Chapter 5 - My Father Returned From the Dead—Then Someone Tried to Kill Him in Front of Me
My father's blood hit the floor before I understood what had happened.
“Dad!”
Adrian collapsed against the wall.
Viktor was beside him instantly.
“Where were you hit?”
“Shoulder.”
Viktor tore open his shirt and pressed fabric against the wound.
“Stay awake.”
Adrian looked at me.
“I am sorry.”
I knelt beside him.
“You have twenty-six years to explain.”
He smiled weakly.
“Your mother said you'd say that.”
A second shot shattered the window.
Viktor dragged both of us behind the stone fireplace.
“Someone has a clear line of sight.”
He looked toward the darkness.
“Stay here.”
I grabbed his sleeve.
“You're not going out there.”
“I have to.”
“That's what everyone says before they get shot.”
His expression softened.
“Mara.”
“What?”
“For once in your life, trust me.”
“I don't even know you.”
“You trusted me last night.”
“You were standing between me and a gun.”
“And I'll do it again.”
He disappeared through the side door.
Seconds later, two shots echoed outside.
Then silence.
Adrian closed his eyes.
I panicked.
“Dad?”
His eyes opened.
“I'm not dead yet.”
“Good.”
He breathed slowly.
“Your mother chose your safety over everything.”
“She lied to me.”
“She loved you.”
“That's not enough.”
“No.”
His voice was barely audible.
“But sometimes love is the reason people make unforgivable choices.”
He told me everything.
My father had been the heir to a European transportation organization.
He had refused the business.
He wanted to build a legitimate company.
Helena discovered that Stefan was siphoning money through shell corporations.
My father threatened to expose him.
Stefan retaliated.
My mother helped Adrian escape.
Viktor protected them.
But Helena found them.
“She wanted the authorization,” Adrian said.
“What authorization?”
“My father's original transfer document.”
“The one Viktor needs?”
“Yes.”
“Why is it so important?”
“Because it proves Stefan never legally owned anything.”
“What?”
Adrian swallowed.
“My grandfather created a trust. The companies were meant to transfer to legitimate heirs. Stefan forged records.”
“And Pierce?”
“Pierce is Stefan's American partner.”
My stomach tightened.
“Then why does Pierce want me?”
Adrian stared at me.
“Because you are the legal heir.”
I laughed.
“I work at a restaurant.”
“You own half of an empire you were never allowed to know existed.”
That sentence changed everything.
Viktor returned.
His coat was torn.
“You're both alive.”
“Barely,” I said.
He crouched beside my father.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“We have to leave.”
“Where?”
“Montauk.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
Viktor looked at him.
“The old family house?”
“It's compromised.”
“Then where?”
Adrian looked at me.
“The only place Stefan cannot enter.”
“Where?”
“Your mother's first apartment.”
I stared.
“My mother's apartment?”
“On Astoria Boulevard.”
“It's gone.”
“No.”
Adrian smiled sadly.
“She kept the lease.”
We reached Astoria before dawn.
The apartment was tiny.
Old wallpaper.
Cracked tiles.
A faded photograph of my mother hung near the kitchen.
I touched it.
“She lived here before I was born.”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
He moved toward a cabinet.
Behind the bottom drawer was a hollow space.
Inside was a locked metal box.
Viktor looked at the key in my hand.
“The brass key.”
I inserted it.
The box opened.
Inside was a stack of envelopes.
One had my name.
MARA.
My hands trembled.
I opened it.
My mother's handwriting.
“My daughter,
By the time you read this, the truth has probably become impossible to hide.”
I cried before finishing.
“She says…”
I continued reading.
“I never wanted you to inherit anything except a peaceful life.”
A folded document fell out.
The original authorization.
The one everyone had been searching for.
Viktor stared.
“This could destroy Stefan.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“No.”
“What?”
“It could do more.”
He pointed at the back.
“There.”
A second signature.
Helena Vale.
And below it, a note.
“I did not betray your father. I betrayed Stefan.”
Viktor frowned.
“Helena switched sides?”
Adrian nodded.
“She realized what Stefan intended.”
“Then why fake her death?”
“To infiltrate him.”
I stared.
“But she came after me.”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not Helena.”
“Who then?”
He looked at the photographs.
“Her daughter.”
Silence.
“Who is her daughter?”
Adrian answered:
“Elizabeth Mercer.”
My blood froze.
Daniel.
My manager.
His sister.
I remembered Emily saying a man had forced her to touch the gun.
I remembered Thomas Mercer in Pierce's photograph.
The Mercer family wasn't random.
They were connected.
Viktor's phone rang.
He answered.
A voice whispered:
“You found it.”
Viktor went still.
Stefan.
“You've always been smarter than your father.”
“What do you want?”
“Not the document.”
“What then?”
Stefan laughed.
“The girl.”
My pulse hammered.
“Why?”
“Because she is the only person who can legally activate the trust.”
The call ended.
Adrian looked at me.
“They will come.”
Viktor stood.
“And this time, they're not coming for the document.”
May you like
He looked into my eyes.
“They're coming for you.”
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