Chapter 6 - Adrian Chose Me Over His Entire Empire
Everything changed after Margaret told us the truth.
Adrian did not speak for hours.
He stood in his office looking through old documents.
I watched him.
For the first time, I realized the person everyone feared was simply a man whose entire childhood had been rewritten overnight.
“My father knew about you,” he said eventually.
“How?”
“Because the records were hidden beneath his desk.”
“You found them?”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“Victor did.”
I sat down.
“Then Victor has the ledger.”
“Possibly.”
“And he wants something from you.”
“He wants the company.”
“What happens if he gets it?”
“Thousands of employees lose their jobs. Hospitals lose funding. Investors panic.”
I looked at him.
“That matters to you?”
“Yes.”
“You're a mafia boss.”
His expression hardened.
“I never said I wasn't.”
“Why do you care about hospitals?”
“Because my mother built them.”
That answer told me more about him than anything else.
Days passed.
Adrian and I became closer.
Not intentionally.
Not safely.
It simply happened.
We worked late.
We argued.
We laughed.
Sometimes we sat in silence.
One night, I asked him why he had never married Celeste.
“I wanted to.”
“What changed?”
“She betrayed me.”
“Did she poison your mother?”
“I don't know.”
“Do you still love her?”
He looked at me.
“No.”
The answer came too quickly to be rehearsed.
“Then why does she keep coming back?”
“Because she wants what I have.”
“And what is that?”
He stepped toward me.
“Power.”
I looked away.
“That's not what she wants.”
He stopped.
“What does she want?”
“I think she wants you.”
He laughed quietly.
“You're wrong.”
“Am I?”
He looked directly at me.
“I don't think she ever knew me.”
That night, someone tried to shoot him.
The bullet shattered the window beside his head.
I screamed.
He pulled me to the floor.
Security rushed in.
I looked at him.
“You're bleeding.”
“Glass.”
“Let me see.”
He let me examine him.
There was a small cut along his cheek.
My fingers touched his skin.
He went completely still.
So did I.
The world narrowed to the inches between us.
Then the alarm sounded.
The moment shattered.
Later, in the private clinic, I found him waiting outside the examination room.
“Nora.”
“What?”
“You should leave.”
I frowned.
“Why?”
“Because every day you stay near me, you become a bigger target.”
“I know.”
“You don't.”
“I've already survived two attempts.”
“That isn't something to be proud of.”
“I don't want to leave.”
He stared at me.
“Why?”
I hesitated.
“Because I don't think you're who everyone says you are.”
“You don't know me.”
“I know enough.”
“That is what my mother said.”
I smiled.
“Maybe your mother is right.”
He stepped closer.
Then he kissed me.
It wasn't dramatic.
It wasn't wild.
It was careful.
Almost hesitant.
As if he expected me to pull away.
I didn't.
When we separated, he rested his forehead against mine.
“This is a bad idea.”
“I know.”
“I could ruin your life.”
“You already did.”
He almost smiled.
Then the door opened.
Margaret stood there.
“Oh.”
I covered my face.
Adrian sighed.
“Mother.”
She smiled.
“I've waited thirty years for my son to look happy.”
“Please leave.”
“Gladly.”
She closed the door.
We laughed.
For one evening, everything felt normal.
Then Adrian received a photograph.
It showed me as a baby.
Held by a man I had never seen.
May you like
On the back was one sentence:
Your father didn't die. He is alive.
