Chapter 3 - The Fake Boyfriend Became Her Protector
The dinner ended in chaos.
Guests were searched.
Phones were collected.
The ballroom was sealed.
Marin sat in a private suite with Clara and Laurel.
Her hands were cold.
She couldn't stop replaying Adrian's words.
They were trying to kill you.
Clara was the first to speak.
"Why would anyone want to kill you?"
"I don't know."
Laurel looked at her.
"You dated Bennett for three years."
"That's not a murder motive."
"Your family owns property near the harbor."
Marin frowned.
"What does that have to do with anything?"
Clara looked nervous.
"Grandfather sold it last month."
Marin turned.
"To who?"
Clara hesitated.
"Cross Holdings."
Marin froze.
"What?"
Adrian entered the room.
The door closed behind him.
He looked at Clara.
"Leave us."
Clara obeyed.
Marin stood.
"You bought my family's property?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Eight months ago."
"Why?"
"Because I needed it."
She stared.
"You knew who I was before last night."
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Three months."
Marin crossed her arms.
"You've been watching me for three months?"
"I've been protecting you for three months."
"From what?"
"Your father's business partners."
She frowned.
"My father has been retired for years."
"Officially."
Marin's stomach tightened.
"My father isn't involved in anything criminal."
Adrian didn't answer.
"Tell me."
He walked closer.
"I can't."
"Why?"
"Because until tonight, I didn't know whether the threat was against your family or against you."
"And now?"
"Now I know."
He placed a folder on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Marin.
Her apartment.
Her workplace.
Her sister.
Her father.
Someone had followed them.
For months.
"Who took these?"
"My security team."
"Why?"
"Because someone else was taking them first."
Marin looked up.
"Who?"
"We don't know."
She closed the folder.
"This is insane."
"I know."
"Then why am I still standing here?"
"Because you're safer with me."
She stared at him.
"That's a terrifying sentence."
"It's also true."
She sat down.
"Why did you agree to be my boyfriend?"
Adrian sat opposite her.
"Because the first time I heard you say you needed one, I realized the people watching you would use tomorrow's dinner to get close."
"How?"
"Your family trusts people who arrive through social connections."
She thought about Bennett.
"And Bennett?"
"He's involved."
"What?"
"I don't know how deep."
Marin shook her head.
"Bennett is a coward, not a criminal."
Adrian's expression stayed neutral.
"Sometimes those are the easiest people to control."
The hotel door opened.
Raphael, the bartender turned bodyguard, entered.
"Boss."
Adrian looked up.
"What?"
"We found the source."
He placed a photo on the table.
A waiter.
"He's been paid by a company connected to Bennett Hale."
Marin stared.
"No."
Adrian watched her.
She looked devastated.
"He wouldn't."
"Maybe not willingly."
"You're saying someone is controlling him?"
"I'm saying we need facts."
The next morning, Bennett called.
Marin almost ignored it.
She answered.
"Hello?"
"Marin."
His voice shook.
"I need to see you."
"Why?"
"Because I know who is behind this."
She froze.
"Who?"
"Not on the phone."
Adrian took the phone from her.
"Bennett."
Silence.
"You know who I am?"
"Everyone does."
"Then listen carefully."
Adrian's voice was ice.
"If you hurt her, I will find you."
Bennett replied,
"I'm trying to save her."
Adrian looked at Marin.
"Where?"
Bennett gave an address.
An old church.
Marin wanted to go.
Adrian refused.
"You're not going alone."
They arrived forty minutes later.
Bennett was waiting.
He looked exhausted.
He handed Marin an envelope.
"My father did business with your father."
Marin frowned.
"What kind?"
"Harbor contracts."
Adrian looked at the documents.
"These aren't harbor contracts."
Bennett swallowed.
"They're payments."
"To whom?"
Bennett pointed.
"Your father's company."
Marin looked up.
Her father's signature appeared repeatedly.
"That's impossible."
Bennett shook his head.
"He didn't know."
"Know what?"
"Someone used his company to move money."
Adrian studied the pages.
"Whose money?"
Bennett looked at him.
"Yours."
Marin turned.
Adrian's face hardened.
"My organization?"
"Yes."
The room went silent.
Adrian's phone rang.
Raphael.
"Boss, we found the accountant."
"Where?"
"He was waiting outside the Whitlock property."
"Take him alive."
"Understood."
Adrian looked at Marin.
"Stay here."
"No."
"Marin."
"I'm coming."
He stared.
"You have no idea what you're walking into."
"Neither do you."
For a second, he looked surprised.
Then he smiled.
"Fine."
They left together.
The accountant was terrified.
He admitted he had been paid to route money through Whitlock accounts.
But there was more.
Someone had been forging Adrian's signatures.
The person with access to the originals?
A member of his inner circle.
"Who?" Adrian asked.
The accountant shook.
"I never saw him."
"What did he look like?"
"Gray hair."
Marin looked at Adrian.
He knew exactly who that meant.
His father's old lawyer.
Gabriel Cross.
A man everyone believed had died six years earlier.
Adrian went silent.
"That's impossible."
The accountant looked at him.
"Then someone is using his name."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
The mystery had become personal.
That night, Marin stayed at Adrian's penthouse under security protection.
She stood at the window overlooking Boston.
"How many people have you killed?"
Adrian stood behind her.
He answered honestly.
"Too many."
She turned.
"And you're okay with that?"
"No."
That surprised her.
He continued.
"I accepted the world I was born into because I thought accepting it was the same as controlling it."
"What changed?"
"You."
She stared.
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does to me."
Marin's heart jumped.
He stepped closer.
"The first night I saw you, you were arranging flowers."
"That was at the hotel."
"No."
He looked at her.
"Three months ago."
She froze.
"You saw me before."
"Every Thursday."
"Why?"
"You would bring your father's old business files to the hotel office."
She looked stunned.
"You knew?"
"I knew you were being followed."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know whom to trust."
"And now?"
He paused.
"You."
Before Marin could respond, gunfire exploded from outside.
Adrian pulled her down.
Glass shattered.
He shielded her with his body.
"Stay down."
Men rushed into the penthouse.
Adrian moved faster than she had ever seen anyone move.
Three attackers.
Three shots.
Silence.
Marin stared.
Adrian checked her.
"Are you hurt?"
She shook her head.
He touched her face.
His fingers trembled.
Not from fear for himself.
For her.
May you like
And that was the moment Marin understood something terrifying.
Her fake boyfriend wasn't pretending anymore.
