Chapter 7 - THE MAN WHO CARRIED THE RABBIT
Damon stared at the image.
Sofia's father.
Edward Lane.
Carrying Lily's stuffed rabbit.
Sofia's face collapsed.
“My father wouldn't hurt her.”
Damon looked at her.
“Then why was he in the west wing?”
“I don't know.”
“Why did he take Lily's rabbit?”
“I don't know.”
“Why didn't you tell me he was connected to Blackthorn?”
Sofia flinched.
“Because I was ashamed.”
Damon said nothing.
She continued.
“My father believed the only way to survive was to keep secrets.”
“That sounds familiar.”
She looked at him.
“Your father taught him.”
Damon accepted the accusation without defending Vincent.
The camera footage showed Edward entering the corridor at 6:48 p.m.
He stayed for four minutes.
Then left.
The rabbit was in his hand.
Damon watched it twice.
Then he noticed something.
Edward didn't walk toward the hidden room.
He walked away from it.
“He wasn't inside.”
Victor nodded.
“No.”
“Then where did he go?”
“Staff wing.”
Damon looked at Nadia.
Her face had gone white.
The staff wing contained Lily's room.
Damon immediately moved.
They found the bedroom empty.
The rabbit was gone.
Lily was with Nadia downstairs.
The bed had been disturbed.
On the pillow was a small envelope.
Damon opened it.
Inside was a photograph of Edward Lane standing with Vincent Kane.
On the back:
HE WAS TRYING TO PROTECT HER.
Sofia stared.
“My father?”
Damon nodded.
She took the photograph.
Her hands shook.
“My father told me Vincent Kane ruined his life.”
Victor spoke quietly.
“Maybe he meant he saved it.”
Sofia looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
Victor explained.
Edward had once been ordered to destroy the old warehouse records.
Instead, he copied them.
He realized Blackthorn was preparing to eliminate witnesses.
He secretly gave the copies to Vincent.
Vincent used them to help people escape.
Edward became a target.
He survived by cooperating publicly with the men he feared.
Privately, he continued protecting the people Vincent had saved.
Including Adrian.
And Nadia.
Damon stared at the photograph.
“Then why has he been watching me?”
Sofia answered.
“Because he thinks you're next.”
The room went silent.
Damon looked at her.
“Next for what?”
Sofia shook her head.
“He never told me.”
A voice came from behind them.
“I can.”
Everyone turned.
Edward Lane stood in the doorway.
Older than Damon expected.
His hair was silver.
His hands were shaking.
But his eyes were steady.
Sofia stared at him.
“Dad.”
Edward looked at his daughter.
“I am sorry.”
Sofia's voice broke.
“You lied to me.”
“Yes.”
“You told me the Kanes destroyed your life.”
“They did.”
“You told me Vincent was a monster.”
“He did terrible things.”
“But he also saved people.”
Edward nodded.
“Yes.”
Damon stepped forward.
“Why were you in the west wing?”
Edward looked at him.
“Because I knew someone had found the room.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Damon's eyes narrowed.
Edward reached into his coat.
He removed Lily's rabbit.
Sofia gasped.
Edward immediately held it out.
“I didn't take her.”
Damon didn't move.
“Then why do you have it?”
“Because someone hid something inside it.”
Damon took the rabbit.
He inspected the seams.
One had been cut and stitched again.
Inside the stuffing was a tiny memory card.
Victor stared.
“That can't be.”
Edward shook his head.
“It was given to me years ago.”
“By whom?”
“Vincent.”
Damon took the card.
“What is on it?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
Edward looked toward Nadia.
“Who started the fire.”
The room went silent.
Damon found an old computer in the library.
Victor inserted the card.
A video appeared.
The footage was poor.
The date was twenty years old.
A warehouse.
A man entering through a side door.
He wore a long coat.
He carried a metal container.
Damon leaned closer.
The man turned.
His face appeared for only three seconds.
Edward whispered,
“Richard Voss.”
Damon recognized the name.
A former Blackthorn executive.
Officially dead for fifteen years.
The video continued.
Voss poured something along the warehouse floor.
Then he walked away.
But before he disappeared, another man entered.
Vincent Kane.
He was carrying a child.
Damon's breath caught.
Vincent placed the child in the arms of a woman.
Then he turned toward the camera.
His face looked terrified.
Not angry.
Terrified.
The video ended.
Damon stared at the black screen.
“What child was that?”
Edward shook his head.
“I don't know.”
Nadia stepped closer.
“Wait.”
She pointed at the woman's bracelet.
The black rose.
The same symbol.
She covered her mouth.
“That was my mother.”
Damon looked at her.
“Then the child—”
A sound interrupted them.
Lily's voice.
She was standing in the doorway.
“That's the man.”
Damon turned.
She pointed at the frozen screen.
Not Vincent.
Not the woman.
Not the child.
She pointed at the edge of the frame.
Someone else stood outside the warehouse.
Half hidden behind a truck.
A younger man.
Lily recognized him.
Damon zoomed the image.
The face appeared.
Edward stepped backward.
Victor whispered,
“No.”
Damon looked at him.
Victor's face was gray.
“You know him.”
Victor nodded.
“He was my father.”
The room went silent.
Victor stared at the screen.
“My father was supposed to have died before I was born.”
Damon looked at him.
“Then how was he there?”
Victor didn't answer.
Because another detail had appeared on the screen.
The younger man was holding a Kane signet ring.
Not Vincent's.
Another one.
Thomas suddenly entered the room.
He looked at the screen.
Then at Damon.
“There were two Kane brothers.”
Damon stared.
“My father and Thomas.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
He pointed at the screen.
“There were three.”
Damon's face went cold.
“The third brother?”
Thomas whispered,
“He was the one who disappeared.”
And then Edward looked at Damon.
May you like
“His name was Gabriel.”
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