𝐕𝐞𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐎𝐛𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧

Chapter 36: The Hidden Darkness

Alexander

The room seemed to close in on me, the walls pressing tighter with each passing second. The dim light from the lone lamp cast long, eerie shadows, making Delaney's face appear even more haggard. His eyes, bloodshot and hollow, bore into mine, as if daring me to run from the truth he was about to spill. But I was rooted in place, unable to move, bracing myself for the impact of the words that would change everything.

“Your father,” Delaney began, his voice a rough whisper, “wasn’t just the man you thought he was. He wasn’t just some rich CEO who made a few enemies along the way. No, Alexander, he was caught in something much darker, something that goes far beyond business rivalries or boardroom deals.”

I stared at him, every muscle in my body tensed. I had suspected for a long time that my father had been involved in things that were far more dangerous than I’d ever known, but hearing it confirmed was like a punch to the gut. I clenched my fists, trying to keep my voice steady. “What was he involved in? And what does this have to do with Vivian? With my mother?”

Delaney took a long drag from his cigarette, letting the smoke curl slowly from his lips before speaking again. “It all started with Catherine,” he said. “Your real mother.”

My heart skipped a beat at the mention of her name. Catherine—the woman whose memory had been reduced to fragments, whose very existence had been all but erased from my life after her death. My mind scrambled to connect the dots, to understand how she was tied to this mess.

“Your father loved her more than anything,” Delaney continued, his tone softening for a moment. “But love in our world comes with a price, Alexander. Catherine was a threat—not because of anything she did, but because of who she was, and more importantly, because of what she knew.”

“What she knew?” I repeated, my voice barely above a whisper.

Delaney nodded, his gaze distant as he delved into the past. “Catherine came from a powerful family, one that was deeply connected to a network that controlled more than just wealth. They had influence, ties to governments, and access to information that could ruin empires. Your father was drawn into that world because of her, but once he was in, he realized that it wasn’t just business as usual. It was a world where secrets were currency, and the stakes were life and death.”

My mind reeled. My mother—a part of this dark, clandestine world? It was almost impossible to reconcile the hazy memories I had of her gentle nature with the image Delaney was painting. But I knew there was more, something deeper, something that would explain the chasm of emptiness left after she was gone.

“Your father didn’t want any part of it,” Delaney continued, his voice growing colder. “But once you’re in, there’s no getting out. Catherine tried to protect him, tried to shield him from the worst of it, but she knew too much. And that made her a target.”

“Target?” I echoed, my breath catching in my throat. “Are you saying… Are you saying my mother’s death wasn’t an accident?”

Delaney’s eyes met mine, and the answer was clear in his gaze before he even spoke. “No, it wasn’t an accident. Your mother was killed, Alexander. Murdered.”

The words struck me like a blow to the chest, knocking the air from my lungs. My vision blurred, and for a moment, the room seemed to tilt, as if the very ground beneath me had shifted. Murdered. My mother had been murdered. The woman I had barely known, the mother who had been stolen from me when I was too young to understand—she hadn’t just died. She had been taken from me.

“Why?” I managed to choke out, my voice raw with emotion. “Why would they kill her? What could she have possibly known that was worth her life?”