Chapter 6 - THE GUN IN VICTORIA’S OFFICEElena felt Adrian move in front of her.
Celeste and Thomas Rowe were gone.
But they had left something behind.
A locked office.
Samuel called Adrian at seven fifteen.
“We found files.”
“What kind?”
“Birth records.”
Adrian looked across Elena’s apartment.
Ava was asleep.
Elena sat beside him.
“Whose?”
Samuel hesitated.
“Yours.”
Adrian frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“Not exactly yours.”
A pause.
“They concern another child born to your father.”
Adrian stood.
“My father?”
Elena looked up.
Samuel continued.
“According to Victoria’s private records, Charles Vale had a daughter before he married your mother.”
Adrian stared at the wall.
“Who?”
“We don’t have the full identity yet.”
“Why not?”
“Parts of the file were burned.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
His father had died fifteen years earlier.
A stern man.
Distant.
Traditional.
But Adrian had never imagined—
“Victoria hid my sister?”
“Possibly.”
Elena spoke.
“What does that have to do with Ava?”
Samuel answered through the speaker.
“There’s a succession complication.”
Adrian understood immediately.
“If my father had another legal heir…”
“She or her descendants could challenge parts of the trust.”
Elena shook her head.
“So this isn’t about Ava inheriting money.”
“It may be about control,” Adrian said.
“And Celeste?”
Adrian looked grim.
“If Thomas knew the truth, he may have used it to position his daughter beside me.”
Elena stared.
“You think Celeste dated you because of the company?”
“I don’t know.”
But suddenly years of perfectly timed appearances made sense.
Celeste attending board dinners.
Celeste encouraging marriage.
Celeste repeatedly asking about trusts.
He had mistaken ambition for curiosity.
Now everything looked different.
Adrian drove to Hawthorne House with Elena.
For once, she chose to go.
Ava remained with Rachel and four security officers.
The old estate sat beyond iron gates, surrounded by trees.
Inside, the air smelled dusty and cold.
Victoria’s private office had been hidden behind a paneled wall.
Elena entered slowly.
On the desk were photographs.
Adrian picked one up.
His father.
Young.
Standing beside a woman Adrian had never seen.
She held a baby.
On the back was written:
SARAH, 1978.
Elena looked over his shoulder.
“Your sister?”
“Maybe.”
Another picture showed Sarah at five.
Then twelve.
Then seventeen.
And then nothing.
Adrian searched the folders.
Bank transfers.
School payments.
Medical records.
Victoria had tracked Sarah for years.
One paper stopped him.
ADOPTION FINALIZED.
Sarah Vale had been adopted by another family at age two.
Her name changed.
Sarah Mercer.
Elena froze.
“What?”
Adrian reread the page.
MERCER.
He slowly looked at Elena.
Her face had gone white.
“My mother’s name was Sarah Mercer.”
Silence.
“No.”
Elena stepped backward.
“No.”
Adrian stared at her.
“How old was your mother?”
“She died at fifty-one.”
“Born in 1978?”
Elena said nothing.
Her eyes filled.
Adrian reached for the next page.
A photograph.
Sarah Mercer.
Elena’s mother.
There was no doubt.
Elena covered her mouth.
“My mother was your sister?”
“Half sister.”
She backed into the desk.
“That means…”
They both stopped.
The implication was immediate and horrifying.
Their relationship.
Ava.
Adrian went pale.
“No.”
Elena stared at him.
“We’re related.”
“Wait.”
Adrian grabbed the file.
Dates.
Names.
Something was wrong.
His father Charles had allegedly fathered Sarah in 1978.
But Adrian remembered an old medical fact.
His father had survived childhood cancer and had once told Adrian—
He was sterile.
Adrian froze.
“What?”
Elena asked.
“My father couldn’t have children naturally.”
Her face twisted in confusion.
“What?”
“I was conceived through a donor.”
Silence.
Adrian had almost forgotten because his parents never discussed it.
“If Sarah was Charles Vale’s biological daughter…”
His voice trembled.
“Then Charles could not have been my biological father.”
Elena stared.
“So we’re not related.”
“Not biologically.”
Relief hit so hard Elena nearly collapsed.
Adrian caught her.
For one second they held each other.
Then Elena pulled away.
“But why hide Sarah?”
Adrian continued searching.
He found a sealed envelope.
Inside was a DNA report.
CHARLES VALE — PATERNITY PROBABILITY: 99.99%
Sarah had indeed been Charles’s daughter.
And therefore Adrian was not.
At the bottom of the file was another name.
BIOLOGICAL FATHER OF ADRIAN VALE:
JONATHAN ROWE.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Rowe.
Thomas Rowe’s older brother.
Celeste’s uncle.
Elena stared.
“Oh my God.”
Adrian felt the entire foundation of his identity collapse.
Thomas Rowe wasn’t simply Victoria’s attorney.
He was the brother of Adrian’s biological father.
And Celeste was Adrian’s biological cousin.
His girlfriend.
His almost-fiancée.
Adrian dropped the paper.
Then a slow clap came from the doorway.
Thomas Rowe stood there.
Celeste beside him.
Neither was smiling.
May you like
Thomas held a gun.
“You were always too curious for your own good, Adrian.”
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