Page 130 of The Wrecked One

His shoulders slumped, the pride fleeting, more than likely as his own role in all of this began sinking in.

“My family has been in charge of protecting any tangible objects they don’t want to be destroyed. While the Sorens have historically handled messaging for the group, my family has been in charge of simply protecting their organization’s history. The artifacts.”

AKA our evidence.

“You could consider us the Vatican Archives of The Collective.” He met my eyes and started sharing more details at rapid speed. “The vault is in Lake Como. It requires two people to access it. Myself and another member of The Collective. The code to unlock it changes with each visit, and the second person who shows up with me to unlock it each time is picked at random from one of the other families. I never know who is selected, or what the code will be, until I arrive. I only visit when called upon to store something.”

“Like the nuclear football,” Oliver mumbled, speaking for the first time as he sat back alongside me. “Will they destroy this vault now that your family has been compromised?”

“I was told by that blonde woman,” he said, presumably referring to Jessica, “that the President is hoping word gets out I was killed on the island, along with Meryl. I don’t think The Collective will take any chances, and they’re probably already voting to destroy the vault to protect themselves,” he explained steadily, his tears now gone. “If you try and crack the safe, assuming you can get there before they do, it’ll self-destruct. You’ll need the best of the best out there if you have a chance of accessing it. I can’t help you on my own, or I would.”

“A safecracker. The best of the best,” Oliver said under his breath as if he had an idea. I was too keyed in on Tony to play catch-up with his thoughts and figure out who he was considering.

“You should hurry.” Tony lifted his chin, reminding us of the limited time we had. “They won’t have time to empty it, but they have the means and incentive to issue a drone strike and blow up the vault if they believe your people will get there before they do. Just like they did with the help of someone tonight on that island.”

The French naval vessel. Right.

“That file I gave you also has details on the people they’ll contact from Italian Intelligence for an assist to take out the vault. If you hurry, you can stop them before they have a chance to do that.”

“Go,” I told Oliver, realizing we had no time to spare. “I’ll be okay. Please. Have it checked out, then come back.” I set my hand on his forearm, gently squeezing.

His brows drew together, then he stood tall as I scooched over on the floor to get away from the door, not ready to test my legs out yet. “If you try anything,” was all he threatened to Tony, and it was all he needed to say.

Once he left, I pivoted around to peer at the man who’d raised me as his daughter. The pieces were now all coming together. The frequent trips to Lake Como. The hypnotist in middle school suppressing my nightmares so the truth didn’t come out. The fact he hadn’t wanted me to become an investigative journalist, probably worried I’d stumbled upon the truth one day.

I had a million questions to ask him, and I had no clue where to start, or if I even should. We finally had a list of the world’s worst people at our fingertips, and we were so close to completing a mission that had felt impossible from the start.

But it is possible, because it’s going to happen. We’re going to end this war with them. And Michael will be okay. I had to stay positive. I had to get through this and find my family. My real family.

“Why?” I sniffled, setting my palm to the floor to ready myself for an attempt to push up and stand. “Why did you not want to continue working for them after generations of your family did?”

He angled his head, eyes to the floor again in that same reflective way. “I never liked that the choice wasn’t mine to make. That’s how it started, at least. The intentions and misguided musings of a rebellious nineteen-year-old, you could say.” He lifted one shoulder, lowering his cuffed hands to his lap. “But the more I got to thinking about it, the more I understood what they were doing wasn’t for the greater good. It was for their greater good. They were taking people’s free will to line their pockets and maximize their power. Not just billionaire families with trust funds, but in the past, royal families.”

Not a shocker on that last part.

“I went into law because my parents told me to, but when I became a judge and saw the system failing so many, knowing so much of what was going on had to do with The Collective and their manipulation of events and people’s free will, I decided enough was enough. It had to end with me. No more generations. No more Collective.”

His tone was firm that time. Conviction thick in his voice. I wanted to rally around what he was saying and support the fact he was after the same enemy as me. But the way in which he got there still had my stomach revolting.

“Do you ever think you can one day forgive me?”

I slowly stood, sliding my palm up the concrete wall for an assist. “Maybe I would have one day, if you’ve really been doing what you’ve said. Never her, though.”

“But?” he whispered, eyes narrowed, waiting to be disappointed.

“But you should have told me sooner. You did have a choice, and you made the wrong one.” I swallowed. “You didn’t stop Meryl from her plans with Steve, and Oliver and my friends could’ve been killed. Saving me doesn’t change the fact you didn’t try and save them. And for that, I can’t ever?—”

“But I did save your friends,” he interrupted, eyes widening now as if confused. “I thought I told you on the yacht.” He lifted his chin, zeroing in on the ceiling as if the answers were there. “The drugs were still in my system, though, maybe I didn’t tell you.”

“Tell me what?” I walked over to the table and held the back of the metal chair opposite him.

“I have to assume by now you know Alyssa Soren was trying to save her children and stop her husband as well, and I know this because I was working with her. She’s how I learned about what happened in Thailand. I had to act like I didn’t know when Stef Soren told me.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The hacker who has been warning you ever since Singapore . . . he works for me,” he said steadily. “Alyssa has been relaying information she learned from her husband to me through him for over a year. I also had her keep an eye on anything relating to you once you started at FYVM. But Sylvester didn’t tell her his plans with you. She didn’t know you were in danger until you were on that plane to Singapore. Once she found out, she let me know they planned to take down the jet.”

“You’ve been saving me? Us?” I couldn’t get the words out. Was he serious?

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