Chapter 12: The Woman Who Knew Everything

Zane's men searched every property connected to Ivy, but she had vanished without leaving a trace.

Three days passed.

Then, just before midnight, my phone rang.

It was Marco.

"Lorelai, do not tell anyone I called you."

His voice was tense.

"Where are you?"

"That does not matter. Listen carefully. I found something in Caspian's private files."

I sat up in bed.

"What did you find?"

"A series of payments made to a private security company. They started six months before the ambush."

My heart skipped.

"Six months?"

"Yes. And the payments were authorized using Caspian's personal signature."

"Why would he hire private security?"

"That is the problem. The company was monitoring you."

A chill ran down my spine.

"Me?"

"Your movements, your phone calls, even your meetings. Someone wanted to know everything you were doing."

I immediately thought of Ivy.

"Was she involved?"

"I do not know. But there is one name appearing repeatedly in the files."

"Who?"

Marco took a breath.

"Victor Hale."

The same man who had disappeared after the hospital footage was erased.

Before I could respond, I heard a noise outside my bedroom.

I turned toward the door.

Zane was standing there.

His expression was dangerously calm.

"Who are you talking to?"

I hesitated.

Marco immediately hung up.

Zane walked closer.

"Lorelai."

I looked into his eyes.

"It was Marco."

His jaw tightened.

"What did he want?"

I told him everything.

When I finished, Zane remained silent for several seconds.

"There is something I have not told you," he finally said.

My heart tightened.

"What?"

"The private security company that monitored you was not hired by Caspian."

"Then who hired them?"

Zane placed a document on the table.

"I traced the original payment."

I stared at the account number.

It belonged to a company registered under a different name.

But the final beneficiary was unmistakable.

"Ivy?"

Zane nodded.

"She was receiving the money."

Everything suddenly clicked.

Her arrival at the Solis family.

Her sudden closeness to Caspian.

The hospital.

The missing footage.

The mysterious messages.

She had not simply wanted my husband.

She had been watching me long before the accident.

"Why?" I whispered.

"That is what we are going to find out."

The next morning, Zane received information that changed everything.

Ivy had been spotted at an abandoned warehouse near the Brooklyn docks.

Zane took me with him.

When we entered the warehouse, Ivy was waiting alone.

She looked completely different from the sweet secretary who had once hidden behind Caspian's chest.

Her eyes were cold.

"You finally came," she said.

I stepped forward.

"Why did you do this?"

Ivy laughed softly.

"You still think this is about Caspian?"

My blood ran cold.

"Then what is it about?"

She looked directly at me.

"Your family."

The words struck me like lightning.

"What do you mean?"

Ivy's smile disappeared.

"Your father knew the truth about the Solis family years ago. Caspian did not know everything. Neither did you."

Zane's expression hardened.

"Explain."

Ivy looked at him.

"Twenty years ago, someone inside the Solis syndicate betrayed both families. Your parents lost everything because of it."

I stared at her in shock.

"My parents?"

Ivy nodded.

"And the person responsible has been hiding in plain sight ever since."