Chapter 8 - The Truth Sabrina Came Back to Tell
Sabrina returned to New York unexpectedly.
She asked to see Elena.
When Elena opened the door, Sabrina looked nervous.
"I need to tell you something."
Elena invited her inside.
"What happened?"
"I found my mother's journal."
Elena frowned.
"Your mother?"
"She kept everything."
Sabrina handed her a notebook.
Inside were handwritten entries about Adrien's father, Victor, and Rourke's father.
Elena turned the pages.
Then stopped.
One entry was dated the week Adrien and Elena met.
Sabrina's mother had written:
If Adrien Vale ever falls in love with Elena, the Vale family may finally escape the cycle.
Elena looked at Sabrina.
"She knew me?"
"She met you once."
"When?"
"At the archive."
Elena remembered the woman.
An elegant brunette.
A quiet smile.
She had spoken to Elena about restoration.
Elena had assumed she was a visitor.
She hadn't known she was Sabrina's mother.
There was more.
The journal described a conspiracy to place Sabrina near Adrien.
But the plan had never been to create a long-term affair.
It was to control Adrien's decisions during a specific acquisition.
The affair had grown because Adrien had allowed it.
Sabrina looked ashamed.
"I became part of something ugly."
Elena nodded.
"But you chose to stay."
"Yes."
"That's why I can't blame everyone else."
Sabrina took a breath.
"I deserve that."
Elena closed the journal.
"What do you want from me?"
"Nothing."
"Then why bring this?"
"Because there is one page you need."
She opened a hidden section.
Inside was a final note.
The person controlling Victor isn't Victor.
Elena stared.
"Who?"
Sabrina shook her head.
"We don't know."
The name appeared underneath.
Helena Vale.
Adrien's mother.
Elena's heart stopped.
"His mother?"
"She wasn't dead."
Elena stared.
Adrien had always believed his mother died when he was twenty-two.
But Sabrina's mother's journal suggested otherwise.
"Why would she disappear?"
Sabrina whispered:
"To escape the same people who were trying to control your father."
Elena called Adrien.
He answered immediately.
"What's wrong?"
"I need you to sit down."
"Elena?"
"Your mother may be alive."
Silence.
Then:
"Where?"
"We don't know yet."
Adrien arrived within minutes.
Sabrina gave him the journal.
He read in silence.
His hands shook.
"She left because she was afraid."
Elena nodded.
"Afraid of Victor?"
"No."
"Of Rourke?"
"No."
"Then who?"
Sabrina looked down.
"The group behind both of them."
The three of them stared at one another.
This was bigger than Vale Meridian.
Bigger than the affair.
Bigger than Victor.
The next clue came from a photograph in the journal.
A woman standing outside a small church in Maine.
Older.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakably Helena Vale.
Adrien stared at his mother's face.
For years he had carried grief.
Now he carried hope.
They traveled to Maine.
They found the church.
And then they found Helena.
She opened the door.
She looked at Adrien.
Her son.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then she whispered:
"My boy."
Adrien broke.
He stepped forward and hugged her.
Elena watched.
Helena looked at her.
"So you're Elena."
Elena smiled.
"I am."
Helena took her hand.
"I owe you my life."
"Why?"
"Because you did what I couldn't."
"What?"
"You stayed beside my son."
Helena's eyes filled with tears.
"And then you taught him to become someone I could be proud of."
Adrien looked away.
His mother smiled.
"The cycle is finally broken."
But Helena had one final warning.
"The people who created this network never wanted money."
Adrien looked at her.
"What did they want?"
"Control over the port infrastructure."
Elena understood.
Whoever controlled the ports controlled the movement of half the city's economy.
Adrien nodded.
"So this is about power."
"Always."
Helena looked at Elena.
"And they know you hold the deciding shares."
May you like
Elena smiled.
"Then they're going to have to ask me."
