Chapter 3 - The Mark on My Shoulder
We escaped through a rear loading door.
Adrian's security team returned fire.
No one was killed.
But one of his men was injured.
Adrian drove himself.
He refused to let anyone else behind the wheel.
I sat beside him, shaking.
“Was this really necessary?”
“What?”
“All of it.”
He glanced at me.
“Your uncle hid evidence that could destroy powerful criminals. They will not stop.”
“I never asked for any of this.”
“I know.”
“I was supposed to graduate nursing school.”
“You still can.”
“You dragged me into a war.”
“Your uncle did.”
I looked at him.
“You knew about me before tonight.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Six weeks.”
“Why were you watching me?”
“Because two weeks before Gabriel died, he asked me to.”
“Why?”
“He said someone was looking for you.”
I leaned against the window.
“What did he think they wanted?”
“The same thing everyone wants.”
“The ledger?”
Adrian nodded.
We arrived at a secluded estate outside the city.
His home was unlike the mansion in the movies.
It was modern.
Quiet.
Surrounded by tall iron gates and acres of trees.
A nurse treated the injured security guard in the guesthouse.
I helped.
Adrian watched me.
“You still act like a nurse.”
“I am a nurse who hasn't finished her degree.”
“Why did you quit?”
“My grandmother.”
“You could have gone back.”
“With what money?”
He didn't answer.
That night, he placed an envelope on the table.
Inside was a scholarship offer.
For nursing school.
Tuition.
Housing.
Books.
Everything.
I looked at him.
“No.”
“You haven't even read it.”
“I know what it is.”
“Your future.”
“I won't take your money.”
“It isn't charity.”
“It is.”
He shook his head.
“It's protection.”
“I don't need protection to finish school.”
“You do if you're dead.”
I glared.
“You're impossible.”
“So I've been told.”
Before I could answer, his phone rang.
He listened.
Then his face changed.
“Say that again.”
He ended the call.
“What happened?”
“Someone broke into your grandmother's apartment.”
My blood ran cold.
“Is she okay?”
“She wasn't home.”
I immediately called her.
No answer.
We found her at a church across the street from her doctor's office.
She was furious.
“I can take care of myself.”
I hugged her.
“I know.”
She looked at Adrian.
“You must be him.”
“Yes.”
“The man Gabriel warned me about.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“Your uncle warned you about me?”
“He said you were dangerous.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“She was right.”
Grandma nodded.
“I like him.”
I stared at her.
“Grandma.”
She shrugged.
“Dangerous men can still be polite.”
Two days later, I went to the hospital to pick up my grandmother's medication.
That was where things went wrong.
I entered the pharmacy.
A stranger bumped into me.
“Sorry.”
I didn't think much of it.
Then I felt a sharp sting on my shoulder.
I turned.
The stranger was gone.
When I returned to the estate, I felt weak.
Adrian immediately noticed.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
He touched my forehead.
“You're burning.”
I swayed.
He caught me.
The doctors discovered I had been drugged.
Not with something fatal.
Something designed to disorient me.
The doctor said there was a small tattooed symbol on my shoulder.
A black bird.
I stared at it in the mirror.
“I've never seen that before.”
Adrian did.
His expression went cold.
“Lucia had the same mark.”
“What does it mean?”
“It was the symbol of a secret network.”
“Whose?”
“Victor Moretti's.”
My stomach dropped.
“Why do I have it?”
“I don't know.”
The next morning, Adrian showed me an old photograph.
A young woman stood beside him.
Lucia.
On her shoulder was the same black bird.
I studied her face.
Then looked at mine.
“She looks like me.”
Adrian went silent.
Not similar.
Almost identical.
I stared at him.
“What?”
He slowly sat down.
“Your uncle never told you.”
“Told me what?”
“Gabriel wasn't your biological uncle.”
My heart stopped.
“What?”
“He was your mother's brother.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
He looked at the photograph.
“Gabriel was actually your father's younger brother.”
I felt sick.
“My father?”
“Daniel Santos.”
I had never known him.
He died when I was a baby.
My mother had always said he was an ordinary man.
A mechanic.
Adrian shook his head.
“Daniel was part of the Moretti family.”
I backed away.
“No.”
“Your mother changed your surname.”
“Why?”
“To hide you.”
“From Victor?”
“Yes.”
I covered my mouth.
Everything I knew about my family was changing.
Adrian continued.
“Lucia was your father's sister.”
I stared at the photograph.
“If Lucia was my aunt, why did she disappear?”
“Because she stole the ledger.”
“And the mark?”
“Because she marked people she trusted.”
I touched the symbol.
“Why would she mark me?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Because she may have known you would be the one to finish what she started.”
I shook my head.
“I don't want this.”
“I know.”
“Then let me go.”
He was quiet.
“Would you?”
“I don't know.”
He stepped closer.
“I can protect you.”
“I don't need a jailer.”
His expression softened.
“I never meant to imprison you.”
“Then why does it feel like it?”
He didn't answer.
For the first time, I saw pain in his eyes.
Not anger.
Pain.
That night, I found him on the terrace.
He was alone.
I walked toward him.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For what I said.”
“You were right.”
“I don't know what's happening anymore.”
“Neither do I.”
He leaned against the railing.
“I've spent fifteen years believing Lucia betrayed my family.”
“And now?”
“Now I think she may have been trying to save it.”
I looked toward the dark trees.
“My whole life feels fake.”
Adrian stood beside me.
“Mine too.”
Our hands touched.
Neither of us moved away.
Then he said quietly,
“If you want me gone, I'll leave.”
I looked at him.
“And if I don't?”
He searched my face.
“Then I'll stay.”
I nodded.
“Stay.”
He did.
But neither of us noticed the figure watching from the trees.
And the next morning, Adrian received a message containing a photograph of us standing together.
May you like
The caption read:
NOW WE KNOW WHAT SHE MEANS TO YOU.
