Chapter 4 - Adrian Discovered His Dead Father Had Been Living Under Another Name Since the Night of the FireAdrian had spent twenty years believing his father was dead.
Now he questioned every grave.
Every document.
Every memory.
He sent investigators to trace his father's final movements.
The results were impossible.
The funeral records contained irregularities.
The body had been cremated before Adrian arrived.
The death certificate had been filed by a lawyer who disappeared two months later.
The estate had never been independently verified.
The bank accounts remained active for years.
His father was alive.
Or someone had been using his identity.
Avery watched Adrian work through the night.
She had never seen a man carry grief like that.
Not loudly.
Quietly.
As if it had become part of his bones.
“You should sleep,” she said.
“I'll sleep when this is over.”
“It won't ever be over if you keep doing that.”
He looked at her.
“You're worried about me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She hesitated.
“Because you saved me.”
“That doesn't mean you owe me anything.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
He returned to the files.
Avery sat beside him.
“Tell me about your father.”
Adrian sighed.
“He believed fear was the only form of loyalty.”
“Was he always cruel?”
“No.”
“Then when did he change?”
“When my mother died.”
“How?”
“She wanted to leave.”
“Did he hurt her?”
“Yes.”
Avery swallowed.
“Then perhaps I understand why my mother was afraid.”
The next clue came from Dr. Crane.
Before escaping, he had left a note.
The scar opened.
The daughter remembers.
The father returns.
Adrian stared at it.
Elias read it.
“He knows.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
They followed the trail to a private rehabilitation center outside Boston.
A patient had been living there for eleven years.
He used the name Daniel Cross.
His records were sealed.
His face was scarred.
But DNA testing confirmed it.
Daniel Cross was Victor Vale.
Adrian's father.
Adrian stood outside the room for several seconds.
He could not move.
Avery took his hand.
“You don't have to go in alone.”
He looked at her.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
They entered.
Victor Vale sat by the window.
Older.
Gray.
But alive.
He smiled.
Adrian felt nothing.
No rage.
No love.
Just emptiness.
“You.”
Victor looked at him.
“My son.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I needed to disappear.”
“You destroyed everyone.”
“I built you.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“You almost killed Camilla.”
Victor looked at Avery.
“No.”
Avery froze.
“What?”
“I ordered the fire.”
“Yes.”
“But I didn't know she survived.”
“Why?”
Victor smiled.
“Because Matthew fooled me.”
Adrian stared.
“Matthew saved her.”
“Yes.”
“Why was she important?”
Victor's expression changed.
“Because she was the heir.”
“Heir to what?”
“The Vale Trust.”
Adrian frowned.
“What trust?”
Victor explained.
Years before the fire, their grandfather had established a hidden legal trust containing legitimate assets worth billions.
The trust could not be accessed by Adrian or Victor.
Only the child of Matthew Vale could inherit it.
Camilla.
That was why Victor wanted her dead.
He had not been trying to protect an empire.
He had been protecting his claim to a fortune.
Avery realized something.
“So the scar…”
Victor smiled.
“The implant contains a serial number.”
Avery frowned.
“What does that have to do with the trust?”
“The serial number is one of the keys.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
Victor explained that the trust had been divided into physical clues.
The surgical plate contained a coded number.
The music box held another.
A photograph contained a third.
Together they opened a vault.
Victor had spent twenty years searching.
But he never found Avery.
Until now.
Avery stepped forward.
“You killed my mother.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
“What?”
“Your mother died because she was poisoned.”
Avery froze.
“By whom?”
Victor smiled.
“Ask Dr. Crane.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“Crane was working for you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why blame him?”
“Because he had his own ambitions.”
Victor leaned back.
“The night your mother died, Crane administered a medication that accelerated her heart failure.”
Avery's eyes filled.
“No.”
“He didn't need to kill her.”
“Why?”
“He only needed to make sure she couldn't tell you the truth.”
Avery shook.
Adrian stepped beside her.
Victor looked at them.
“You think you're different.”
Adrian said nothing.
“You inherited everything from me.”
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“Then prove it.”
He reached into a drawer.
Pulled out a photograph.
Adrian's mother.
Matthew.
Camilla.
And another person.
Avery recognized him.
Dr. Leonard Crane.
But the photograph had a date.
The night before the fire.
Crane was holding a baby.
Not Camilla.
Another child.
Avery stared.
“Who is that?”
Victor smiled.
“The reason the fire began.”
She turned to Adrian.
“What does he mean?”
May you like
Victor answered:
“Because Camilla wasn't the only child in that house.”
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