Chapter 6 - THE MAN WHO NEVER LEFT
Nobody understood what Beatrice meant.
Except her.
And that terrified me.
Adrian stared at his mother.
“Who is back?”
Beatrice didn’t answer.
She looked toward the dark hallway.
Like she expected someone to appear.
“Mother.”
Her hands trembled.
A woman who had spent her entire life controlling people was finally afraid.
“There are things you don’t know about this family.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Then tell me.”
Beatrice looked at him.
“I tried to protect you.”
His expression hardened.
“No.”
He pointed toward me.
“You tried to destroy her.”
Beatrice looked down.
For a moment, guilt appeared.
Then it disappeared.
“You don’t understand what happens when powerful people lose everything.”
I stepped forward.
“And what happens to innocent people?”
She looked at me.
“You think this is about you?”
Her voice became quiet.
“It never was.”
That sentence stayed in my mind.
Because it meant something bigger was happening.
Something none of us understood.
Later that night, Adrian refused to let me stay alone.
He moved me into his private wing of the estate.
“I don’t want you out of my sight.”
I looked at him.
“Are you worried about me?”
He looked at my stomach.
“I’m worried about both of you.”
For the first time in days, I felt safe.
But that feeling didn’t last.
At 3:17 a.m., Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered immediately.
“What happened?”
I watched his expression change.
“What do you mean the security footage disappeared?”
My heart sank.
Another problem.
Another secret.
Adrian ended the call.
“What is it?”
He looked at me.
“The person who entered the estate tonight deleted all camera records.”
“How?”
He shook his head.
“They had administrator access.”
The same access only a few people had.
Adrian.
Beatrice.
And one other person.
“Who?”
He didn’t answer.
But I already knew.
“Your father?”
Adrian looked away.
“My father has been dead for eight years.”
Then the bedroom door opened.
Daniel stood there.
His face was pale.
“Adrian.”
Something about his voice made both of us freeze.
“What?”
Daniel held a folder.
“We found the original company records from twelve years ago.”
Adrian took them.
Opened them.
Read the first page.
Then the second.
Then the third.
His face changed.
“What is it?”
He looked at me.
And I knew something terrible had happened.
“Emma…”
He could barely say the words.
“What?”
He handed me the document.
At the top was a name.
A name I had never seen before.
But below it was a signature.
My mother’s signature.
And beside it…
A birth certificate.
Not mine.
Not Adrian’s.
A child’s record.
A child born twelve years ago.
The child’s father was listed as…
Richard Vale.
Adrian’s father.
My hands began shaking.
Because the truth was impossible.
My mother had a secret.
A secret connected to the Vale family.
And the child on that document…
May you like
Was still alive.
TO BE CONTINUED…
