Chapter 9 - THE ENEMY INSIDE THE HOUSE
I didn’t sleep.
How could I?
Every answer created ten more questions.
My entire identity had become a mystery.
My mother.
My father.
The Viscari family.
Marcus.
Adrien.
Everyone had secrets.
Everyone had lied.
Except maybe…
Nobody.
At sunrise, I found Adrien alone in his office.
He was staring at an old photograph.
The same photograph from my childhood.
“You should have told me.”
He didn’t turn around.
“I know.”
I walked closer.
“Why didn’t you?”
“Because I wasn’t sure.”
“About what?”
“About whether I could protect you.”
I frowned.
“From who?”
He finally looked at me.
“From the Viscari name.”
That answer surprised me.
“You hate your own family?”
“No.”
A pause.
“I hate what some members of my family became.”
I looked at the photograph.
“Was my mother afraid of you?”
Adrien’s eyes softened.
“No.”
“Then why did she write that message?”
“Because she didn’t know who to trust.”
I looked at him.
“And now?”
He stepped closer.
“Now I don’t know either.”
Before I could respond, an explosion shook the building.
The windows rattled.
The lights went out.
Security alarms screamed.
Adrien immediately moved in front of me.
“Stay behind me.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
Men shouted.
Someone had attacked the mansion.
Again.
But this time…
They weren’t trying to scare us.
They were trying to get inside.
Adrien’s security team fought back.
I watched him move through the chaos.
Calm.
Focused.
Dangerous.
But then something happened.
A man from Adrien’s own security team raised his weapon.
Not at the attackers.
At Adrien.
“Adrien!”
I screamed.
The gun fired.
Adrien pushed me aside.
The bullet missed him by inches.
Marco tackled the man to the ground.
“Who sent you?”
The guard smiled.
“You’re already too late.”
Adrien grabbed him.
“Who?”
The man laughed.
Then whispered:
“The girl was never supposed to reach twenty-five.”
My blood turned cold.
“What?”
The guard looked at me.
“She was supposed to disappear years ago.”
Adrien tightened his grip.
“Who gave the order?”
The man smiled.
And said one name.
A name that made Adrien’s face lose all color.
Because it was impossible.
Because that person had been dead for twenty years.
“Your father.”
Silence.
I looked at Adrien.
His father.
The man who supposedly protected my mother.
The man who supposedly died trying to expose the truth.
The man connected to my entire existence.
The guard laughed.
“Your father planned everything.”
Then he swallowed something hidden inside his mouth.
A second later…
He collapsed.
Dead.
Adrien stared at the body.
I stared at him.
And suddenly I realized something terrifying.
The enemy wasn’t outside.
It was buried inside the Viscari family.
May you like
And the person who started everything…
might have been the one person nobody could question.
