Chapter 299 THE TRUTH BETWEEN US

Chapter 299 THE TRUTH BETWEEN US
The photograph is still in my hand.

I can't stop looking at it.

My mother.

Dr. Elias Voss.

Antonio standing behind them.

Three people who were never supposed to exist together in the same room.

Three people who knew something about me that I had spent years forgetting.

My fingers tighten around the edges of the photograph.

Something moves inside my head.

Not a full memory.

Not yet.

Just a sound.

A woman's voice.

Soft.

Afraid.

My mother's.

"If they take her..."

I stop breathing.

The room disappears.

For one second, I'm somewhere else.

A dark hallway.

Cold stone beneath my bare feet.

My mother's hand against my hair.

A man's shadow near the doorway.

Marco.

Younger.

Terrified.

Then her voice again.

"Don't let her come back until she's ready."

My eyes snap open.

I turn toward my brother.

"Marco."

His face changes.

Not confusion.

Not surprise.

Fear.

He knows.

My stomach twists.

"You remember that night," I whisper.

Marco doesn't answer.

Amani moves slightly beside me.

I feel him watching both of us, but he doesn't interrupt.

For once, this isn't his fight.

It's mine.

I take one step toward Marco.

"What happened the night I disappeared?"

His jaw tightens.

"Zuri—"

"No."

My voice cracks.

I hate that it does.

I hate that I'm standing in my childhood home, surrounded by ghosts, asking my own brother to tell me why my life was stolen from me.

"What happened?"

Marco looks at the photograph in my hand.

Then at me.

And something inside him finally breaks.

"I was there."

The words hit harder than they should.

"You were there?"

He nods.

"The night you disappeared. I was there."

My chest tightens.

"Then tell me."

Marco looks toward Amani.

Amani doesn't move.

He only says, "She deserves the truth."

Marco looks back at me.

"I didn't make you disappear."

"I didn't say you did."

"You were supposed to leave."

"Leave where?"

"Somewhere Antonio couldn't find you."

My pulse jumps.

Marco lowers his voice.

"Mom had discovered what Antonio was planning."

I swallow.

"What was he planning?"

Marco hesitates.

"An alliance."

The word feels too small.

"With who?"

"I don't know everyone involved."

"Marco."

"I don't."

I stare at him.

He looks away.

I know that look.

He's still hiding something.

But this time, I let him continue.

"Our mother knew Antonio was planning to use you. Your name. Your bloodline. Your future."

My stomach turns.

"Use me for what?"

"Marriage. Business. Power. It was all connected."

I close my eyes.

Pieces of old conversations flash through my mind.

Men discussing contracts.

A white dress hanging inside a room.

My father's voice saying something about loyalty.

My mother's tears.

I open my eyes.

"She wanted me gone."

"She wanted you alive."

Marco's voice breaks.

"There's a difference."

For the first time, I see how much pain he has carried.

But pain doesn't erase what happened.

"What did she ask you to do?"

"Get you out."

"Where?"

"The Silver Wolf network."

My heart stutters.

The name carries weight now.

Not because of the symbol.

Because of everything I've learned.

Silver Wolf wasn't some legend.

It was a network.

People.

Safehouses.

Routes.

People my mother trusted.

Marco continues.

"I was supposed to get you to the first safehouse. Someone else was supposed to take you from there."

"Who?"

"I never found out."

"You don't know?"

"I was told only what I needed to know."

I laugh bitterly.

"Convenient."

Marco flinches.

I don't care.

"Keep going."

He nods.

"We left before Antonio could stop us."

"You said Antonio discovered the escape."

"He did."

Marco's eyes darken.

"The convoy was attacked."

My heart begins pounding.

"Where?"

"Outside the city."

"What happened to you?"

"I was separated from you."

"And then?"

"I searched for you."

His voice becomes quieter.

"For hours."

I stare at him.

"And when you found me?"

Marco doesn't answer.

I step closer.

"When you found me, what happened?"

His silence is my answer.

"No."

I shake my head.

"Don't do that."

"Zuri—"

"Tell me."

He looks at me.

"You were already with Antonio."

The room seems to tilt.

"Already?"

Marco nods slowly.

"I saw his men."

My fingers go cold.

"What did they do to me?"

"I don't know."

"You saw them."

"I saw you from a distance."

"Then why didn't you come for me?"

His eyes close.

"I tried."

"That's not an answer."

"I couldn't."

"Why?"

"Because Voss told me not to."

My breath catches.

"Dr. Voss?"

Marco nods.

"He said forcing you out could kill you."

I stare at him.

"What?"

"Your memories were already being suppressed. Voss said the trauma was unstable. If we pulled you out too quickly, everything could come back at once."

I look down at the photograph.

My mother's face.

Voss beside her.

Antonio behind them.

"You let him keep me."

Marco's face twists.

"I thought I was saving you."

"No."

My voice is barely a whisper.

"You made a choice for me."

Marco doesn't argue.

That hurts more.

Then something moves inside my head.

A memory.

