CHAPTER 10 — THE BLUE FILE
Tyler looked different.
Not better.
Not stronger.
Just desperate.
There was dried blood on his collar.
One side of his face was swollen.
His expensive suit was torn at the shoulder.
He looked like a man who had discovered too late that he had entered a game he couldn't control.
Vincent stepped forward.
"Walk away."
Tyler laughed.
"You still think you can order everyone around."
"I can."
"You can't order me."
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"I don't need to."
Tyler glanced toward the dark corridor.
"You should ask yourself why Elias let me walk out alive."
Vincent went completely still.
I looked at Tyler.
"You saw him."
"Of course."
"Where?"
"Close."
"Is he here?"
Tyler smiled.
"Maybe."
Vincent's men immediately spread through the facility.
Tyler lifted his hands.
"I'm not carrying anything."
Vincent stared at him.
"You're carrying stupidity."
Tyler laughed.
"Still arrogant."
"Still alive."
Tyler's smile faded.
Then he looked at me.
"Emily."
I hated hearing my name from him.
"What?"
"I owe you an apology."
I almost laughed.
"Now?"
"I was wrong."
"About what?"
"About you."
I stared at him.
He took a step forward.
Vincent blocked him.
Tyler stopped.
"You think I never loved you."
I said nothing.
"I did."
"You humiliated me."
"I know."
"You told me nobody would ever love me."
"I know."
"You made me hate my own body."
His eyes dropped.
"I know."
"Then why?"
Tyler swallowed.
"Because I was scared."
"Of what?"
"Of finding out you were worth more than me."
I shook my head.
"That isn't an excuse."
"No."
He looked at the blue file.
"But it is the truth."
Vincent interrupted.
"Enough."
Tyler laughed.
"You really don't want her hearing this."
Vincent's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Choose your next words carefully."
Tyler looked at me.
"Your father didn't just leave you money."
He paused.
"He left you leverage."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Tyler nodded toward the file.
"Open it."
Vincent stopped me.
"No."
I looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because we don't know what's inside."
"That's exactly why I need to know."
Vincent stared at me.
Then slowly stepped aside.
I opened the blue file.
The first page contained a list of names.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officials.
Bankers.
Executives.
Each name had dates beside it.
Payments.
Meetings.
Photographs.
I turned another page.
More names.
More transactions.
Then I saw a familiar surname.
DeLuca.
My eyes moved to Vincent.
He didn't react.
"What is this?"
"Evidence."
"Against your family?"
"Some of it."
I turned another page.
There were photographs of Vincent's father.
Meeting people.
Signing documents.
Receiving envelopes.
I looked at Vincent.
"You knew."
"I knew some of it."
"How much?"
"Enough to understand why your father was afraid."
I turned another page.
Then stopped.
There was a photograph of Elias.
Younger.
Standing beside my father.
The caption underneath read:
PROJECT BLUE — PHASE ONE.
My heart raced.
"What is Project Blue?"
Vincent leaned closer.
"I don't know."
Tyler laughed.
"You don't know much, do you?"
Vincent looked at him.
Tyler immediately stopped laughing.
I kept reading.
The next page contained a diagram.
Several companies.
Several accounts.
And one central name.
THE BLUE TRUST.
Underneath:
BENEFICIARY: EMILY ______
My breath stopped.
The last name was my real surname.
The one I had never used.
The one my mother had erased.
I touched the page.
"How much?"
Tyler answered.
"Enough to make people kill."
I looked at Vincent.
"How much money?"
He didn't answer.
Tyler did.
"Four hundred and eighty-two million dollars."
Silence.
I laughed.
It sounded absurd.
"That's impossible."
"No."
Tyler shook his head.
"What's impossible is that your father managed to hide it for twenty years."
I looked at the documents.
"Where is the money?"
Vincent answered.
"Most of it isn't cash."
"Then what is it?"
"Ownership."
He pointed toward the documents.
"Companies."
"Property."
"Debt."
"Contracts."
"Voting rights."
I looked at him.
"You're saying I'm worth nearly half a billion dollars."
"I'm saying the documents claim that."
My stomach turned.
I didn't want it.
I had never wanted it.
All I had ever wanted was enough money to pay rent without checking my bank account three times.
Now people were willing to kill for a fortune I didn't even know existed.
I closed the file.
"Burn it."
Vincent looked at me.
"What?"
"Burn it."
Tyler laughed.
"You can't."
"Why?"
"Because there's more."
He pointed toward the final section.
Vincent opened it.
Inside was a medical document.
My birth records.
Then another.
A DNA report.
I stared.
The report listed my father.
Then another biological parent.
My hands shook.
"Who's that?"
Vincent didn't answer.
I looked at the name.
My mother's face appeared in my mind.
Then the impossible became clear.
The report didn't name another parent.
It named another bloodline.
A family I had never heard of.
Vincent's family.
I looked at him.
"No."
His face was pale.
"This can't be right."
"What does it say?"
He stared at the document.
Then finally whispered:
"Your father wasn't the only DeLuca connection."
I felt sick.
"What does that mean?"
Vincent didn't answer.
Tyler did.
"It means the people hunting you don't just want your money."
He smiled.
"They want to know what you are."
I looked at Vincent.
His eyes were fixed on the DNA report.
"What does it say?"
He took a breath.
Then said:
"Your father wasn't your only guardian."
My heart stopped.
"Who else?"
Vincent looked at the final line.
And his expression changed completely.
"Someone in my family was listed as your biological relative."
I stared at him.
"Who?"
Before he could answer—
The warehouse lights exploded.
Darkness swallowed us.
Gunfire erupted from every direction.
Vincent grabbed me and pulled me behind a steel column.
Tyler disappeared into the darkness.
Men shouted.
Glass shattered.
I heard Vincent give orders.
Then a single gunshot sounded much closer than the others.
Vincent suddenly staggered.
I caught his arm.
"Vincent!"
He looked at me.
Blood spread across his shirt.
But he didn't fall.
Instead, he grabbed the blue file.
His voice was barely audible.
"Emily..."
"What?"
"Whatever happens..."
He pressed the file against my chest.
"Don't let them take this."
Then he looked toward the darkness.
May you like
And whispered the name of the person whose blood was supposedly running through my veins.
"Elias."
