Chapter 5 - The Fortress of Lies
The urgency in Mateo’s voice was like a physical blow.
I looked around the library,
the beautiful books and expensive furniture suddenly feeling like a facade.
A stage set for a play I didn't realize I was starring in.
"Who is holding you?" I whispered,
stepping closer to him.
I didn't care about the risk anymore.
I only cared about the man who had been my world.
"Bennett," he said,
the name sounding like a curse.
"The real Julian Bennett died years ago. I was brought in to replace him. To run the company as a puppet."
"But why?"
"Money. Power. The Bennett empire is a front for things you can't even imagine, Lucia."
He looked at the door again,
his eyes darting with a paranoia that I now realized was justified.
"They needed a face. A man who could be controlled. When they found me... I was a mess. They 'fixed' me. They gave me a new identity. But the price was my freedom."
"And the accident?" I asked.
"It wasn't an accident," he said,
looking down at his lifeless legs.
"I tried to run. I tried to find you. This was my punishment."
The cruelty of it made me gasp.
They had broken him to keep him from me.
"You have to go," he insisted,
his voice rising in a panicked rasp.
"Mrs. Gable... she's not a housekeeper. She's a guard. If she sees you crying, she'll know something is wrong."
"I can't leave you here," I said,
grabbing his hand.
His skin was cold,
but he squeezed back with the little strength he had.
"You have to," he said.
"For the children. If you stay, you're putting a target on their backs."
He looked at the tablet on his chair.
"I have money. Secret accounts they don't know about. I can get you out of the city."
"I don't want the money, Mateo. I want you."
"You can't have me!" he shouted,
then immediately winced at the volume.
"Look at me! I'm a ghost in a machine. I can't protect you. I can't even protect myself."
The pain in his eyes was unbearable.
He had been living in this gilded cage,
believing I was dead,
while being forced to build an empire for the people who destroyed our lives.
"Listen to me," I said,
leaning down so my face was inches from his.
"I have survived for twenty years without you. I have raised our children in the dark. I am not afraid of these people."
"You should be," he said.
"They have eyes everywhere."
Just then, the heavy oak door of the library creaked open.
I jumped back,
wiping my eyes with the back of my hand.
Mrs. Gable stood there,
her expression as cold and sharp as a razor.
"Is everything alright, Mr. Bennett?" she asked.
Her eyes moved from Mateo to me,
lingering on my red-rimmed eyes.
"The girl is incompetent," Mateo said,
his voice suddenly shifting back into the cold, arrogant tone of the billionaire.
"She's crying because I yelled at her for touching my things."
He looked at me with a scripted disdain.
"Get out of my sight. Go to the kitchen and find something to do."
I played along,
hanging my head.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Bennett. It won't happen again."
Mrs. Gable didn't look convinced.
She stepped into the room,
her gaze falling on the drawer I hadn't quite closed.
"Did she move your personal items, sir?"
"She's a clumsy fool," Mateo snapped.
"I've already dealt with it. Now, get her out of here. She's giving me a headache."
Mrs. Gable grabbed my arm,
her grip like a vice.
"Come with me," she said.
She led me out of the library and down toward the kitchens.
I could feel her eyes on the back of my head the whole way.
She knew.
Maybe she didn't know exactly who I was,
but she knew the dynamic had shifted.
She led me into a small, windowless break room.
"Mr. Bennett is a difficult man," she said,
her voice smooth and dangerous.
"But he is also a valuable asset. We don't like it when the staff upsets the assets."
"I understand," I said,
staring at the floor.
"I hope you do. Because people who don't understand usually find themselves... unemployed. Or worse."
She left me there,
locking the door from the outside.
I was trapped.
I sat on a hard plastic chair,
my mind racing.
I had found Mateo.
He was alive.
But he was a prisoner of a shadow organization,
and I was now a liability.
I looked at the small, high window in the room.
It was too small to crawl through.
I had to get back to my children.
I had to get them somewhere safe before Mrs. Gable and her employers realized who I was.
But I also couldn't leave Mateo behind.
Not again.
I had spent twenty years in a different kind of prison.
A prison of poverty and grief.
I wasn't going back to that.
And I wasn't letting him stay here.
I stood up and began to pace the small room.
I needed a plan.
I needed a way to break a billionaire out of a fortress.
And I needed to do it before the sun went down.
Because I knew that once they confirmed my identity,
none of us would see the morning.
May you like
The drama had only just begun.
The crescent moon had risen,
Related Stories