Not from the photograph.

From that night.

A hallway.

A door.

My wrists hurting.

Marco's voice.

Angry.

Desperate.

"You promised she'd be safe."

My eyes widen.

I look at him.

"I heard you."

Marco freezes.

"What?"

"I heard you."

The room becomes silent.

"I remember."

My breathing turns shallow.

"You were arguing with someone."

Marco's face drains of color.

"I heard you say..."

I swallow.

"You promised she'd be safe."

Marco looks away.

"And someone answered."

My voice shakes.

"She'll be safer without you."

Marco's eyes snap back to mine.

I step closer.

"Who said that?"

He doesn't answer.

"Marco."

Nothing.

"Who was he?"

"I don't know."

The lie is immediate.

I feel it.

Amani feels it too.

I turn toward him for half a second.

His expression is cold.

But he doesn't speak.

He knows this moment belongs to me.

I turn back to Marco.

"You do know."

"Zuri—"

"You know."

"I can't tell you."

"Why?"

"Because if I'm wrong—"

"You're not."

He goes silent.

I take another step.

"You knew where I was."

Marco's face changes again.

And this time, I understand.

Not everything.

But enough.

"You found me."

His silence confirms it.

"When?"

He looks down.

"Years ago."

My heart cracks.

"You found me years ago?"

"I did."

"And you left me there."

"I was trying to protect you."

"Stop saying that."

My voice rises.

Amani shifts beside me.

I hold up a hand.

"I'm fine."

I'm not.

But I need to say this myself.

"You found me."

Marco nods.

"And you watched me."

"I stayed close."

"Close?"

A laugh escapes me.

It sounds broken.

"You watched me live a life I never chose."

"I was waiting."

"For what?"

"For Voss to tell me it was safe."

"You needed permission?"

Marco's eyes fill with regret.

"He said your memories were fragile."

"And what about my freedom?"

He has no answer.

I feel tears burning my eyes.

I refuse to let them fall.

"You made the choice for me."

"I thought I was protecting you."

"You were protecting your fear."

Marco looks wounded.

Good.

I want him to understand what his silence cost me.

I turn away.

Amani comes closer.

He doesn't touch me.

He doesn't try to fix it.

He simply stands beside me.

That somehow hurts more.

Because Marco kept calling control protection.

Antonio called possession protection.

And now I understand the difference.

Protection should leave you a choice.

Control takes it away.

I wipe my face.

"I don't know if I can forgive you."

Marco's voice is quiet.

"You don't have to."

I look at him.

"For the first time, you're right."

Before he can answer, footsteps echo from the corridor.

Ghost appears.

His face is hard.

"We have a problem."

Amani turns.

"What?"

Ghost looks at all of us.

"Someone has been watching the house."

My blood runs cold.

"Who?"

"We don't know."

Ghost holds up a small device.

"Found this near the eastern wall."

I recognize the symbol etched into it.

A silver wolf.

My stomach drops.

"Silver Wolf?"

Ghost nods.

"Old communication equipment."

Marco goes pale.

Amani notices.

"So you know what it is."

Marco doesn't answer.

Ghost continues.

"The signal was active less than an hour ago."

I stare at him.

"Where did it come from?"

"Here."

My heart pounds.

"From inside the estate?"

Ghost nods.

"And there's more."

He looks at Amani.

"The anonymous messages we've been receiving?"

"Yes."

"They aren't coming from Voss."

The room goes still.

"Then who?"

Ghost looks at me.

"Someone is using an old Silver Wolf communication channel."

My skin prickles.

Someone who knows the network.

Someone who knows the old routes.

Someone who knows I'm remembering.

I turn slowly toward Marco.

"The person who betrayed my mother."

Marco says nothing.

"They're still alive."

His silence tells me enough.

Amani's voice is low.

"Who?"

Marco looks at me.

Then at the floor.

"I don't know."

I almost laugh.

"You're lying again."

"I know the truth isn't going to make you forgive me."

"It won't."

He exhales.

"But I know where the traitor is."

Everyone freezes.

I stare at him.

"What did you say?"

Marco reaches inside his jacket.

Amani's hand immediately moves toward his weapon.

Marco slowly pulls out an old photograph.

He holds it out.

My hands shake as I take it.

It's a safehouse.

Old.

Hidden.

Four people stand outside.

My mother.

Dr. Elias Voss.

A man I recognize instantly.

Samuel Cole.

And another man.

I stop breathing.

I've seen that face.

Not in my memories.

Not in the photographs.

In Antonio's empire.

At meetings.

Standing behind men who controlled the syndicate.

A man I never thought twice about.

A man who had always been close enough to hear everything.

My fingers begin shaking.

"No."

Marco's voice is barely audible.

"Yes."

I look at him.

"Who is he?"

Marco's eyes meet mine.

"He's the reason you disappeared."

My stomach drops.

The photograph slips slightly in my hand.

Because suddenly the truth isn't hiding in my memories anymore.

It's standing right in front of me.

And it's been inside Antonio's empire all along.