Chapter 603
Chapter 603:
The automatic doors of the Oakhaven Private Airfield slid open with a hiss. Skye strode through, her tactical bag slung over one shoulder. She moved with the momentum of a woman who had cut her brakes.
“Skye p>
The voice was shrill, desperate. She did not stop.
A hand grabbed her arm. Skye spun around, her body tense, ready to strike.
It was Beatrice Kensington, Liam’s grandmother.
She looked frantic. Her usually impeccable hair was windblown, strands escaping the tight bun. She wore a coat over her nightgown, as if she had run out of the Oakhaven safehouse the moment she heard Skye had landed.
“You cannot go,” Beatrice gasped, her fingers digging into Skye’s sleeve. “You cannot go to the Hayes Estate p>
Skye looked down at the older woman’s hand. Her expression was one of cold calculation.
“Let go, Beatrice,” she said.
“Skye, listen to me.” Beatrice’s eyes were wide, her pupils dilated with fear. “It is dangerous. The Hayes family… Arthur Hayes… he is not just a businessman. He is the root. The Blackwood list… it starts with him p>
“And we are what? Victims?” Skye laughed, a short, sharp bark. “You lied to Liam his entire life. You told him his father died in a car crash. You never mentioned Preston Hayes p>
“It was for his own good!” Beatrice cried, drawing stares from the tarmac crew. “Arthur Hayes… he will destroy Liam if he finds out the truth. He thinks Preston died childless p>
“Why?” Skye asked. She stepped closer, towering over the shrinking woman. “Why is the patriarch of the Hayes family so terrifying to you, Beatrice? Is it because he is a competitor? Or is it because of this p>
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a digital printout of the file she had decoded on the jet. She held it up.
Beatrice flinched as if she had been slapped. She stared at the image, a birth certificate with the name Preston Hayes and Beatrice Kensington listed as parents.
𝗪ее𝗄l𝘺 rе𝗹𝘦𝖺𝘴𝗲s 𝘰𝗇 𝖻𝘦lո𝗈ve𝗅s.𝘤о𝗆
“Where did you get that?” she whispered.
“From Parker’s files,” Skye said. “Parker knew. That’s why he kidnapped Liam. He wasn’t just ransoming a CEO; he was stealing the heir to the Hayes empire p>
Beatrice reached for the paper, but Skye pulled it back.
“I am going to get him,” Skye said. “I am going to walk into that estate and take Liam back p>
“No!” Beatrice screamed. She grabbed Skye’s lapels, shaking her. “Parker will kill him! If Parker feels cornered, or if Arthur rejects the claim, Liam becomes a loose end! You don’t understand the laws of the Syndicate! If you go there, you trigger a bloodbath p>
“So be it,” Skye said softly. She looked at the grandmother not with anger, but with a profound, exhausting pity. “You tried to protect him by burying him in lies. Now the truth has dug him up p>
“I protected him!” Beatrice sobbed.
Skye peeled Beatrice’s hands off her jacket. She stepped back.
“Go home, Beatrice. Pray that I get there before Parker decides Liam is worth more dead than alive p>