Chapter 6 - THE PRICE OF A SON“No police.”
Sarah learned that forty-eight hours later.
The official story was simple.
Fifteen years earlier, Julian Vale betrayed the family by selling information to a rival organization.
He disappeared.
A year later, authorities found a burned car in Pennsylvania.
Human remains inside were identified through dental records.
Julian was declared dead.
Adrian never questioned it.
Until now.
Mason spread photographs across the study table.
“The dental records were altered.”
Adrian stared at them.
“By whom?”
“A coroner who died eight years ago.”
“And the remains?”
“Unknown.”
Sarah sat nearby, wrapped in one of Vivienne's cashmere robes because her own clothes had somehow vanished into the mansion laundry system.
“So Julian might be alive.”
“Yes,” Mason said.
Vivienne stood by the fireplace.
“He is.”
Everyone looked at her.
Adrian's face went still.
“You knew?”
Vivienne closed her eyes.
“Not exactly.”
“Mother.”
“Your father suspected.”
Adrian rose.
Sarah had learned his anger became quieter as it became more dangerous.
“What did Father suspect?”
“Before he died, he received photographs.”
“Of Julian?”
“Possibly.”
“You never told me.”
“He made me promise.”
Adrian laughed once.
Without humor.
“My father has been dead seven years.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of what you'd do.”
Adrian turned away.
Sarah saw betrayal beneath his anger.
Not criminal betrayal.
A son's.
“You let me believe my brother was dead.”
“I let you believe what protected you.”
“That's exactly what I've been telling myself about Ethan.”
Vivienne flinched.
The parallel landed.
Sarah watched Adrian recognize it too.
His anger didn't disappear.
But it changed.
“Where are the photographs?”
Vivienne hesitated.
“Mother.”
“In the old wine cellar.”
They found a locked metal box behind a false panel.
Inside were six photographs.
Julian in Paris.
Julian in Prague.
Julian boarding a yacht in Sicily.
Julian older.
Thinner.
But unmistakably alive.
The most recent photograph was nine years old.
Sarah studied it.
“He looks like you.”
Adrian said nothing.
Same dark hair.
Same height.
Same severe eyes.
But Julian smiled in every photograph.
That somehow made him more frightening.
Sarah picked up an envelope.
“What's this?”
Vivienne whispered, “Don't.”
Adrian opened it.
Inside was a letter.
He read silently.
His expression slowly changed.
“What?”
Sarah asked.
He handed it to her.
The letter had been written by Adrian's father.
If Julian ever returns, he will come for the boy.
Not because he hates Ethan.
Because Ethan is Adrian's heir.
Sarah looked up.
“Your father knew?”
“He suspected.”
“Why would Julian care about an heir?”
Adrian leaned against the table.
“Because our organization follows succession.”
Sarah almost laughed.
“You have succession rules?”
“This isn't a street gang.”
“What happens if something happens to you?”
“If Ethan is an adult, leadership eventually passes to him.”
“And if he's a child?”
“A council controls everything until he's old enough.”
Sarah looked at the letter.
“And Julian?”
“If he proved his identity and removed both of us…”
“He could claim leadership.”
“Yes.”
The room felt colder.
Sarah suddenly understood the gunman's instructions.
The boy first.
The father will follow.
“Then why target me?”
Adrian looked at her.
“You interfered.”
“No.”
“What?”
Sarah stood too quickly and winced.
“You said the assassin had access to updated security codes.”
“Yes.”
“Then Julian—or whoever is behind this—has someone close to you.”
“Yes.”
“And now they know I'm living here.”
“Yes.”
“So why hasn't anyone tried again?”
Adrian frowned.
Sarah continued.
“Because maybe killing me isn't the goal anymore.”
“What is?”
“Using me.”
Silence.
Mason nodded slowly.
“She has a point.”
Adrian didn't look pleased.
Sarah folded her arms.
“You've spent your life assuming enemies attack the strongest wall.”
“They usually do.”
“What if this one attacks the door you've accidentally opened?”
Adrian's eyes stayed on hers.
“Meaning you.”
“Meaning us.”
The word slipped out.
They both noticed.
Sarah looked away.
That evening, she found Ethan in the kitchen making peanut butter sandwiches with Rosa, the housekeeper.
