Page 366 of Black Reign

“But they didn't know where.”

“No.”

I stare at the telescope.

All those years.

All the systems.

All the hacking.

Every archive I stole.

Every Blackwell executive I chased.

Every encrypted dead end.

And the answer sat inside Papa's telescope in a field I refused to come home to.

I laugh once.

It breaks halfway out.

“That bastard.”

Xavier watches me.

“He knew.”

I wipe beneath my eyes.

“He knew I would look everywhere except here.”

“Because it hurt too much.”

“Yes.”

My voice cracks.

“He knew me.”

Xavier's fingers close around the back of my neck.

“He was your father.”

I stare at the note.

Then something else occurs to me.

My head lifts.

“Whoever killed him didn't find this.”

“No.”

“Whoever sent those men didn't find it either.”

“No.”