Chapter 7 - What Was Never Part of the Plan
Adrian disappeared for two days.
He went after Cross.
I stayed with Clara and Lily.
The house felt empty without him.
I told myself that was good.
Distance was safer.
But every night I listened for his footsteps.
On the third night, he came back injured.
I found him in the library.
Blood soaked his shirt.
"You're hurt."
"I'm fine."
"That's my line."
He smiled.
I helped him sit.
"Did you find Cross?"
"No."
"Then what did you do?"
"I found the man who financed him."
"Who?"
Adrian stared at me.
"My mother."
I froze.
"Maribel."
He nodded.
"She knew everything."
"Why didn't she stop it?"
"Because she thought keeping the family alive meant keeping the business alive."
He looked exhausted.
"I spent my whole life believing my father was the monster."
"Maybe he was."
"He was."
A pause.
"But she was worse."
I sat beside him.
"Then what happens now?"
"I end it."
"How?"
"I dismantle everything."
"The business?"
"All of it."
I stared at him.
"You'd give it up?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He looked at me.
"Because I don't want you living inside a war."
My heart hurt.
"You can't promise me that."
"No."
He touched my cheek.
"But I can promise to leave it behind."
I leaned against his hand.
"Adrian."
He kissed me.
Not like a man claiming something.
Like a man asking permission.
I kissed him back.
The world outside disappeared.
When we pulled apart, he whispered,
"This wasn't part of the plan."
"What wasn't?"
"You."
I smiled sadly.
"I think you were the best mistake anyone ever made."
He laughed.
The next morning, we found Cross.
Or rather, Cross found us.
He sent one photograph.
A house.
Our childhood home.
With a message.
Your mother left one final secret.
Come home.
We went.
Behind the blue door was a small room.
Inside was a tape recorder.
My mother's voice filled the room.
"I knew they would come."
She explained the final truth.
Cross had been her brother.
My mother's own brother.
Adrian's family had hired him twenty-five years earlier.
He became obsessed with controlling everything.
He created the criminal network.
He murdered people who resisted.
He manipulated two families against each other.
And when my mother tried to expose him, he killed her.
The man we thought was a stranger had been family all along.
Cross wanted revenge because my father escaped.
Because Adrian's father betrayed him.
Because my mother rejected him.
And because he believed the children should inherit the consequences.
The final recording contained one instruction.
"At the old railway station."
We looked at each other.
May you like
Adrian said,
"We're ending this tonight."
