Chapter 97 The Last Truth
Chapter 97 The Last Truth
The observatory fell into a profound silence.
—
A gentle breeze wafted through the damaged sections of the dome ceiling above.
The countdown timer continued in its glow behind Charles.
01:32:44.
—
And suddenly,
Everything felt terrifyingly fragile.
—
Zoe stared at Charles intently now.
No with fear anymore.
But with something more complicated.
Because for the first time,
He truly looked like someone standing at the edge of himself.
—
“You planned to die,” she said softly.
Charles gave a faint smile.
“Eventually.”
Adrian’s face became tensed immediately.
“You don't get to ruin lives and disappear like some helpless victim.”
“No,” Charles replied softly.
“I don't.”
A pause.
“But neither does Victor.”
—
The tension inside the observatory thickened again.
Because even now,
Everything still circled back to Victor King.
—
Adrian stepped closer slowly.
“You could have brought him down without doing all this.”
Charles chuckled softly.
“No.”
His gaze lifted toward Adrian again.
“You still believe that powerful men falter when truth is revealed.”
Another pause.
“They falter when people feel the truth.”
—
And that,
That was precisely what Charles orchestrated.
—
Public betrayal.
Emotional outrage.
Visible destruction.
—
Not just facts.
Impacts.
—
Lila remained near the entrance, observing closely.
Because something dangerous lingered beneath Charles’s calm demeanor now.
Not aggression.
Certainty.
—
“What’s in the final file?” Adrian asked quietly.
Charles's expression shifted slightly.
For the first time that night,
Real hesitation appeared.
—
Then he looked directly at Adrian.
“The one thing Victor protected more than his company.”
A pause.
“You.”
—
Zoe frowned immediately.
“What does that mean?”
Charles walked slowly toward one of the monitors.
Then pressed a key.
An unplayed, encrypted video file appeared on the screen.
Waiting.
—
“This,” Charles said softly, “is the only conversation Victor King ever truly feared going public.”
—
Adrian stared at the still image.
Victor was there again.
Older, this time.
More worn.
—
And seated across from him,
Was a younger Adrian.
Maybe seventeen.
—
His stomach dropped suddenly.
Because he could remember that day.
But barely.
—
One of the worst nights of his life.
—
“I know this,” Adrian whispered.
Charles nodded once.
“Of course you do.”
A pause.
“You just don’t recall all of it.”
—
Before anyone could react,
Charles pressed play.
—
Then the flickered to life.
A young Adrian sat across from Victor in a private office.
Angry.
Shaking slightly.
—
“You ruined lives,” the younger Adrian said through the screen.
Victor remained silent.
—
“I read the acquisition reports,” Adrian continued.
“You ruined companies just because they threatened yours.”
Victor’s expression hardened slightly.
“That’s how survival works."
“You call this survival?”
A pause.
“This is cruelty."
—
Present-day, Zoe looked toward Adrian slowly.
Shock filled her expression.
Because she had never seen this version of him before.
—
On the screen, young Adrian stood abruptly
“I don't want to become like you.”
"I refuse to become like you."
Victor’s cold response came swiftly.
“You already are.”
—
The room inside the observatory went still.
—
Onscreen,
The young Adrian looked terrified.
Victor continued calmly.
“You think your success exists separately from mine?”
A pause.
“It doesn't."
—
Adrian’s breathing slowed painfully in the present.
Because now he remembered the rest.
The part he buried.
—
“You built me by destroying others,” younger Adrian whispered onscreen.
Victor didn’t deny it.
—
Instead,
He delivered the sentence Charles saved for the end.
—
“I built you strong enough to survive in this world.”
—
Then the video ended abruptly.
Silence enveloped the observatory.
—
Zoe stared at Adrian in silence.
And suddenly,
Everything inside him began to make sense completely.
—
The fear of becoming Victor.
The obsession with control.
The guilt he carried even before Charles exposed the empire.
—
Because somewhere deep down,
Adrian had always known.
—
He always knew.
—
Lila exhaled slowly.
“That’s what you wanted to release?”
Charles nodded.
“Yes.”
Adrian turned sharply towards him.
“Why?”
Charles held his gaze steadily.
“Because people will eventually forgive corruption.”
A pause.
“But they won’t forgive seeing you willingly become a part of it.”
—
The accusation hit hard.
Because the video didn’t show his innocence.
It showed his awareness.
—
Zoe quickly stepped forward.
“He was only seventeen.”
Charles looked at her with calm resolve.
“And still smart enough to recognize what Victor was.”
Another pause.
“But he stayed anyway.”
—
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
That was the exact part haunting him now.
—
He didn't turn away but didn't stay either.
—
Not because he agreed with Victor.
But because part of him thought he could eventually fix what the empire had become from inside it.
—
And somehow,
That compromise slowly consumed years of his life.
—
The countdown continued.
01:18:03.
—
Charles glanced at the timer quietly.
“Once this is released, the world will see the full truth.”
A pause.
“They will stop seeing you as a different person from Victor.”
—
Zoe turned to Adrian immediately.
“You are different”
But Adrian didn’t respond.
Because in that moment,
He didn’t fully believe it himself.
—
Charles stepped back slowly toward the observatory controls.
“And maybe that’s unfair."
Another pause.
“But fairness stopped to matter a long time ago.”
—
Lila suddenly noticed something on one of the side monitors.
Her expression sharpened instantly.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
—
A security barrier alert flashed bright red.
MULTIPLE VEHICLES APPROACHING.
FAST.
—
Federal teams?
No.
—
Lila zoomed in further on the feed.
Black SUVs.
Private security.
Armed.
—
And then,
Victor King stepped out of the lead vehicle.
—
Adrian’s entire expression darkened instantly.
—
Charles only smiled faintly.
Almost with sorrow.
—
“Looks like your father wants to see the ending too.”