Chapter 13: The Enemy Within

I stared at Ivy, unable to process what she had just said.

"My father knew?"

"He knew more than you think," Ivy replied.

Zane stepped forward, his expression cold.

"Stop speaking in riddles."

Ivy glanced at him before reaching into her coat and pulling out a small envelope.

"Your father gave this to me before the ambush."

My hands trembled as I took it.

Inside was an old photograph.

It showed my father standing beside Caspian's father twenty years ago.

Behind them stood another man.

I recognized him immediately.

He was the current chairman of the Solis family's private council.

"He was there?" I whispered.

Ivy nodded.

"He was the one who arranged the original betrayal."

Zane took the photograph from me.

"Why would your father trust Ivy with this?"

"Because he knew someone was watching him," Ivy said. "He needed someone outside the family."

I stared at her.

"Then why did you get close to Caspian?"

Her expression became bitter.

"Because I needed access to the Solis family records. Caspian was the easiest way in."

My heart tightened.

"And the affair?"

Ivy looked away.

"That part was real. I wanted him to become obsessed enough to stop asking questions."

Zane's eyes narrowed.

"Did you arrange the ambush?"

"No." Ivy shook her head immediately. "I warned Caspian that someone was planning to attack him."

"Then why did you stay with him afterward?" I asked.

"Because the person behind the attack expected Caspian to lose his memory. They wanted him vulnerable and surrounded by people they could control."

A terrible realization settled over me.

Caspian's fake amnesia had hidden a much larger truth.

"So Caspian really did not have amnesia?" I asked.

Ivy gave a bitter laugh.

"No. He was pretending for his own reasons. But someone else was using his deception to cover their tracks."

The warehouse suddenly went silent.

Then footsteps echoed from the entrance.

Zane immediately moved in front of me.

Several armed men entered the warehouse.

At their center was the chairman from the photograph.

He smiled calmly.

"You have caused enough trouble, Ivy."

Ivy stepped backward.

"You were the one who erased the footage."

The chairman did not deny it.

"And now I am going to erase the rest of the evidence."

Zane's voice became dangerously quiet.

"You should have brought more men."

The next few seconds exploded into chaos.

Zane's security team moved instantly, blocking the attackers while pulling Ivy and me behind cover.

I crouched beside a concrete pillar, my heart pounding.

Then I saw the chairman trying to escape through a side door.

I grabbed the envelope from my pocket.

Inside it was one final document.

A signed authorization bearing the chairman's name.

It proved everything.

"Zane!" I shouted. "He cannot get away!"

Zane turned and sprinted after him.

Seconds later, the warehouse fell silent.

The chairman was on the ground, restrained by Zane's men.

Zane walked back toward me.

"It is over."

I looked at the document in my hands.

For twenty years, my family had lived under the shadow of a betrayal I never knew existed.

Now, the truth was finally in my hands.

But one question remained.

Caspian.

If he had known nothing about the conspiracy, why had he chosen to fake his amnesia?

And why did part of me still want to know the answer?