Chapter 3 Letters in Ash

Elira didn't sleep.

Again.

The letter had shattered what remained of her assumptions. The handwriting was unmistakable-her father's slanted, precise scrawl. And it was dated nearly two months before his supposed death.

If anything happens, find Cassian. Trust no one else.

But why?

Why Cassian?

Why trust a man who used her, married her for leverage, and threatened her with a calmness that chilled her to the bone?

She sat cross-legged on the floor of the hidden archive room, the box of her mother's things resting in her lap. Each letter she read uncovered pieces of a life she hadn't known. Her mother had suspected someone was after her father long before the accident that killed her. She'd written of hushed conversations, secret meetings, and men in black who followed them.

And then, in one letter:

"Cassian Dreven came again today. They argued in the study. I couldn't hear everything, but I caught one name-Roth. I don't trust him. But Lucas does."

Cassian had been in her home. Long before this arranged farce. Long before her father vanished.

Which meant this had been orchestrated from the beginning.

Elira found Cassian in the greenhouse at dawn. Dew clung to the glass panes like pearls, and the soft light made his profile look almost human, less like a ghost from her nightmares.

He didn't acknowledge her immediately. Just continued trimming a blood-red orchid with surgical precision.

"You knew my parents," she said quietly.

A pause. "Yes."

"How long were you planning this?"

He turned slowly, eyes unreadable. "Since the day your mother died."

Her breath caught.

He rested against the stone wall and put his arms across his stomach."Your father came to me the night after her accident. He was shaking. Said it wasn't an accident. Said Roth was closing in. That they were coming for him next-and for you."

"So, what? He handed me over to you like a pawn?"

"No. He made a deal. He asked me to protect you."

Her hands balled into fists. "By marrying me? By dragging me into your world?"

Cassian stepped closer, voice low. "You think this is what I wanted? A marriage built on secrets and blood? Your father was my mentor. My friend. His last request was that I keep you safe, no matter the cost. Even if it meant putting a target on both our backs."

She stared at him, searching for deception. All she saw was a storm contained by sheer will.

I wish you had told me all of this before.

"Since trust is a product we can't afford."

Later that day, Elira explored the estate grounds under the watchful eye of a quiet guard named Fen. He didn't speak unless spoken to, and even then, gave only one-word answers. But Elira didn't mind-his silence gave her time to think.

She was beginning to piece things together.

The Vexley name wasn't just about money. It was access. Roth had used her name to build a money laundering empire, and if the rumors were true, a private militia. If she could prove it, she could burn everything he built to the ground.

But she needed allies.

On that day, Maya was cozily reading a murder mystery from a mug of tea in the upstairs lounge at night.

"Still alive?" Maya teased.

"Barely."

Elira sank into the armchair across from her. The fire crackled between them.

"I need your help," Elira said. "But it's dangerous."

Maya looked up, brow raised. "I figured we passed 'dangerous' when I walked through that steel gate and got a pat-down from a guy who looked like he eats bullets for breakfast."

Elira exhaled. "I found something. Letters. My father was working with Cassian long before all this. They were planning something. And my mother-she knew Roth was going to kill them both."

Maya leaned forward. "What do you need?"

"There's a safe room under the west wing. But the entrance is sealed and coded. I think my father hid the original will in there, along with the evidence Cassian's been chasing."

"And you think I can crack it?"

"You got through our college firewalls in under ten minutes."

Maya smiled. "Alright. Let's break in."

Midnight.

The west wing hallway was deathly silent.

Elira and Maya moved like shadows, careful to avoid the patrolling guards. They reached the hidden panel behind the old grandfather clock. Elira pressed a sequence on the ornate carvings, and the wall clicked open, revealing a steel vault door with a biometric scanner.

Maya said, "Oh, that begins now?"

She took out a little kit from her jacket and started working while muttering. It took ten minutes for the scanner to blink its green image.

The door hissed open.

Inside was a narrow passage leading to a small chamber lined with steel shelves and safes.

And in the center-a locked case.

They approached it slowly. Inside was a bundle of documents sealed in wax with the Vexley family crest.

Maya's eyes grew bigger. Isn't this what happens?

Her heart was racing as she nodded at him.

They realized someone was nearby only after it was too late.

Entering the room, Cassian held his gun pointed downward and easily at hand.

He avoided eye contact and muttered, "What do you think you're doing?"

Elira wrapped the case with her hands. An important reason for me is to finish what my father began.

He stared at her for a while. Next, surprisingly, he put his sidearm away.

"You should have told me."

"You should have trusted me."

Silence stretched between them.

He nodded once. Let's go upstairs with it. It's natural to want to see the inside of the book.

In the library, Cassian took off the wax and laid out the documents over the table.

Elira read quickly, her hands shaking.

It was all there. The original will. The financial records. The photos. Emails.

Proof that Roth had infiltrated the Vexley estate years ago. That he'd faked Elira's father's death. That he had bribed officials, killed witnesses, and planned to use Elira as the perfect scapegoat.

She whispered, "My mind is blown by this..."

Cassian clamped his jaw shut. "It means war."

"No," Elira said, standing taller than she felt. "It means justice. For my father. For my mother. For all of it."

As she looked at him, he had a faint expression of pride in his eyes. "Then we burn them down together."