Chapter 23: My Father’s Lie

RORY

Kai didn’t take me back to my room.

He didn’t speak, either, which was worse. His silence stretched between us as he led me down one hallway after another until we stopped in front of a locked study. He pushed the door open and stepped aside.

“In,” he said.

The room was dim, lit only by a desk lamp, the smell of leather and old paper clinging to the air. My eyes darted over shelves of books, framed maps, and a wall safe with a keypad.

Kai shut the door behind us, the click of the lock sounding like a sentence.

“You’ve been asking questions you shouldn’t,” he said finally. “And I’m in a generous mood, so I’ll give you answers—one answer.”

I crossed my arms. “You mean the truth?”

He tilted his head, the faintest curve to his mouth. “Truth is a luxury in this house. But if you want the version closest to it, sit.”

I stayed standing.

His gaze slid to the chair like he was daring me to refuse. I sat.

Kai moved to the desk and pulled a folder from a drawer. He dropped it in front of me. The edges were worn, the papers inside crinkled from too many hands flipping through them.

“Your father,” Kai said, “was not the man you thought he was.”

My stomach knotted. “You don’t know what I thought.”

“I know you thought he was some tragic figure who got in over his head,” he said. “But your father wasn’t a victim, Rory. He was a gambler. And he knew exactly what he was risking.”

I flipped open the folder. The first page was a contract—thick legal language I barely understood—but my father’s signature was right there at the bottom.

“This is…” I scanned the top. “A debt agreement?”

“Not just debt,” Kai said. “This was a partnership. Your father offered something to secure it.”

I looked up. “Money?”

Kai’s eyes held mine for a long, weighted second. “No. He offered you.”

The air left my lungs like I’d been hit.

“That’s not—” My voice caught. “That’s not possible. I was a kid.”

Kai’s tone was calm, but there was something sharp underneath it. “Doesn’t matter. He knew one day you’d be leverage. A bargaining chip he could cash in when his luck ran out.”

I shoved the folder away from me. “You’re lying.”

“Am I?” Kai leaned forward, resting his hands on the desk. “Think, Rory. Who else knew where you’d be the night we found you? Who else would have left the door wide open for us to walk in?”

My chest felt tight. I wanted to scream that he was wrong, that my father might have made mistakes but he wasn’t… this. But the voice in my head whispered that I’d been wrong before—about people, about safety, about love.

Kai straightened. “Your father signed you over. We collected. That’s all this is.”

“That’s not all,” I said, standing so quickly the chair scraped the floor. “There’s more you’re not telling me.”

His lips twitched like I’d amused him. “Of course there’s more. But you’re not ready for it.”

I moved toward the door, but Kai stepped in front of me. Not touching me—he didn’t have to. He was just there, a wall of heat and control.

“You think the man in the cellar is your answer?” he asked quietly.

My breath stilled. “What?”

“Don’t pretend,” he said. “I know you saw him. I know you’ll try to see him again. But here’s the truth you’re not ready for, Rory—he and your father weren’t enemies.”

I blinked at him. “What are you talking about?”

“They were partners,” Kai said, his voice low and deliberate. “And if you knew what they were building together, you wouldn’t be standing here arguing with me. You’d be running.”

The room suddenly felt too small, the air too heavy. I gripped the edge of the desk to steady myself. “You’re lying.”

Kai’s gaze softened in the smallest, most unnerving way. “No. I’m telling you the only part of the story that won’t destroy you—yet.”

He moved past me and unlocked the door, like the conversation was over. But as I stepped into the hallway, I couldn’t shake the image of my father’s signature on that paper… or the cold certainty in Kai’s voice.

If he was telling the truth, then my father hadn’t just betrayed me. He’d sold me.

And if he was lying…

Then I needed to find the man in the cellar and get the rest of the story before Kai decided I didn’t need to breathe anymore.

I took one step toward the stairs, already mapping the fastest route down there—

“Careful, Rory,” Kai called behind me, his tone almost lazy. “The last person who went digging for the truth ended up buried in it.”