Chapter 102: Chapter 101: The Weight of the Blood
The door to the small study clicked shut, and the lock turned with a soft snap. Julius pressed his back against the panels, his hands trembling against his sides as he let his head fall back. He was completely alone in the room.
For the past hour, his mind had been playing the audio file from Arthur’s phone over and over again. His mother’s voice sounded so calm, so casual, as she discussed the crash that had ended so many lives. Julius walked over to the desk, his legs feeling weak and unstable. He sank down onto the floor, pulling his knees up tightly against his chest.
It was his mother, Harrison had to grow up without parents. Every single good memory he had with Harrison felt tainted now. Every time Harrison had held him, every time they had shared a quiet moment, Julius had been carrying the blood of Harrison’s family without even knowing it.
A soft knock came from the other side of the door. Julius did not move. He did not want to see anyone, especially not the man he loved.
"Julius, open the door, baby," Harrison’s deep voice came through. "I know you are in there. Let me in."
Julius swallowed hard, his throat burning. "Go away, Harrison. Please. Just leave me alone for a little while."
"I am not leaving you alone," Harrison replied, his tone firm but gentle. A second later, the sound of a key turning echoed through the room. Harrison had used the spare key. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him, his eyes instantly finding Julius sitting on the floor in the dark corner.
Harrison walked over smoothly, He did not say anything at first. He simply dropped to his knees right in front of Julius, reaching out to wrap his large, warm hands around Julius’s shaking wrists.
"Don’t touch me," Julius whispered, trying to pull his hands away, though his grip was weak. He could not bring himself to look Harrison in the eyes. "Harrison, you shouldn’t be near me right now. My mother killed your parents. She planned the entire thing."
"Look at me anyway," Harrison commanded softly, his grip tightening just enough to keep Julius steady. He forced Julius to raise his head. "Julius, listen to my voice. You are not your mother. You did not touch those brake lines, and you did not give Arthur those codes. You were a child in that car, just like I was."
"It doesn’t matter," Julius said, a single tear spilling over his eyelashes as his voice broke. "It is her blood in my veins. How can you even look at me without wanting to tear me apart? If it were anyone else, you would have killed them already."
"But you are not anyone else," Harrison said, his expression completely soft as he moved closer, pulling Julius’s stiff body into his broad chest.
He wrapped his arms tightly around Julius, holding him so close that Julius could hear beating of his heart. "I forgive you, Julius. I forgive everything because you had no part in it. I don’t blame you for a single thing."
Julius did not argue back. He simply nodded his head against Harrison’s shoulder, letting out a small breath to make it look like he was accepting the comfort.
But deep inside, his heart was still bleeding. Harrison’s forgiveness was a gift he did not feel he deserved, and the guilt remained firmly rooted in his stomach, turning into a cold, hard knot.
He could forgive many things, but he could never forgive the fact that his own mother was a monster.
After a long time, Julius pulled back slightly, wiping his face with the back of his hand.
Harrison grabbed him standing up and pulled Julius up with him. "For now, the story stays between us. We need help to handle the files and we need Anna."
Julius nodded. "Call her in. She deserves to know the truth, but we must make sure she keeps it quiet."
Harrison walked over to the desk phone, hitting a quick speed dial line. Within five minutes, a soft knock sounded on the door, and Anna walked into the study. She looked tired, her hair pulled back tightly, but her eyes were sharp as she looked between the two men.
"Daniel told me Arthur is downstairs," Anna said, closing the door and leaning against it. "What happened? Did he give up the people he was working with?"
Julius walked over to the desk, picking up Arthur’s phone. "Anna, before we say anything, you need to promise that what you hear in this room does not leave these walls."
Anna frowned, her expression turning serious as she looked at Julius. "You know you can trust me, Julius. What is going on? You look like you have seen a ghost."
Julius did not explain with words. He simply pressed the play button on the phone, letting his mother’s voice say the truth.
Anna stood perfectly still as the audio note played. As the voice discussed the office codes, the drive, and the order to frame Julius’s father and keep Julius alive, the color completely drained from Anna’s face.
Her mouth opened slightly, her eyes widening in horror. After the car accident, Anna had seen her as a strong, resilient woman who had survived a terrible tragedy.
She had respected her, and treated her like a symbol of strength for never letting it affect her.
When the file ended, Anna stumbled back a step, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. "No... no, that is impossible. That is Selene’s voice, right?"
"It is real, Anna," Julius said, his voice completely dead and cold. "We checked the older logs too. She didn’t just give him the codes. She planned the highway crash years ago. She is the one who cleared out Harrison’s parents and my father. She did it all to get her hands on a data drive my father hid before he died."
Anna sank into a nearby chair, her body trembling slightly as the image of the woman she respected shattered into a million pieces. "She was a monster... All this time, she was the one who pulled the trigger."
"We don’t have time to process the shock, Anna," Harrison stepped forward, his voice cutting through the room.
"Arthur failed today, which means Selene will find out very soon that her main asset in the city is gone. Once she realizes Arthur is caught, she will come for that drive herself, or she will send everyone she has left to destroy this building."
Anna took a deep breath, forcing herself to sit up straight. "What do we do now?"
"Our main priority is the drive," Julius said, stepping closer to the desk map. "My father hid it well enough that neither Arthur nor my mother could find it for years. If we find that drive first, we will know exactly how we can use it to lure her out into the open."
"Where do we start looking?" Anna asked, her voice turning professional as she tried to focus on the task.
"We have Sarah downstairs with Arthur," Harrison said, his eyes turning dark as he thought about the prisoners in the deep cells.
"Arthur is broken, but Sarah is terrified. We are going to go down there, throw them in the same room, and make her talk. She knows the layout of their entire operation. She is going to give us every single location they have gathered."
Julius nodded, his face turning hard as he prepared himself for what was coming. "Let’s go downstairs. It’s time to break the rest."
