All Chapters of Blueprint Of My Heart: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

The question followed me all the way back to the car, who had my father really been trying to protect me from?I sat in the passenger seat with the yellowed envelope resting on my lap. I still had not opened it, my name was written across the front in my father’s handwriting, Nyla. Seeing it made something inside me ache. I ran my thumb along the edge of the envelope, remembering the old worker’s words, he had kept this for years, he had been waiting for me. But why?Soren started the engine. For several minutes, neither of us spoke. The headlights cut through the dark road as we left the development behind, my fingers tightened around the envelope. “You are thinking about opening it.” Soren’s voice was quiet. I turned toward him, “I have been thinking about it since he gave it to me.” His attention remained on the road, “and?” I looked down at the envelope,“I am afraid.”The admission felt strange coming from me.Soren was silent for a moment, “you do not have to open it tonight.” I f

By the time we reached Calder Developments, the sun had barely risen. I had not slept neither had Soren.Marcus was already waiting for us in one of the smaller conference rooms when we walked in, he stood beside the table with a file in his hand.His usual calm expression was gone and that alone told me this was serious.“What did you find?” My voice came out sharper than I intended.Marcus placed the file on the table, “I found the original archive.” I stepped closer. “The one someone accessed?” Soren closed the door behind us.“Start from the beginning.” Marcus opened the file.“These records were moved years ago, they were not part of the current company archive, which is why whoever accessed them had to know exactly where to look.” My attention settled on the papers. “What records?” Marcus pulled out an old project report, “the original development files.” I turned the first page, the name of the project appeared at the top. Below it were several names and one of them stopped me, Al

The coordinates on the paper led us farther from the city than I expected. Soren drove with both hands on the wheel, following a narrow road that had long since lost its smooth surface. The tires rolled over loose stones, sending sharp sounds beneath the car. I kept the old photograph on my lap.Alestia, Leontes, and the third man. His face had been burned into my memory since Marcus showed it to us. I turned the photograph over again, nothing new appeared on the back, just the faded marks from years of handling. “Do you know how long your father owned the quarry?” I asked.Soren kept his attention on the road, “I do not remember him talking about it.”“That is not what I asked,” I said. His fingers shifted around the steering wheel.“No, I do not know.”I studied his profile, he had been quieter since we left the old Calder house, not distant exactly. More like every answer required him to cross a line he had spent years avoiding.The road curved between tall grass and abandoned concr

By morning, the documents from the quarry covered my dining table, I had barely slept. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the same names, Alistair Avenor, Leontes Calder and Dorian Voss.Three men connected by a project that had started long before I knew any of them had been working together. I picked up the transfer record again, the amount was written near the bottom of the page, beside it was Leontes Calder's authorization. Something about it still bothered me, I could not explain why.I heard a knock, I opened the door. Soren stood outside with two cups of coffee.“You look like you did not sleep.” I took one of the cups, “I was busy reading.”“You could have stopped,” he said.“I tried to,” I replied. His mouth lifted for a moment.” You should have tried.” He stepped inside.That small exchange eased something in me, not enough to forget what we were dealing with but nough to breathe. Soren placed his keys on the table and examined the documents. “Marcus called me early, he foun

The drive back was quiet, the photograph of my father and Dorian lay on the seat between Soren and me. I kept thinking about the words written on the back.If anything happens to me, Alestia knows where the rest is.The rest? Those two words had followed me all the way home.Soren drove with both hands on the wheel, his attention was on the road ahead. The lights from passing cars moved across his face and disappeared again. None of us had much to say. We had found something important tonight.Yet instead of relief, I felt a deeper weight settling inside me. My father had known, he had known Dorian was trying to expose something, he had known there was more evidence. And somehow, he had disappeared before he could tell anyone where it was.When we reached my apartment, Soren carried the box of documents inside. I placed the photograph on the table. For a few seconds, I stood there without touching anything. My father had spent years working on that project and whatever he had discovere