Episode 4: The Alliance Nobody Knew About

Elena heard the name of the man she had spent six years mourning—and suddenly understood that she might never have known her own father.

Your father.

The words echoed through the foyer.

Her father had been dead for seventeen years.

Or so she had been told.

She looked at Isabella.

"Say that again."

Isabella's expression tightened.

"Your mother was working with Adrian's father."

"My father."

"No."

Elena's voice sharpened.

"You said she was helping my father."

"I said your mother was helping someone."

"You said my father."

Isabella glanced at Adrian.

He hadn't moved.

That frightened Elena more than anything.

"Adrian."

His eyes met hers.

"I think Isabella means your mother's husband."

"My father."

"Yes."

"Then explain."

Adrian's jaw tightened.

"I can't."

Elena laughed once.

A hollow sound.

"Of course you can't."

She turned toward Isabella.

"How did my father die?"

Isabella hesitated.

"Car accident."

"That's what I was told."

"Because that's what everyone was told."

Elena froze.

Adrian closed his eyes.

"Isabella."

"What?" his sister snapped. "How long are you going to keep protecting everyone from the truth?"

"I'm not protecting anyone."

"Then tell her."

Elena's gaze moved between them.

"Tell me what?"

Neither spoke.

Her patience snapped.

"Tell me!"

Adrian stepped forward.

"Your father wasn't killed in an accident."

The world seemed to go silent.

Elena stared at him.

"What?"

"His car crashed."

"That's not what you said."

"I said he wasn't killed by the accident."

She felt the blood drain from her face.

"Then how did he die?"

Adrian's voice dropped.

"Someone tampered with the vehicle."

Elena couldn't breathe.

"Who?"

"We don't know."

"Who investigated it?"

"The police."

"Your family?"

"Yes."

"Then why wasn't it discovered?"

Adrian looked at her.

"Because the investigation was buried."

Elena's hands trembled.

"By whom?"

His silence answered.

"The Covenant."

---

She walked out.

Neither Adrian nor Isabella followed.

The rain had stopped, leaving the morning air damp and heavy.

Elena stood beneath the enormous stone columns outside the Vale residence and tried to breathe.

Her father hadn't died in an accident.

Her mother had disappeared.

Adrian's father had been involved.

And somehow, all of them were connected to an organization that had apparently existed before she was old enough to understand what was happening.

Her entire childhood had just become evidence.

"Elena."

Adrian's voice came behind her.

She didn't turn.

"I need space."

"I know."

"Then give it to me."

He stopped.

For several seconds, there was only the distant sound of traffic.

Then he said:

"I will."

She finally turned.

He was standing several feet away.

No attempt to approach.

No attempt to control the conversation.

That mattered.

"I need you to answer one question."

"Ask."

"Why did you agree to investigate the Covenant with me?"

Adrian looked at her.

"Because you're the only journalist I've seen get close enough to make them nervous."

"That's not the whole answer."

"No."

"What is the rest?"

His eyes darkened.

"Because your mother once asked me to protect you."

Elena's chest tightened.

"When?"

"Six years ago."

The world seemed to tilt.

"Before she disappeared?"

"Yes."

"What exactly did she say?"

Adrian looked away.

"She told me that if anything happened to her, I was never to contact you."

"Why?"

"Because contacting you would put you in danger."

Elena's voice broke.

"And you obeyed."

"Yes."

"For six years."

"Yes."

She stared at him.

"Do you understand what you did?"

"I do."

"No, Adrian. You don't."

She stepped closer.

"Every birthday. Every Christmas. Every time I wondered whether she was alive. Every time I asked myself why she abandoned me..."

Her voice cracked.

"You knew there was a reason."

Adrian absorbed every word.

"I know."

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was eighteen when I met your mother."

He paused.

"I was twenty-two when she disappeared."

Elena frowned.

"And?"

"I was twenty-two years old, Elena. I had no idea who I could trust."

Something in his voice made her anger falter.

"My father had people everywhere. Lawyers. Executives. Politicians. Security officers."

He looked at her.

"And I was trying to survive him."

Elena didn't respond.

Adrian continued.

"Your mother believed I could eventually dismantle what he'd built."

"Could you?"

"I tried."

"Did you fail?"

His answer was immediate.

"Yes."

That honesty hurt more than arrogance would have.

---

By afternoon, Elena was back in the library.

Not because she had forgiven Adrian.

Because she had work to do.

The Covenant had become personal.

That made her dangerous.

She knew it.

Adrian knew it.

And neither of them could afford to let emotion replace evidence.

She pulled out the old documents.

"Show me everything from 2008."

Adrian brought three boxes from the archive.

"These are the records my father kept."

Elena looked at him.

"And your records?"

"Separate."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't supposed to know about Covenant."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Yet you knew."

"I discovered pieces."

"How?"

"My mother."

Elena looked up.

"Your mother knew?"

"Yes."

Adrian sat opposite her.

"My mother was the reason I survived my father."

That surprised her.

"Where is she?"

"Dead."

Elena softened.

"I'm sorry."

He nodded.

"She died before I understood how much she had sacrificed."

