Chapter 8 - THE TRUTH ADRIEN NEVER WANTED TO TELL ME
I waited for Adrien to deny it.
I needed him to laugh.
I needed him to tell me Alessandro was lying.
But he didn’t.
And that silence destroyed me.
“You knew.”
Adrien looked down.
“Lena…”
“No.”
My voice cracked.
“Don’t say my name like you care.”
His expression tightened.
“You deserve the truth.”
“Then tell me.”
A long pause.
“My father was not only connected to your mother.”
I waited.
“He loved her.”
The room spun.
“What?”
Adrien looked away.
“My father was married. Your mother was not part of his public life.”
My hands shook.
“You’re saying my mother had an affair with your father?”
“Yes.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
“My whole life…”
I touched my necklace.
“The woman who raised me told me my father died before I was born.”
Adrien stayed silent.
“Who was he?”
Adrien looked at me.
“My father.”
The words crushed the air from my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe.
“No.”
“Lena—”
“No.”
I stepped away.
“You’re lying.”
“I wish I was.”
I stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Not until tonight.”
“But you suspected.”
He didn’t answer.
That was enough.
“You let me stay here knowing I might be your sister?”
His face changed.
“No.”
“Then what am I?”
Adrien’s eyes filled with something I had never seen before.
Regret.
“You’re the person my father spent his last years trying to protect.”
I shook my head.
“I don’t understand.”
“My father discovered Alessandro’s betrayal.”
Adrien continued.
“He knew Alessandro was planning to destroy everything.”
“And my mother?”
“She had evidence.”
“What evidence?”
Adrien looked at the notebook.
“The proof that could bring down powerful people across New York.”
I stared at him.
“Where is it?”
“That’s what everyone has been trying to find.”
A sudden sound interrupted us.
A phone ringing.
Marco answered.
His face changed.
“Adrien…”
“What?”
“It’s Marcus.”
My heart dropped.
“How?”
Marco looked worried.
“He wants to talk to Lena.”
Adrien took the phone.
“No.”
Marcus’s voice came through.
“Lena.”
I froze.
Hearing his voice again made every memory return.
The fear.
The pain.
The betrayal.
“Why are you calling me?”
Marcus laughed softly.
“Because I owe you the truth.”
“You lied to me for years.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No apology.
Just honesty.
And somehow that made it worse.
“I was assigned to watch you.”
“By Alessandro?”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
My stomach turned.
Marcus continued.
“But he wasn’t the one who scared me.”
“Who was?”
His voice lowered.
“The person who has been protecting you.”
I looked at Adrien.
Marcus whispered:
“Adrien’s father wasn’t the only Viscari who knew about you.”
A pause.
“There was someone else.”
“Who?”
Marcus answered:
“The person standing beside you right now.”
The call ended.
I slowly lowered the phone.
Adrien stared at me.
And for the first time…
May you like
I wondered if the man who saved my life…
was also the man who had been hiding the truth from me.
