Chapter 3 - My Most Trusted Adviser Had Ordered Gabriel’s “Murder,” and Lena’s Locket Contained the Evidence He Had Spent Six Years Trying to DestroyAnton fired.

I pushed Lena down.

The bullet hit the wall.

My men returned fire.

Anton fled through the side door.

We chased him.

He disappeared into the underground garage.

I stared at the security footage.

He knew the escape route.

Of course he did.

He had designed it.

I returned to Lena.

She was shaking.

Bear crawled toward her.

His leg had been bandaged.

Lena hugged him.

“Is everyone trying to hurt us?”

I knelt.

“Not everyone.”

“Who can I trust?”

I looked at her.

“Me.”

She nodded.

That was enough.

I opened the locket.

The picture.

The note.

Then I noticed something behind the photograph.

A tiny compartment.

Inside was a microfilm strip.

I held it toward the light.

Names.

Accounts.

Payments.

Photographs.

At the top:

BLACK CIRCLE - INTERNAL OPERATION

My father's name.

My name.

Gabriel's.

Elena's.

Then Anton's.

Anton had been the mole.

He had been selling information.

He had orchestrated Gabriel's fake death.

He had pushed me toward believing Gabriel betrayed me.

Why?

Because Gabriel discovered the Black Circle planned to control my empire through my closest allies.

Anton wanted power.

He wanted my death.

Gabriel got in the way.

So he made Gabriel disappear.

I asked:

“Where did Gabriel hide?”

The answer was in the microfilm.

An old cabin.

Upstate.

We went.

It was abandoned.

Inside:

Medicine.

Photographs.

A child's drawings.

And a recording.

Gabriel.

Alive.

He looked older.

Sick.

Tired.

“Adrian,” he said.

My heart stopped.

“If you're watching this, I'm already gone.”

I sat.

“I know you'll believe I betrayed you.”

He paused.

“I needed you to.”

Then he explained.

The Black Circle had planned to assassinate both of us.

Gabriel faked his betrayal.

I believed it.

They believed it.

He went underground.

Elena joined him.

They had Lena.

For years.

But Gabriel developed cancer.

He knew he didn't have long.

So he sent Lena to me.

He had one final request.

“Protect my daughter.”

The recording ended.

I couldn't speak.

The man I had buried had saved my life.

And now his daughter was under my protection.

I looked at Lena.

She was sleeping beside Bear.

I whispered:

“I failed your father once.”

I stood.

“I won't fail you.”

Then the cabin door opened.

May you like

He Came to End Their Marriage—Then Learned Someone Had Been Trying to De...

The Mafia Boss Ordered the Gunmen to Drop Their Weapons

My Mafia Husband Left Me to Freeze Above Aspen

Elena stood there.

Alive.