitar.
Beside the photograph was a second file—a PDF document bearing an old, familiar crest: a silver key intertwined with a coiled viper.
Below the image, a single line of text appeared:
‘Your father sold your past, Elena. I am coming to collect your future. See you at the gala. — J.V.’
A cold, sharp shiver ran straight down my spine, burning through the warmth of the autumn evening.
The wind blew harder across the veranda, causing the iron chimes to ring out like a distant warning bell.
I slowly stood up, setting my tea mug down, staring out into the dark, shadowed treeline at the edge of my property.
The monsters of my father's past were buried. But the shadows of the Vance legacy were long, cold, and far from dead.
I looked up at Nicolás’s window, my eyes hardening into solid ice, my breathing turning slow and deliberate.
May you like
The first war was over.
The second war had just begun.
