Chapter 6 - Sebastian’s Most Dangerous Promise
Sebastian did not react immediately.
That was when he was most dangerous.
Elena did.
“That’s a lie.”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“I wish it were.”
“You disappeared.”
“To keep Valerie alive.”
“You let me think you were dead.”
“And you let Valerie think you were dead.”
Their shared guilt silenced them.
Sebastian stepped forward.
“Explain my father.”
Daniel sat again.
“Richard Ward was preparing to testify.”
Sebastian froze.
“Against whom?”
“Everyone.”
The Ward organization.
Adrian.
Thomas.
Political partners.
Business owners.
Even himself.
“He wanted out,” Daniel said. “He wanted Sebastian free of it.”
My eyes moved toward Sebastian.
He looked as if someone had struck him.
“Richard planned to enter federal protection. Elena was supposed to carry the evidence.”
Elena whispered, “I did.”
“No,” Daniel replied. “You changed the plan.”
Her face collapsed.
“You gave one file to Mara because you thought Richard was betraying you.”
“I thought he was giving Sebastian away.”
Sebastian’s voice became quiet.
“What?”
Elena looked at him.
“Richard wanted Vivienne to take you overseas.”
“To save me?”
“To remove you from everything.”
“And you stopped him.”
“I was your mother.”
“You had already given me away.”
The words hurt her.
Sebastian did not care.
“Because of the delay,” Daniel said, “Adrian learned Richard was cooperating.”
“So Elena caused the leak?”
“Unintentionally.”
Sebastian turned away.
I followed.
Outside the warehouse, cold wind blew from the river.
“Sebastian.”
“Don’t.”
I stopped.
He walked several yards away.
Then turned.
“My father died because everyone who claimed to love me made decisions on my behalf.”
I had no answer.
He looked at me.
“You did the same thing.”
My stomach dropped.
“The letter.”
I realized immediately.
“You found it?”
“You left it in the guest room.”
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.”
He stepped closer.
“I asked you if there was something you weren’t telling me.”
“I was scared.”
“So was everyone else.”
That hurt because it was true.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked past me.
“I need time.”
For two days, Sebastian barely spoke to me.
We remained at the estate because Thomas had disappeared again.
Daniel stayed under protection.
Elena occupied another wing.
Mara was confined to a guarded guest house while Sebastian decided what to do.
On the third night, I found him standing beside the lake.
“Still angry?”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“Yes.”
“Fair.”
That made him glance toward me.
I sat on the dock.
After several seconds, he joined me.
“My entire life,” he said, “everyone kept secrets because they thought the truth would damage me.”
“And instead the secrets did.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the water.
“I didn’t hide the letter to protect you.”
“Why then?”
“To protect myself.”
His eyes shifted.
“I was afraid you’d think Elena being your mother changed what happened between us.”
“It did.”
My heart sank.
Then he continued.
“It made me realize how easily I could’ve lost you before knowing why you mattered.”
I stared at him.
Sebastian rarely said emotional things.
When he did, each word seemed to cost him.
“Valerie.”
“Yes?”
“I don’t know how to do this.”
“Do what?”
He looked almost irritated by the question.
“Care about someone without controlling every possible outcome.”
I smiled faintly.
“You could start by not telling me where I’m allowed to go.”
“No.”
I laughed.
“There goes the progress.”
He reached for my hand.
“I can promise something else.”
“What?”
“No more secrets.”
I raised an eyebrow.
“You’re a mafia boss.”
“Formerly, if I can finish what my father started.”
I sat straighter.
“What?”
“I’m dismantling it.”
“Sebastian—”
“My father wanted me free.”
His expression hardened.
“He died trying to make that happen.”
The enormity of the decision struck me.
The Ward empire was worth billions.
Walking away was not like resigning from a company.
It would create enemies.
Vacuum.
War.
“You could die.”
“Yes.”
“That was disturbingly casual.”
His thumb brushed across my knuckles.
“I’ve considered death before.”
“And now?”
He looked at me.
“Now I have reasons to avoid it.”
Before I could answer, lights across the estate went out.
Every single one.
Sebastian stood instantly.
“Inside.”
A distant alarm began sounding.
Security radios erupted.
Then a voice came through Sebastian’s phone.
“Boss, perimeter breach.”
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
A second voice interrupted.
“North gate compromised.”
Sebastian grabbed my shoulders.
“Go to the safe room.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“That is not bravery.”
“Neither is ordering me away.”
His face came close to mine.
“Valerie, please.”
The word stopped me.
Sebastian Ward did not say please.
I nodded.
Then an explosion of glass came from the house.
We turned.
Flames appeared in an upstairs window.
“My mother.”
“Elena has security.”
“My father?”
“Also covered.”
We ran inside.
Smoke spread through the west hallway.
Sebastian’s men shouted instructions.
Then I heard Daniel scream.
I ran toward the sound.
“Valerie!”
Too late.
I reached the library.
Daniel lay on the floor, conscious but injured.
A masked man stood above him.
Sebastian entered behind me.
The intruder backed toward the window.
Before disappearing, he threw something across the floor.
A small recorder.
Then he escaped.
Sebastian helped Daniel up.
I picked up the recorder.
A message began playing automatically.
Thomas Ward’s voice.
“Sebastian, if you dismantle the organization, you destroy the only thing keeping Valerie alive.”
Sebastian took the recorder.
Thomas continued.
“Ask Daniel who Valerie’s biological mother truly was.”
I looked toward my father.
He closed his eyes.
“No.”
I felt cold.
“Dad?”
Daniel whispered two words.
“Vivienne Ward.”
May you like
Sebastian stopped breathing.
And once again, everything we thought we knew disappeared.
