Chapter 6 - The Secret Her Father Took to His Grave
They escaped through the kitchen.
By midnight, Mara and Adrian were hiding inside an old safe house outside the city.
The rain hammered the windows.
Mara couldn't sleep.
Adrian sat across from her.
His shirt was torn.
Blood stained his shoulder.
Mara brought the first-aid kit.
"Take your jacket off."
He looked at her.
"That's an order?"
"Yes."
He obeyed.
The wound wasn't deep.
Mara cleaned it.
Adrian watched her.
"You could leave."
She stopped.
"What?"
"You know enough now."
"Do you want me to?"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
Mara looked at him.
"Then stop telling me to."
Adrian lowered his eyes.
"I don't know how to protect you."
"Maybe I don't need protecting."
"Someone murdered your father."
"And now they're trying to murder you."
"Exactly."
Mara sat beside him.
"Then maybe we're even."
Adrian almost smiled.
Then Mara noticed something on the table.
A photograph.
Her father.
Adrian's father.
And a third man.
Mara picked it up.
"Who is this?"
Adrian stared.
"My father's lawyer."
"Victor Hale?"
"Yes."
Mara's mind raced.
The lawyer.
The ledger.
The missing pages.
The altered security records.
Suddenly everything connected.
"Victor isn't working for Lucas."
Adrian frowned.
"How do you know?"
"Because Lucas is too obvious."
She pointed to the photograph.
"Your father trusted Victor."
"Everyone did."
"That's why."
Adrian stared at her.
Mara continued.
"Lucas wanted control of your organization. But Victor wanted something else."
"What?"
"The ledger."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"The original records contain names of politicians, judges, police officers..."
"And people who could destroy your empire."
Mara nodded.
"Victor doesn't need your empire. He needs the names."
Adrian stood.
"We need to find him."
"Not yet."
"Why?"
Mara looked at the old photograph.
"Because my father left something else."
She remembered his toolbox.
The envelope.
The warning.
There had been a tiny brass key taped behind the photograph.
Mara had assumed it was meaningless.
Now she knew better.
The key opened a locker at Union Station.
Inside was a flash drive.
Adrian plugged it into a laptop.
Video appeared.
Thomas Bennett.
Older.
Tired.
Terrified.
Mara stopped breathing.
Her father looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, I'm already dead."
Mara covered her mouth.
Thomas continued.
"Adrian Bellini did not order my death."
Adrian went completely still.
"His father did."
Mara's eyes filled.
Thomas explained everything.
He had discovered that Adrian's father was secretly trafficking vulnerable immigrants through the docks.
He had tried to expose him.
But Victor Hale had warned him.
Then Adrian's father had ordered him silenced.
Thomas had hidden evidence.
And he had spent years trying to protect Mara.
At the end of the recording, Thomas said:
"Adrian, if you ever see my daughter, don't let her become another casualty of your family's sins."
The screen went black.
Mara cried silently.
Adrian didn't touch her.
He simply sat beside her.
Then Mara leaned against him.
For the first time, he wrapped his arms around her.
May you like
She cried against his chest.
And Adrian held her as if letting go might destroy them both.
