Chapter 10 - THE BETRAYAL ADRIAN NEVER SAW COMING
The basement door slammed shut behind them.
For one terrible second, no one moved.
Mara stood behind Adrian, one hand pressed against her stomach.
Blake was at the top of the stairs.
Beside him stood the man who had supposedly been dead for nine years.
Adrian's father.
Victor Cross.
The man looked older than the photographs Mara had seen, but there was no mistaking him.
The same silver hair.
The same cold eyes.
The same expression of absolute control.
Adrian's weapon remained raised.
“Step away from him,” Adrian said.
Victor smiled.
“Put the gun down.”
“You first.”
Blake laughed.
Mara's heart pounded.
Victor looked past Adrian.
His gaze settled on her stomach.
“You have no idea how valuable that child is.”
Adrian stepped further in front of her.
“You don't get near her.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
“You still believe you can protect everyone.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“I can protect her.”
Victor glanced at Blake.
“That's what you said about your sister.”
The words struck Adrian like a bullet.
Mara saw his hand tighten around the weapon.
“What did you say?”
Victor smiled.
“Did you never tell her?”
Adrian's eyes became dangerous.
“Tell me what?”
Victor looked at Mara.
“Your protector has secrets.”
Mara looked at Adrian.
“Adrian?”
He didn't answer.
Victor continued.
“Your sister didn't disappear because Blake took her.”
Adrian went still.
“She disappeared because Adrian made a deal.”
Mara stared at him.
Adrian's voice was low.
“Shut up.”
Victor laughed.
“There it is.”
Mara looked between them.
“What deal?”
Adrian didn't look at her.
“Don't.”
“Adrian.”
Victor smiled.
“Ask him.”
Mara's voice became sharper.
“What deal?”
Adrian finally turned.
His eyes were filled with something Mara had never seen before.
Shame.
“Eight years ago,” he said, “Elena found evidence against Blake.”
Mara listened.
“She wanted to expose him.”
“Why didn't she?”
“Because my father found out.”
Victor's smile faded.
Adrian continued.
“He offered me a choice.”
Mara's heart tightened.
“What choice?”
Adrian's jaw clenched.
“I could protect my business and my men…”
He looked at Victor.
“Or I could protect Elena.”
Mara stared.
“What did you choose?”
Adrian said nothing.
The silence answered her.
Mara stepped backward.
“No.”
Adrian's eyes met hers.
“I thought I was protecting her.”
“You chose the business.”
“I chose to keep hundreds of people alive.”
“And left your sister?”
“I believed she had escaped.”
Mara shook her head.
“You knew she was in danger.”
“Yes.”
“And you left.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
For a moment, he looked less like Baltimore's most feared crime boss and more like a broken man.
“I went back.”
“But she was gone.”
“Yes.”
Mara felt something inside her crack.
She had trusted him.
Not completely.
But enough.
Enough to believe he was different from Blake.
Now she wondered if she had simply chosen another powerful man with secrets.
Victor smiled.
“Now you understand.”
Mara turned toward him.
“No.”
Victor's expression changed.
“What?”
“You're not telling the truth.”
Everyone went silent.
Mara looked at Adrian.
“Are you?”
Adrian stared at her.
“I didn't make a deal to hurt Elena.”
“But you made a deal.”
“Yes.”
“With him?”
“Yes.”
Mara's stomach tightened.
“What did you promise?”
Adrian said nothing.
Victor answered.
“He promised never to come after me.”
Mara looked at Adrian.
“Why?”
“Because I had Elena.”
Victor's words echoed through the basement.
Mara felt cold.
“You knew she was alive.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I thought she was.”
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
“But you told me you didn't know.”
“I didn't know where she was.”
Mara took another step backward.
“You lied.”
Adrian lowered his weapon slightly.
“Mara—”
“You lied to me.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
She laughed bitterly.
“That's what every man says when he decides I don't deserve the truth.”
Adrian's face tightened.
Victor smiled.
“Now you see the kind of man he is.”
Mara looked at him.
“And you?”
Victor's smile faded.
“You beat my son.”
“You destroyed my life.”
“You married him.”
“I was eighteen.”
“You stayed.”
Mara's face hardened.
“Because he made sure I had nowhere to go.”
Victor's eyes narrowed.
Mara stepped forward.
“You built the world that allowed him to do that.”
Victor said nothing.
Mara continued.
“And now you want my child.”
Victor looked at her stomach.
“The child has a claim.”
“To what?”
“Everything.”
Adrian's face turned cold.
“Enough.”
He raised the weapon again.
Victor smiled.
“Shoot me.”
Adrian froze.
“You know you won't.”
“Try me.”
Victor's eyes hardened.
“If I die, the files go public.”
Adrian said nothing.
“Every name. Every account. Every secret.”
Victor looked at Mara.
“Your husband signed enough documents to make you responsible for half of it.”
Mara felt sick.
Adrian looked at her.
Victor smiled.
“She will go to prison.”
Adrian's face changed.
Victor continued.
“Unless you do what I say.”
Adrian lowered the weapon.
Mara stared at him.
“What are you doing?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Victor smiled.
“Good boy.”
Something inside Mara broke.
She turned toward Adrian.
“You're going to let him take me.”
“No.”
“Then why did you lower the gun?”
“Because I have another plan.”
“You always have a plan.”
“Mara—”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“I’m done.”
Adrian stepped toward her.
She backed away.
“Don't touch me.”
He stopped.
Mara looked at him.
“You knew Elena might be alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew my name might be connected to Blake's crimes.”
“Yes.”
“You knew his father was alive.”
“No.”
“But you knew something.”
“Yes.”
Mara laughed through tears.
“Of course you did.”
Adrian's face tightened.
“I was going to tell you.”
“When?”
“After I knew more.”
“After you used me?”
His eyes hardened.
“I never used you.”
“You brought me into your house.”
“To protect you.”
“You searched my life.”
“To understand what Blake had done.”
“You watched me.”
“To keep you alive.”
“You made decisions for me.”
Adrian said nothing.
Mara looked at him.
“Do you know what the difference is between you and Blake?”
The room became silent.
Adrian's expression changed.
Mara whispered:
“You both think you know what's best for me.”
The words hurt him.
She saw it.
But she was too angry to stop.
Victor smiled.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
Mara screamed.
Adrian grabbed her and pulled her behind the boxes.
Men rushed down the stairs.
Victor disappeared.
Blake ran.
Adrian fired.
The basement became chaos.
Mara crawled toward the hidden room.
She found the documents.
The files.
The evidence.
Then she saw something.
A small red folder.
Her name was written on it.
MARA BENNETT.
She opened it.
Inside was a copy of her marriage certificate.
Her medical records.
Her pregnancy test.
And one document dated six months before her wedding.
Mara read the first line.
Then stopped breathing.
PROJECT HEIR - SUBJECT: MARA BENNETT.
Her hands began to shake.
Blake had not accidentally married her.
He had chosen her.
May you like
Mara looked toward the gunfire.
And suddenly, the entire past two years made horrifying sense.
