Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO LIED TO KEEP ME ALIVE
The mansion was silent after the attack.
Too silent.
The kind of silence that comes after something terrible almost happens.
I sat on the edge of the bed in one of the guest rooms.
Fern slept beside me.
But I couldn't sleep.
Every time I closed my eyes...
I saw the masked man's smile.
Ask him what happened the night your daughter was born.
The words wouldn't leave my head.
A soft knock came at the door.
I didn't answer.
The door opened anyway.
Of course it did.
Stellan.
I looked up.
"You need to leave."
He ignored the command.
"Are you hurt?"
"No."
"Is Fern hurt?"
"No."
His shoulders relaxed slightly.
I noticed.
He had been afraid.
Not for himself.
For us.
And I hated that I noticed.
"Why did he say that?"
Stellan didn't pretend not to understand.
"The attacker."
"Yes."
I stood.
"What happened the night Fern was born?"
Silence.
A long one.
That was my answer.
"You know something."
His face remained unreadable.
"Selene."
"No."
My voice became sharper.
"Don't do that."
"Do what?"
"Use my name like you know me."
The words hit harder than I expected.
His eyes darkened.
"I do know you."
"No."
I shook my head.
"You knew a woman at a party."
I pointed at him.
"You knew a woman wearing a dress and pretending her life wasn't falling apart."
My voice cracked.
"You don't know the woman who spent eleven months terrified every night."
Stellan looked away.
For a second...
I saw guilt.
Then he said:
"When Fern was born, someone tried to take her."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
"She wasn't supposed to leave the hospital."
I felt sick.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
His eyes snapped back.
"I'm not."
"You know everything."
My anger grew.
"You know who is attacking us. You know why my records changed. You know why you disappeared."
I stepped closer.
"So tell me the truth."
His expression changed.
"Because the truth will put you in danger."
I laughed.
"Stellan, someone already broke into your house."
A pause.
"Someone already tried to scare me."
I lowered my voice.
"What could possibly be worse?"
He looked at Fern.
Then back at me.
"You."
I frowned.
"What?"
"The truth about you."
My blood ran cold.
"What does that mean?"
He walked toward the window.
"The night we met, you weren't just a random woman at a charity event."
I waited.
"You were connected to something bigger."
I shook my head.
"No."
"Yes."
"How?"
He turned.
"Your father."
I froze.
My father had been dead for years.
"What about him?"
Stellan's expression became serious.
"Your father wasn't the man you thought he was."
I felt the room spinning.
"Don't."
"It's the truth."
"No."
I covered my ears for a second.
"No, you don't get to come here and destroy everything I know."
Stellan stepped closer.
"I am trying to stop someone else from destroying you."
"Who?"
He didn't answer.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
"What?"
I watched him listen.
Then his hand tightened around the phone.
"When?"
A pause.
"Send me everything."
He ended the call.
I stared.
"What happened?"
He looked at me.
"The DNA results arrived."
My heart stopped.
"And?"
He didn't answer.
That scared me.
"Stellan."
He walked toward the table.
Slowly.
Like he was carrying something dangerous.
He opened the envelope.
Pulled out a paper.
Looked at it.
Then looked at Fern.
His expression broke.
I had never seen a man like Stellan Cross look destroyed.
"What does it say?"
His eyes lifted to mine.
And the answer changed everything.
"Fern is my daughter."
I couldn't move.
Couldn't speak.
Then he turned the paper around.
But there was something else written below the result.
A note.
Three words.
Three words that made Stellan's face turn completely white.
Because someone had added a message to the DNA report.
May you like
A message meant only for him.
SHE IS NOT SAFE.
