CHAPTER <b>45 </b>


    We came to the conclusion that Dad had indeed left a few of his warriors behind, and those warriors were now actively searching for them. They werebing through the entire town.


    “Dad wrote notes in this,” I said. “He suspected that my mom was cheating on him and believed that he wasn’t my biological father. I really want that to be true.” I added. “But then he knocked her out cold and gave his Beta the order to eliminate her and make it look like it was a rogue attack. He also told the Beta to take me, but clearly something changed, and he didn’t follow through.” I said.


    “All of that was actually written down in the documents?” Elias asked.


    “Oh, no. I saw it all in a vision while I was holding the file,” I exined.


    “That’s odd, but honestly, with you, I’m not even surprised anymore,” he said.


    I returned to the filing cab and searched for my own file, and then I looked for one on Finn Corwin–but there was nothing. He didn’t have any file in there. I figured that meant he was never a member of this


    pack.


    I started pacing around the room<b>, </b>cing my hands on every surface I could, hoping one of them might trigger another vision. But nothing happened. I didn’t get any more shes, which was disappointing. At least, until I came to a painting hanging on the wall. I had seen it countless times before and had always hated it. It was a portrait of my father, trying to look dominant and powerful, dressed in a fancy three–piece suit. The image he projected to everyone–everyone except me. I yanked it off the wall and hurled it across the room, where it shattered into pieces as it hit the opposite wall.


    “Lyra,” Elias said behind me.


    “What?” I replied, ncing over at him. He was staring past me, eyes fixed on something.


    I turned around to see what he was looking at, and there it was–a goddamn safe embedded in the wall.


    “You’ve got to be kidding me. That son of a b***h,” I muttered. Elias walked over to check if he could open it, but it was too well–secured. He couldn’t get through it on his own. So I raised my palm and pressed it firmly against the surface of the safe.


    I could sense a bit of energy beginning to stir within me, but it wasn’t strong enough yet to break through


    the metal.


    Then I felt Noir begin to rise to the surface with me.


    “Don’t stop now, Lyra. You can do this,” Noir encouraged. I felt the power build inside of me, growing more


    intense, until there was so much heat generated that the safe’s metal hinges began to liquefy, and the door copsed from the frame.


    I fell backward, trying to catch my breath as Noir faded back into my mind.


    “Your eyes were glowing, too,” Elias said, quickly wrapping his arms around my waist to steady me in case


    I fell.


    “That was Noir,” I said.


    “I figured as much,” he replied.


    More Rewards


    I stepped back toward the now–open safe and discovered a pile of documents stacked neatly inside.


    “Oh my god… these are about the royal bloodline,” I said, flipping through one of the notebooks.


    “What exactly do you mean?” he asked.


    “It’s about the rest of the royal family. My mom wasn’t thest. He had information about where they all


    are. Distant rtions,” I told him.


    “He’s nning to wipe them all out,” Elias said grimly. I nced at him, feeling a pit form in my stomach. I didn’t want to lose any remaining family I might still have out there. But the notebook looked aged, like it had been locked in that safe for a long time. We couldn’t tell whether he’d already found them or <i>not</i>.


    Then I found another file and pulled it out–it had Finn Corwin’s name printed clearly on the front.


    I flipped it open, and while there wasn’t a photo inside, it contained data about where he had been. Every ce he had lived. He moved constantly. I got the sense he wasn’t affiliated with any pack. That could


    only mean one thing–he must be a rogue.


    Maybe he hadn’t be a rogue yet when my mother knew him.


    That would definitely make it a lot more difficult for us to find him now.


    “Do you actually think he might be your father?” Elias asked.


    “I honestly don’t know. I’ve never even seen him. I don’t have anything that makes me think he is,” I said.


    “Come on, they’re already aware that we’re here. We can’t stay much longer,” he said.


    “I know. But something else has to be here, something I haven’t found yet. All I learned was that Dad really


    did kill my mother. I need more than just that,” I said.


    “I get it. This must be infuriating. Your father was hiding a lot,” he said.


    “I know. And I need to find out everything he was keeping secret,” I said.


    “Well, here’s a contract. It’s between him and the ck witch,” Elias said, holding it out for me.


    “That doesn’t shock me. We already knew she was involved,” I said.


    I leaned back into Dad’s chair and scanned the room again. I tried to picture what he was doing in here for


    so many hours day after day. <fn1dd3> Checktest chapters at FindN0vel</fn1dd3>


    I was hoping I’d get some kind of feeling or idea, but there was nothing. Nothing came to me at all.


    I stood up and walked upstairs to his bedroom, then stepped inside.


    The room was empty. No clothes, no personal things, nothing left behind–but just like the hidden safe


    < CHAPTER 45


    earlier, I was sure there was something else.


    More Rewards


    I started searching the wardrobe and noticed one of the boards on the wall was loose. I began kicking at it until it gave way, and behind it, there was a box hidden inside the wall.


    I pulled the box out and sat down on the bed, opening it to look through the contents.


    There were pictures of my mother holding me when I was a baby, along with a few other personal keepsakes like that. But beneath them, I found a bundle of letters addressed to my mother–Rowan.


    I opened one of the envelopes, but there wasn’t a letter inside. Instead, there were photographs of my father. He was meeting someone secretly in the woods, and whoever took the pictures had clearly sent


    them to my mother.


    He looked like he was doing something shady. I didn’t recognize any of the other people in the images.


    There were more envelopes just like it. My mom had been keeping tabs on him, but I didn’t <i>know </i>why.


    They seemed like business meetings–but they were being held out in the woods, and that made them


    suspicious.


    “Let’s go. More of your dad’s warriors are approaching. We’ve got to get out now,<i>” </i>Elias said, suddenly


    reentering the room in a rush.


    I grabbed everything I’d found, and we ran downstairs. Elias got me to the car, and we drove off with our


    warriors, not looking back.


    “What do you think those photos are about?” he asked me.


    “I think they mean that my mom knew something was wrong. That she knew my dad was hiding


    something,” I said.


    “What do you think he was involved in back then?” Elias asked.


    “I don’t know. But we have to identify the people in those pictures,” I said. Elias took one of the photos


    from me and studied it closely while driving.


    “What is it?<b>” </b>I asked him.


    “The man on the left,” Elias said, handing the photo back to me.


    “You recognize him?” I asked.


    “Yeah. That’s my f<b>*****</b>g father,” Elias said, jaw clenched tightly.


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