Chapter 6 - The Weight of Truth
I spent the night in a derelict warehouse, pouring over the documents. The realization hit me like a physical blow: I hadn't been framed by random bad luck. My father had been testing me. He knew I was idealistic, headstrong, and desperate for his approval. By letting me take the fall three years ago, he had removed me from the line of fire, hoping I would "learn the hard way" to stay away from his world. But he had failed to account for the fact that his "solution" would eventually lead to his own murder at the hands of those he had once controlled.
I realized the medallion wasn't just a key; it was a digital encryption drive. I plugged it into a stolen laptop, and the screen flooded with years of encrypted recordings—including a conversation between Evelyn and Thorne on the night of my father’s death.
He hadn't died of a heart attack. He had been poisoned by his own "tonic," a slow-acting neurotoxin Evelyn had administered under the guise of care.
I didn't call the police. The police were in the ledger. I needed a different kind of justice. I contacted an old journalist friend, Clara, who had been blacklisted years ago for investigating the Vane family. She was the only person in the city whose integrity hadn't been bought.
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"Elias?" her voice trembled over the burner phone. "They said you were dead. Where are you?"
"I have the map to the grave, Clara," I said. "And the blueprints to the rot. Meet me at the docks at dawn. We’re going to bury the Vane legacy once and for all."
