CHAPTER 194

CHAPTER 194
The gun was suddenly much closer.

Adrian stepped forward, his grip tightening as he pressed the barrel against Vincent’s temple. The cold metal made Amelia gasp, the sound tearing out of her before she could stop it. The chain between her and Vincent rattled as her body instinctively tried to move closer to him.

“Stop avoiding it,” Adrian snarled. “Stop dancing around it like you always do. I told you what I need from you.”

Vincent did not flinch, though his breath slowed deliberately, carefully. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said, his voice steady despite the gun. “I don’t know what either of you think I did.”

Adrian’s lips twisted. “You know exactly what I mean.” He pushed the gun harder. “Say the truth. Say you killed my father. Say you killed her mother.”

Amelia let out a broken sob.

Vincent turned his head just enough to look at her. “Adrian,” he said quietly, “if you think I’m lying to you, then let me speak to my daughter.”

Adrian laughed harshly and stepped back half a pace, the gun still raised. “Fine. Deal with her first. If you’re going to lie, at least lie to someone who matters to you.”

He gestured sharply at Amelia. “If you want her back in your life, tell her the truth. No more hiding behind that calm voice.”

Then, with deliberate cruelty, Adrian added, “She was right. Your company was built on people’s graves. Her mother was one of them.”

Vincent’s composure finally cracked.

He turned fully toward Amelia, eyes wide with confusion and pain. “Amelia… sweetheart,” he said softly. “What letters are you talking about? What do you mean when you say I killed your mother?”

Amelia shook her head violently, tears spilling down her face. Her chest heaved as she tried to breathe through the sobs clawing at her throat.

“This wasn’t how I wanted to ask you,” she cried. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen.”

Her voice broke completely. “I wanted to succeed first. I wanted to stand in front of you one day as someone who mattered and ask you why you did that to her. I didn’t want it to be like this.”

Vincent whispered her name, helpless.

“I went to the attic,” Amelia said, her words tumbling out now, unstoppable. “I found all the letters my mother sent you. Every single one. She told you she was pregnant. She told you she was struggling alone with a baby. She told you she was getting more and more depressed. She begged you to come back. She begged you to help her.”

Vincent’s face drained of color.

“And the last letter,” Amelia continued, her voice shaking violently, “she said she couldn’t hold on anymore. She said she was tired. She said she was going to end her life.”

The cabin seemed to shrink around them.

“You never replied,” Amelia sobbed. “You read them and left them there. You knew she was suffering. And you did nothing.”

She lifted her cuffed hands weakly. “So yes. In a way, you killed her. Because if you had been there, if you had supported her, she wouldn’t have done it.”

Vincent stared at her as if the ground had fallen away beneath him.

“And it hurts even more,” Amelia went on, “because when we finally met- at my grandmother’s funeral - you pretended you didn’t know I existed. But you did. You knew about me before I was even born.”

Vincent shook his head slowly, disbelief etched into every line of his face. “No,” he said hoarsely. “No. I swear to you; I have never seen those letters. Never.”

Adrian burst into laughter from the corner, sharp and mocking. “See?” he said. “This is why I told you he’s a liar. Even with proof, even with blood on his hands, he still looks you in the eye and lies.”

Vincent snapped.

“Wait,” he said sharply. “Wait.”

He turned toward Adrian, his voice rising with urgency. “Everything in that attic belonged to your father.”

The laughter stopped.

“When Nicolas Reyes left Cole Entertainment,” Vincent continued, “everything from his office was boxed and stored. I never touched it. I never went through it.”

He looked back at Amelia, his eyes burning. “If Marianne’s letters were there, then I never received them.”

Adrian’s face twisted with fury. “So now you blame my dead father?”

“No,” Vincent said fiercely. “I’m telling you the truth.”

He took a shaky breath. “Nicolas was my manager. He controlled my correspondence. My schedule. My entire life during that period. If Marianne wrote to me, Nicolas would have been the one to receive those letters first.”

Amelia’s breath hitched.

“He hid them,” Vincent said quietly. “Because the moment I knew Marianne was pregnant, I would have left celebrity life. I would have gone back to her. I would have chosen my family.”

Adrian exploded.

“You’re disgusting,” he shouted. “You’re throwing everything on a man who can’t defend himself!”

Vincent’s restraint shattered completely.

“I didn’t want to tell you this because I respected your father,” he said, his voice raw. “I loved him like a brother. But you have the truth twisted beyond recognition.”

He leaned forward as far as the chain allowed. “I did not steal anything from Nicolas Reyes. If anything, he stole from the company.”

Adrian froze.

“We started Cole Entertainment together,” Vincent went on. “Yes. But he embezzled shareholder funds. He was investigated. He was voted out as CFO. He was facing prison.”

Amelia stared at Vincent in horror. “You never told anyone.”

“I couldn’t,” Vincent said. “Because I paid back every cent he stole with my own money. That was the only reason he didn’t go to prison.”

Adrian shook his head wildly. “You’re lying!”

“The condition,” Vincent said firmly, “was that he be removed as CFO and never return to a financial role. That’s the truth.”

His voice softened, aching. “I kept this secret so you wouldn’t grow up believing your father was a criminal. He was a good dad. But he was a terrible businessman. And a terrible manager.”

Adrian screamed.

“Shut up!”

He raised the gun, his hands shaking violently.

“I won’t let you erase him,” Adrian shouted. “You won’t kill him again!”

Amelia screamed Vincent’s name.

And then….

Sirens.

Loud. Close. Unmistakable.

Blue and red lights flashed through the cabin windows, slicing the darkness apart.

A loudspeaker boomed outside.

“ADRIAN REYES! PUT THE WEAPON DOWN! YOU ARE SURROUNDED!”

Adrian spun toward the sound, panic flooding his face.

“DROP THE GUN AND COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP OR YOU WILL BE SHOT!”

The gun wavered between Vincent and the door.

Amelia clung to her father, sobbing silently.

Vincent squeezed her hand, his voice barely a whisper. “I swear to you… I never knew.”

Outside, boots crunched on gravel. Weapons clicked into readiness.