Chapter Nine

For a moment, the world went silent.

Dust hung in the air. The shattered door swung loosely on its hinge.

Zayden didn’t move. Neither did I.

Derek stepped forward, a cruel smirk tugging at his lips. His face was still bruised from the night at the bar, but the arrogance in his eyes was alive and well.

“Well,” he said, his voice calm but mocking, “didn’t think I’d find you two hiding out together.”

Zayden’s grip tightened on his gun. “You shouldn’t have come here.”

“Oh, I think I should’ve.” Derek gestured, and two of his men moved closer. “You took something from me. Both of you.”

I frowned. “What are you talking about?”

He laughed softly. “You think this is about what happened at the bar? No, sweetheart. That was personal. This..” he spread his hands “..this is business.”

Zayden’s voice was low. “What business?”

Derek’s eyes glinted. “The same one your father built. The one you walked away from.”

My stomach dropped. “What?”

Derek tilted his head, studying me like he was enjoying my confusion. “You really don’t know, do you, princess? Your hero here...” he nodded at Zayden “used to work for your father.”

The words hit like a punch.

I turned sharply to Zayden. “That’s not true.”

He didn’t answer.

My chest tightened. “Zayden… tell me it’s not true.”

His silence said everything.

Derek smiled wider. “You see? The bad boy who hates authority was just another one of your father’s dogs. Until he bit the hand that fed him.”

“Shut up,” Zayden said, his voice steady but low.

“Or what?” Derek taunted. “You’ll shoot me in front of her? Go ahead. Let her see who you really are.”

The tension in the room was suffocating. I couldn’t breathe.

“You worked for my father?” I whispered.

Zayden’s eyes finally met mine. “A long time ago,” he said. “Before I knew who he really was.”

“Before or after you became like him?” Derek sneered.

Zayden’s gun snapped up before Derek could take another step. “Don’t push me.”

Derek raised his hands slowly. “Easy, Black. We’re all friends here.”

“I’m nothing like you,” Zayden said.

“Sure,” Derek said with a smirk. “But you were on his payroll. Same empire. Same blood money.”

My chest felt heavy. “Zayden…”

He turned to me, eyes filled with something raw. “I was young. Stupid. I didn’t know what your father was doing. When I found out, I tried to stop him. That’s why he sent men after me.”

I stared at him, my heart twisting. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you wouldn’t have listened.”

Derek chuckled. “A match made in hypocrisy.”

Zayden ignored him. “Vivienne, your father’s been covering his tracks for years. If he came here tonight, it wasn’t just to threaten me. He’s trying to tie up loose ends , and now you’re one of them.”

The men behind Derek shifted nervously, their guns lowering slightly. Even they could feel the shift in the air.

I stepped forward. “You said this was business. Then tell me what he wants.”

Derek’s smirk faded. For a second, his confidence cracked. “He wants something that belongs to him,” he said quietly. “A flash drive.”

Zayden tensed.

Derek caught it immediately and smiled again. “So you do have it.”

Zayden’s jaw clenched. “You have no idea what’s on that drive.”

“Maybe not,” Derek said. “But your father does. And he’s willing to burn the world to get it back.”

My eyes darted between them. “What’s on it?”

Zayden hesitated. Then he said, “Names. Accounts. Proof of every deal your father made , and everyone he’s destroyed to stay untouchable.”

The weight of his words sank in like ice. My entire body felt numb.

Derek shrugged. “So what? You think exposing him will fix anything? People like your father don’t fall, sweetheart. They multiply.”

Zayden’s gaze hardened. “Not if the right people see it.”

Derek’s smirk returned. “Then I guess we’re all fighting for the same thing. Except I don’t plan on dying for it.”

Before anyone could move, a loud bang echoed outside , a gunshot. Then another.

The men turned toward the door.

Zayden cursed under his breath. “More of them.”

Derek frowned. “Not my men.”

“Then whose...”

The lights went out.

Darkness swallowed the room.

A rush of movement. Boots scuffing. Shouts.

Zayden grabbed my wrist, pulling me down behind the table. “Stay low.”

My heart raced. “Who’s shooting?”

He didn’t answer ; just pressed his back to mine, gun raised, scanning the dark.

A scream tore through the cabin , one of Derek’s men. Then silence.

A new voice drifted in from the doorway. Calm. Smooth. Terrifyingly familiar.

“Nice to see everyone’s finally in one place.”

Gregory Hart stepped into the faint glow of the headlights outside, his suit immaculate as ever.

Derek’s face drained of color. “Sir..”

“Enough,” Gregory said, his tone cold. “You’ve already failed me once.”

He turned his eyes toward me. “Vivienne. I warned you not to get involved with this man. But you never listen.”

Zayden stood, gun aimed squarely at him. “You sent men after her. You sent them after me.”

Gregory smiled faintly. “Of course I did. You took what’s mine.”

“You mean the drive?”

“I mean her.”

My heart stopped.

Zayden froze.

Gregory stepped closer, unarmed but in complete control. “You really think this is about business? It never was. You’re a distraction. And distractions get people killed.”

“Don’t touch her,” Zayden said.

Gregory’s gaze sharpened. “You can’t protect her from the world she was born into. You can only delay the inevitable.”

Then, from behind him , movement. A small figure in the shadows.

My breath caught. “Mom?”

Evelyn Hart stepped into the light.

Her hair was tied back, her expression unreadable. But her eyes cold, sharp were nothing like the mother I remembered.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she said softly. “It’s been a while.”

I couldn’t speak. Couldn’t move.

Zayden’s eyes widened. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

Evelyn smiled faintly. “That’s what your father wanted everyone to think.”

Gregory turned slowly toward her. “You shouldn’t have come.”

“Neither should you,” she said. “But since we’re all here…” She glanced at me, then at Zayden. “It’s time you both learned the truth.”

Zayden stepped forward. “What truth?”

Her eyes met mine. Cold. Steady. “The deal didn’t begin with your father, Vivienne.”

I stared at her, my voice barely a whisper. “Then who?”

Evelyn’s lips curved into a thin, bitter smile.

“With me.”