Silence settled between them.

Two people sitting across from each other.

Two families.

Two dead parents.

Two missing pieces of the same puzzle.

Elena opened the first file.

A handwritten ledger.

Names.

Companies.

Payments.

Then one word appeared repeatedly.

Vesper.

"What is Vesper?"

Adrian leaned over the page.

"I don't know."

"That's convenient."

"I've seen the word before."

"Where?"

"In my father's private correspondence."

Elena pointed at the ledger.

"Look."

Beside the word was a date.

October 14, 2008.

Adrian's face changed.

"What?"

"That's the day my father died."

Elena looked at him.

"And the day my mother disappeared?"

"Yes."

Neither spoke.

The connection was too precise to ignore.

Elena turned another page.

There was a meeting schedule.

Three names.

Richard Vale.

Claire Cross.

Samuel Cross.

Her father's name.

Elena stared.

Her hands went cold.

"All three of them were here."

Adrian looked at the document.

"Yes."

"On the day my father died."

"Yes."

"What were they meeting about?"

Adrian turned the page.

There was no explanation.

Only an address.

Elena recognized it.

"The old Meridian warehouse."

Adrian looked at her.

"That's where my father was found after the crash."

Elena's heart pounded.

"So this wasn't an accident."

"No."

"And my mother was there."

"Apparently."

She looked at him.

"And you knew?"

"No."

"Then we're going there."

Adrian stood immediately.

"I'm coming."

"No."

"Elena."

"This is my family."

"And it's mine too."

She glared at him.

"That's exactly why I'm going alone."

Adrian stepped closer.

"You won't."

She raised her chin.

"Are you ordering me?"

"No."

His voice lowered.

"I'm asking."

The words surprised her.

She stared at him.

"You don't ask people for things."

"Maybe I'm learning."

The intensity in his eyes unsettled her.

"Why?"

"Because you're the first person who makes me want to."

The room went completely still.

Elena's breath caught.

Adrian seemed to realize what he'd said.

Neither moved.

The attraction between them had been a quiet thing until now.

Something they could pretend wasn't there.

That pretense had just cracked.

Elena looked away first.

"We're going together."

Adrian nodded.

"Agreed."

---

They reached the abandoned Meridian warehouse just before sunset.

The building stood near the industrial district, surrounded by rusted fences and overgrown grass.

Inside, the air smelled of dust and damp concrete.

Elena switched on her flashlight.

"Your father was found here?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because he was meeting someone."

"Who?"

Adrian's eyes moved across the darkness.

"That's what I never discovered."

They walked deeper inside.

Then Elena saw it.

A faded marking on the wall.

The same symbol from the key.

C—V.

She touched it.

"Cross—Vale."

Adrian looked at it.

"Someone wanted us to find this."

"No."

Elena's eyes moved across the room.

"Someone wanted you to find it."

A metallic sound echoed behind them.

They turned.

The warehouse door had slammed shut.

Adrian immediately moved in front of Elena.

"Stay behind me."

"Not happening."

He gave her a look.

"Just this once."

She reluctantly stepped behind him.

A light appeared at the far end of the warehouse.

A projector.

It flickered to life.

A video began playing against the wall.

The image was grainy.

Old.

Elena stopped breathing.

A man appeared on the screen.

Her father.

Samuel Cross.

He looked younger.

Alive.

Standing beside Richard Vale.

And beside them—

Claire.

Elena covered her mouth.

Her mother looked directly into the camera.

Then Samuel spoke.

"If you're watching this, Richard and I failed."

Adrian stepped closer.

The recording continued.

"We created Covenant to control corruption before corruption could control us."

Elena frowned.

That wasn't what she expected.

Samuel continued.

"But we discovered too late that power cannot be contained forever."

Claire stepped into view.

Her voice was calm.

"Someone inside the Covenant has been using it for personal gain."

Richard Vale looked directly at the camera.

"And if they discover what we've done..."

He paused.

"They will come after our children."

Elena's heart stopped.

The recording ended.

The projector went black.

Then a final message appeared.

THERE WERE THREE FOUNDERS.

A second line appeared.

ONLY ONE BETRAYED THE OTHERS.

Elena looked at Adrian.

"Your father?"

He shook his head.

"I don't know."

A third line appeared.

FIND THE FOURTH NAME.

Then the projector shut off.

Silence.

Elena turned toward Adrian.

"What fourth name?"

He didn't answer.

Because he was staring at the floor.

A small envelope had appeared beneath the projector.

Adrian walked toward it.

Inside was a photograph.

Four people stood together.

Richard Vale.

Samuel Cross.

Claire Cross.

And a fourth person whose face had been deliberately burned away.

On the back of the photograph were five words:

ONE OF YOU KNOWS HIM.

Elena looked at Adrian.

Adrian looked at her.

Neither spoke.

Then his phone vibrated.

A message appeared.

LEAVE THE WAREHOUSE. NOW.

Adrian's expression changed.

"Why?"

He looked toward the entrance.

"Because someone just locked us inside."

A second message arrived.

YOU HAVE THREE MINUTES.

And then the lights went out.