Chapter 99 Chapter 99

Chapter 99 Chapter 99
  Jace didn’t wait this time.
  He didn’t think it through. Didn’t pace. Didn’t try to calm himself down the way he usually did before walking into his father’s space.
  He went straight to the office.
  Opened the door without knocking.
  “Tell me what happened that night.”
  His father didn’t even look up at first.
  Still reading. Still composed.
  “You’re getting predictable,” he said calmly.
  Jace stepped inside, shutting the door behind him.
  “I’m serious.”
  That made him look up.
  And this time—
  He saw it.
  Not irritation.
  Not control.
  Something else.
  Something sharper.
  “Where is this coming from?” his father asked.
  Jace didn’t hesitate.
  “Cass.”
  A pause.
  Then—
  “I figured.”
  Jace’s jaw tightened.
  “She knows you were there.”
  Silence.
  “She knows there was a meeting.”
  Still silence.
  “And I want to know why no one told me.”
  His father leaned back slowly.
  Studying him.
  Measuring something.
  “You’re asking the wrong question,” he said.
  “Then give me the right one.”
  Another pause.
  Then—
  “Why does it matter to you now?”
  Jace stared at him.
  “Because it changes everything.”
  His father’s gaze didn’t waver.
  “No,” he said quietly.
  “It only feels like it does.”
  That was it.
  That was the moment something in Jace snapped.
  “Stop doing that,” he said, his voice rising. “Stop talking like this is nothing.”
  “I’m not saying it’s nothing.”
  “Then say what it is!”
  The room went still.
  Heavy.
  Charged.
  For a second, it looked like his father might shut it down again.
  End the conversation.
  Control it.
  But then—
  He exhaled.
  Slow.
  Deliberate.
  “There was a meeting,” he said.
  Jace’s chest tightened.
  “Why?”
  “To settle a dispute.”
  “What kind of dispute?”
  His father’s expression hardened slightly.
  “The kind that gets ugly when both sides think they’re right.”
  Jace stepped closer.
  “And you were both there.”
  “Yes.”
  “What happened?”
  A pause.
  Then—
  “He pushed.”
  Jace frowned.
  “Pushed what?”
  “Control,” his father said simply.
  “Over the house. Over the business. Over everything we had built together.”
  Jace’s mind flashed back to Cass’s words.
  He tried to take control of something that wasn’t fully his.
  The pieces were lining up.
  Too well.
  “And you didn’t agree,” Jace said.
  “No.”
  “Then what?”
  Silence.
  Jace’s patience thinned.
  “Then what happened?”
  His father’s voice dropped.
  “He made a decision.”
  “What kind of decision?”
  The air shifted.
  Because this part—
  This part mattered.
  “The kind that forced my hand.”
  Jace’s stomach tightened.
  “What does that mean?”
  His father looked at him.
  Directly.
  Carefully.
  “It means,” he said slowly, “that your father didn’t walk away from that house as powerless as you think.”
  Jace blinked.
  “That doesn’t make sense.”
  “No,” his father agreed. “Because you don’t have all the pieces.”
  “Then give them to me.”
  Silence again.
  Then—
  “He threatened to expose everything.”
  Jace went still.
  “Expose what?”
  Another pause.
  Longer this time.
  “He believed I had crossed a line in the business,” his father said. “Financially. Strategically.”
  Jace’s chest tightened.
  “And did you?”
  His father didn’t answer directly.
  “I did what was necessary to protect what we built.”
  That wasn’t a no.
  Jace felt it.
  “You’re avoiding the question.”
  “And you’re focusing on the wrong part.”
  Jace let out a frustrated breath.
  “No, I’m not.”
  “Yes, you are,” his father said, sharper now. “Because what matters is what happened next.”
  Silence.
  Heavy.
  “What happened next?” Jace asked.
  His father held his gaze.
  Then said—
  “He tried to take everything with him.”
  Jace’s brow furrowed.
  “What does that even mean?”
  “It means,” his father said, his voice colder now, “that he wasn’t just walking away. He was taking control. Legally. Financially. Completely.”
  Jace shook his head.
  “That still doesn’t explain—”
  “There was a confrontation,” his father cut in.
  Jace’s pulse picked up.
  “Yeah. I know.”
  “It got out of hand.”
  Those words landed.
  Hard.
  Jace took a step closer.
  “How out of hand?”
  Silence.
  Then—
  “He slipped.”
  The room went still.
  Completely.
  Jace’s heart stopped.
  “What?”
  His father didn’t look away.
  “He slipped.”
  The same words.
  Clear.
  Final.
  Jace’s voice dropped to a whisper.
  “You’re saying it was an accident.”
  “I’m saying,” his father replied carefully, “that it wasn’t intentional.”
  That wasn’t the same thing.
  And Jace knew it.
  “You’re not telling me everything.”
  His father didn’t deny it.
  “Because everything isn’t something you’re ready to carry.”
  Jace let out a hollow laugh.
  “You don’t get to decide that.”
  “No,” his father said quietly.
  “But I do get to decide what stays buried.”
  That was it.
  That was the line.
  Jace stepped back, shaking his head.
  “This isn’t over.”
  His father’s expression didn’t change.
  “It already is.”
  “No,” Jace said.
  “It’s just starting.”
  Outside, the air felt colder.
  Sharper.
  Like everything had edges now.
  Jace pulled out his phone.
  Scrolled.
  Stopped.
  Cass.
  His thumb hovered.
  Because how do you tell someone that the truth…
  Isn’t clean?
  That it’s worse than either of you thought?
  That maybe—
  Just maybe—
  Both sides did something they can’t take back?
  He didn’t type.
  Didn’t call.
  Because for the first time—
  He didn’t know what the right move was.
  Across town, Cass sat on the floor of her room, the photos spread out again.
  But now—
  She wasn’t just looking at them.
  She was studying them.
  Details.
  Positions.
  Expressions.
  And then—
  She saw it.
  Something she hadn’t noticed before.
  In one of the photos.
  Her father.
  Jace’s father.
  And—
  A third person.
  Partially turned.
  Not centered.
  Not obvious.
  But there.
  Cass’s breath caught.
  Because she recognized her.
  Zayelle’s mother.