“You're supposed to be resting,” Rosa scolded.
“I've been resting for two weeks.”
“Then become better at it.”
Sarah smiled.
She liked Rosa immediately.
Ethan held up a sandwich.
“I made one for Dad.”
“That's sweet.”
“He forgets dinner.”
“Adults blame sugar and forget meals. They're useless.”
Ethan giggled.
Sarah helped him carry the plate toward Adrian's office.
Voices inside stopped her.
Mason.
And Adrian.
“…she can't stay here.”
Mason's voice.
Sarah froze.
“She is safer here,” Adrian answered.
“No. You're compromised.”
“So increase security.”
“This isn't about walls.”
A pause.
“You care about her.”
Sarah's breath caught.
Adrian said nothing.
Mason continued.
“That makes her a target.”
“She was already a target.”
“Not like this.”
Another silence.
“Send her away.”
“No.”
One word.
Immediate.
“Adrian.”
“I said no.”
Sarah's heart began pounding for reasons unrelated to danger.
Mason sighed.
“Then admit what's happening.”
“Nothing is happening.”
“You sleep outside Ethan's room because she's there. You eat breakfast because she makes him sit at the table. Your staff hasn't seen you laugh in years, and now you're arguing with a waitress about cereal.”
“She isn't a waitress anymore.”
Sarah stopped breathing.
“What is she?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Ethan tugged Sarah's sleeve.
“Why aren't we going in?”
The office became silent.
Sarah opened the door.
Mason looked amused.
Adrian looked irritated.
Sarah raised the sandwich.
“Diplomatic delivery.”
Ethan ran to his father.
“I made it.”
Adrian accepted the crooked sandwich as though it were expensive crystal.
“Thank you.”
“Eat it.”
Adrian glanced at Sarah.
“Apparently I'm being managed.”
“You need it.”
Mason walked past her.
“He does.”
Sarah watched him leave.
That night, she lay awake thinking about what she'd heard.
You care about her.
It was absurd.
Adrian barely knew her.
She barely knew him.
At two in the morning, unable to sleep, Sarah walked downstairs.
She found him alone on the terrace.
“Do billionaires not sleep?”
“Not this one.”
She leaned against the doorway.
“You're worried about Julian.”
“Yes.”
“And Ethan.”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
He looked at her.
Sarah wished she hadn't asked.
But Adrian answered.
“Yes.”
The honesty knocked something loose inside her.
“I don't want your five million dollars.”
“I know.”
“I don't want to be your obligation.”
“You aren't.”
“Then what am I?”
Adrian stepped closer.
For once, he had no quick answer.
Sarah's heart beat harder.
He lifted a hand as though he intended to touch her face.
Then alarms exploded throughout the house.
Lights flashed red.
Adrian grabbed Sarah and pulled her behind him.
Gunfire erupted outside.
Not one shot.
Dozens.
Mason's voice roared through the radio.
“EAST WALL! MULTIPLE SHOOTERS!”
Adrian pulled a pistol from beneath his jacket.
“Stay behind me.”
Sarah's face went white.
“Ethan.”
Adrian froze.
The boy was upstairs.
Another explosion shook the mansion.
Glass shattered.
Men shouted.
Then the electricity went out.
Sarah heard a child's scream from the second floor.
“DADDY!”
Adrian ran.
They reached the staircase just as masked men crashed through a side window.
Adrian fired.
One fell.
Security returned fire.
Sarah raced upstairs despite her wounds.
“Sarah!”
She ignored him.
Ethan appeared at the end of the hallway.
A masked attacker stepped from the shadows behind him.
Sarah screamed.
“ETHAN!”
The attacker seized the boy.
Adrian raised his gun.
“Let him go.”
The man pressed a pistol against Ethan's head.
“No.”
Adrian stopped.
Every guard froze.
The attacker smiled behind his mask.
“Your brother sends his love.”
Then the hallway window exploded inward.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Sarah coughed.
Adrian shouted.
When the smoke cleared, the attacker was gone.
So was Ethan.
On the floor lay one small shoe.
And a phone.
It began to ring.
Adrian answered.
A voice Sarah had never heard said:
“Hello, brother.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
May you like
Julian Vale was alive.
And he had Ethan.
Related Stories
