Chapter 70: STOLEN TRUTHS AND HIDDEN FACES

DONOVAN’S POV

I stood in the hallway outside Violet’s room for a long time, my hand on the door like I wanted to go back in but knew I couldn’t.

The letter had changed everything, not just for her, but for all of us. If what her father had written was true, my family had been keeping her mother locked up for years and my father had known about it the whole time.

“Everything okay?”

I turned to find Alistair standing at the end of the hallway, Damien beside him. They’d clearly just gotten back, their jackets were still on and their faces tight with worry.

“Chloe still has the USB and the letter from Violet’s father’s safe,” I said, stepping away from the door so they couldn’t hear Violet crying inside.

“And there’s something else. Father’s been keeping Violet mother hidden.”

Damien swore under his breath, running a hand through his hair. “That can’t be true. Father never said a word about even knowing her.”

“Apparently he keeps a lot of things from us,” I said, my voice tight with anger. “Violet thinks we all knew and were part of it.”

Alistair leaned against the wall, his face pale.

“We need to talk to Father. Now. If this is real, we have to find out where she is, before Chloe uses this against us.”

“I’ll go talk to him,” I said. “You two start tracking Chloe. She has to be close by”

Damien nodded. “I already have my guys checking on her. She’s smart, but she gets careless when she thinks she’s winning. She’ll make a mistake.”

We split up, Alistair and Damien heading out to coordinate their teams and me walking to the main house where my father had his study.

The house was quiet at this hour, the only sounds coming from security guards patrolling the grounds outside.

I walked through the familiar halls – walls lined with paintings of our family, but still feel like a stranger in my own home... No my father's house, it has never been a home.

I stood at the door of my father’s study, I knocked once hard and waited.

“Come in,” his voice called out from inside.

I pushed the door open to find him sitting behind his huge desk, surrounded by stacks of papers. He looked up as I entered, his eyes cold and impossible to read.

I stepped in, closing the door behind me.

“You wanted to see me,” he said, not bothering to look up from his papers

“I heard Chloe has the USB. Unfortunate, but not surprising. She was always more ambitious than Justin.”

“Is it true?” I asked, stepping closer to his desk. “About Violet’s mother?”

He finally looked up at me, his eyes meeting mine. For just a second, I saw something like sadness cross his face then it was gone, replaced by the cold mask he always wore.

“Her name is Eleanor,” he said quietly. “She’s been at our compound in the mountains for years. She’s safe and well taken care of.”

“Taken care of?” I said, my voice rising. “You’ve been keeping her prisoner. She has a daughter who thinks she’s dead – a daughter who’s been living in our home, trusting us.”

“Trust is something we can’t afford in this life,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “Eleanor knows too much. She was there the night Marco Moretti Sr. died and the night the Gray Circle changed hands. She saw who really killed him.”

“Who did it?” I asked, even though I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear the answer.

“Your grandfather,” he said flatly. “He killed Marco to take control of the Gray Circle. Eleanor saw everything. We couldn’t let her talk, not when we were just starting to build what we have now."

"So we made a deal with her father and Violet’s grandfather. We’d keep her safe, and he’d keep quiet about what really happened.”

I felt like I’d been punched in the gut. My grandfather, the man we’d all been taught to respect, and built our family’s empire, was a cold-blooded murderer.

And my father had been keeping his secret for years, at the cost of Violet’s family being torn apart.

“And now Chloe has the USB,” I said quietly. “She knows everything. She’ll use it to destroy us.”

“Let her try,” he said with a cold smile. “The Gray Circle isn’t built on secrets anymore, but power. We have more of it than she could ever dream of. She’ll be dead before she can do any real harm.”

“You’re not going to hurt her,” I said firmly. “Or Violet. I won’t let you.”

He stood up then, his chair scraping against the floor. I was taller than him, and even though he was getting older, he still had the ability to make me feel like a small boy again, but I don't show it.

“You forget who you’re talking to, Donovan,” he said, his voice low.

“I built this family from nothing. I’ve made the hard choices so you and your brothers could have everything you have, you will not stand in my way, not for a Lancaster girl.”

“Violet matters to me,” I said. “And if you hurt her or her family, I’ll make sure everyone knows what you did. What our family did.”

He laughed, a cold sound that made my skin crawl.

“You think you can threaten me? You have no idea what I’ve done to keep this family safe. No idea what’s at stake.”

“Then tell me,” I said. “What are the Volterras really after? Why are they working with Chloe?”

His face hardened again. “The Volterras want what we have, control of the Gray Circle and Milan. They’ve been planning this for years, using Chloe and Marco as their pawns. But they don’t understand what they’re dealing with. We’ve been preparing for this moment since before you were born.”

“By keeping innocent people locked up?” I asked. “By lying to everyone around us?”

“By doing what needs to be done,” he said firmly.

“Now get out. I have work to do. And tell your brothers to focus on finding Chloe – before she gives the USB to the Volterras. If that happens, everything we’ve built will be gone.”

I turned and walked out without another word, slamming the door behind me so hard the walls shook. I’d known my father was ruthless, but this keeping Violet’s mother prisoner, lying to us all these years was more than I could have imagined.

I found Alistair and Damien in the security center, surrounded by screens showing footage from all over the city. They looked up as I entered, their faces grim.

“Any luck finding Chloe?” I asked.

“Not yet,” Damien said, pointing at one of the screens. “But we found something else. Remember the guys who attacked the warehouse where Laura left us the info? We ran their faces through the system, they’re not just working for Chloe. They’re Volterra men. The same ones who’ve been moving into the city for months.”

“Father says the Volterras have been planning this for years,” I said, pulling up a chair beside them.

“He also confirmed what Violet’s father wrote, Eleanor Lancaster is alive. He’s been keeping her at our mountain compound.”

Alistair swore under his breath. “We have to get her out of there. If Chloe finds out where she is, she’ll use her against Violet.”

“I’ll send men to the compound first thing in the morning,” Damien said.

“But we have to be careful, Father’s security there is tight and won’t let us take her without a fight.”

“Then we’ll have to be smarter than him,” I said, looking at the screens showing footage of the city.

“Chloe has to be planning something big. She wouldn’t have taken the USB just to hide it.”

“Dawn,” Alistair said suddenly. “She’ll make her move at dawn. That’s when the Gray Circle council meets to vote on the new leader. She’ll show up with the USB and the Volterras, and they’ll use it to take over everything.”

I stared at the footage on the screens, the streets of Milan starting to wake up, lights turning off as the sky began to lighten. Dawn was less than an hour away.

“Then we don’t have much time,” I said, turning to my brothers. “Damien, you take your men to the council building and set up around the outside. Make sure nobody gets in or out without us knowing. Alistair, you stay here with Violet and keep her and her father safe. I’ll go to the meeting and talk to Father before Chloe gets there.”

“No,” Violet said firmly, stepping forward. “I’m going with you. If Chloe’s going to use my father’s work against us, then I need to be there to set the record straight.”

I looked at her and at the strength in her eyes, even now. I wanted to tell her to stay safe, to let us handle it. But I knew she’d never agree to that.

“Fine,” I said finally. “But you stay right beside me.”