chapter 19

The boardroom slowly emptied after Mara’s arrest, leaving only a small group behind: Caelum, me, Ms. Hale, Elias (still leaning on his crutches), Diana and Rowan. The large projection screen still glowed faintly, leftover traces of the falsified audio files visible on its edge. Mara’s final warning echoed in my mind: there is one remaining name from that old conspiracy you still haven’t uncovered.

“Could she have meant a former board‑member who already retired?” Rowan wondered, pulling a chair out to sit down carefully.

“Possibly,” Ms. Hale replied, tapping her tablet to pull up archived personnel records. “But we’ve cross‑checked every person present ten years ago. None show unexplained payments from the Lira fund.”

Caelum stood by the tall window, gazing out over the city. “Mara specifically said ‘from that old conspiracy’ — meaning someone who was physically involved the night my father crashed, not just a board‑member who looked away afterwards.”

Elias shifted uncomfortably on his crutches. “I only saw Gideon, Diana and the boy Rowan near the treeline. Mara was at the hospital. There was the unknown driver in the parked car… but I never learned who that was.”

I pulled out my phone to call my mother, hoping her memory might offer a new detail. She answered on the third ring. After we exchanged quiet greetings, I asked her to think again about that dark, rainy roadside.

“There was something odd about that parked car,” she said slowly. “Its rear‑window sticker was a small blue crest — I didn’t recognise it then. I saw it again a few years later on a vehicle belonging to a private security firm called Northward Protection. They did occasional contract work for Vance Industries back then.”

Ms. Hale’s fingers flew across her screen. “Northward Protection… their senior field operative assigned to Vance‑related jobs ten years ago was a man named Kael — same family surname as Mara. Not her brother or half‑brother; official files list him as her father.”

We all went quiet.

“Mara’s father?” Caelum repeated. “No one ever mentioned him.”

“He left the security business shortly after the crash,” Ms. Hale continued. “Public records say he moved overseas. But financial trails show he never actually left the country — he’s been living in a quiet gated suburb on regular, untraceable cash payments from the old Lira‑fund accounts.”

A cold realisation settled over us: Mara hadn’t only been carrying out her half‑brother Gideon’s unfinished plan. She’d also been protecting her father, the hidden roadside witness‑turned‑accomplice who’d sat in that parked car all those years ago.

We arranged for plain‑clothed police officers to travel to the suburban address first, while we followed behind with Elias, ready to give supporting statements. Before we left the tower, Caelum paused with me near the main lobby’s glass wall. He turned toward me, our faces only inches apart; his grey eyes were soft, full of all the quiet things we’d been holding back through every chase and scare. He leaned in for a brief, gentle kiss — then pulled away quickly, his expression apologetic.

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I didn’t mean to rush that.”

“I didn’t mind,” I said, my heart beating faster. “But we agreed to go slow.”

He nodded, a faint, sheepish smile tugging at his mouth, his thumb brushing lightly over my knuckles before we headed out to the waiting vehicles.

When we arrived at the quiet gated neighbourhood, lead officers met us at the gate. “The perimeter’s secured. Front door’s unlocked — no immediate sign of Kael inside, but sensors picked up recent movement in the basement.”

We moved carefully through the one‑story house. The living‑room shelves held ordinary‑looking books and old family photos; one framed picture caught my eye — a younger Mara standing beside a broad‑shouldered man we assumed was Kael. Down the concrete basement stairs, we found rows of archived security tapes, a stack of sealed envelopes, and an open laptop still running.

On its screen was a partially‑typed note: If I disappear, tell Julian Reeve the backup trigger is hidden inside the old main‑server cooling unit.

Caelum leaned forward, frowning. “Julian Reeve — the alternate CEO Mara tried to push through at the hearing.”

Ms. Hale’s tablet pinged with an incoming security alert. “Sir — IT just reported unusual access attempts on the core server farm. Someone’s trying to bypass the safety lock we placed after the virus scare.”

Elias shifted his weight on his crutches, his face tight with worry. “We thought Mara was the last active player… but Reeve was waiting for a signal from Kael.”

A police officer called over from the basement’s far corner: “We’ve found a hidden phone — last outgoing call went to Reeve’s private number, placed twelve minutes ago.”

We had located Kael’s trail, but our new suspect was already acting. The next lead would take us straight to Vance Industries’ secure server facility.