Chapter 8 - The Man Beside Him
Adrian called Victor immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
By the third call, Adrian was already moving.
“Get the car.”
Lena followed.
“Emma.”
“I know.”
Grace grabbed Lena's hand.
“You can't go back.”
“My daughter is there.”
“Victor will expect you.”
“Then he can expect me.”
Adrian looked at Lena.
For the first time, he understood exactly why she had survived foster homes, poverty, stalking, and him.
She was afraid.
She simply refused to let fear make decisions for her.
They reached Manhattan in record time.
Emma was gone.
The NICU nurse was unconscious but alive.
Security footage showed Victor carrying Emma's medical transport carrier through a service elevator.
Adrian watched without expression.
That frightened Lena.
“Adrian.”
“He stood beside me for twenty years.”
“I know.”
“He knew about you from the beginning.”
That explained everything.
Adrian had never accidentally known Lena's name.
Victor had.
When Lena entered the bar that first night, Victor had recognized her from Grace's surveillance file and quietly told Adrian who she was before Lena reached their table.
Victor had orchestrated the stalking to flush out Grace's evidence.
Richard had eventually discovered the same truth and begun his own hunt.
Two traitors competing for the same secret.
Adrian had been trapped between them without knowing.
His phone rang.
Victor.
Adrian answered.
“Where is my daughter?”
Victor laughed softly.
“Now you understand.”
“Understand what?”
“What Alexander felt.”
Adrian's face changed.
Victor continued.
“He had everything. Money. power. A son. And suddenly he wanted to become righteous.”
“You killed him.”
“I corrected his mistake.”
“Emma has nothing to do with this.”
“She has everything to do with it.”
Victor sent an address.
An abandoned shipping terminal on the East River.
“Bring Grace's drive.”
The call ended.
Lena reached for her coat.
“No,” Adrian said.
“She's my daughter.”
“And that's exactly why you're not going.”
“She needs her mother.”
“She needs at least one parent who isn't walking into a trap.”
Lena's eyes flashed.
“And which parent gets sacrificed?”
Adrian said nothing.
That silence answered her.
“You don't get to decide you're disposable.”
“Lena—”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“You spent your whole life believing protecting people means pushing them away. It doesn't.”
His jaw tightened.
“You want me to take you somewhere a man is holding our premature daughter hostage?”
“I want you to stop treating me like something fragile you need to hide.”
“You almost died four days ago.”
“And you're terrified.”
“Yes!”
The word exploded from him.
Lena froze.
Adrian's voice cracked.
“Yes. I'm terrified.”
He pressed both hands against the table.
“I spent eight months thinking you left because you wanted nothing to do with me. Then I found you carrying my daughter. I had less than one hour to understand I was going to be a father before I nearly lost both of you.”
He looked at her.
“So yes, Lena. I'm terrified.”
Her anger dissolved.
She walked to him.
“Then be terrified with me.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
She touched his face.
“We bring Emma home together.”
The shipping terminal was nearly dark.
Grace's drive was in Adrian's pocket.
Lena wore a concealed tracking device.
Federal agents had received copies of every file before Adrian left.
Whatever happened tonight, Victor's network would not survive.
They entered together.
Victor stood beneath a warehouse light.
Emma's carrier rested on a table beside him.
Lena nearly ran forward.
Adrian caught her hand.
Victor smiled.
“Still impulsive.”
“Give us Emma,” Adrian said.
“The drive.”
Adrian held it up.
Victor nodded toward a metal barrel burning nearby.
“Destroy it.”
Adrian threw the drive into the fire.
Victor watched it burn.
Then laughed.
“You always were sentimental.”
“You always underestimated me.”
Adrian lifted his phone.
A progress bar reached 100%.
Every file had been transmitted to prosecutors and journalists.
Victor's smile vanished.
Sirens erupted outside.
He grabbed Emma's carrier.
Lena screamed.
Victor drew a gun.
Adrian stepped in front of her.
“Put it down.”
“You think Alexander didn't say that?”
Adrian stared at him.
Victor's finger tightened around the trigger.
Then a voice came through the darkness.
“Neither did I.”
Grace.
Victor turned.
That single second was enough.
Adrian lunged.
The gun fired.
Lena screamed.
Two men crashed to the concrete.
The weapon slid away.
Federal agents stormed the warehouse.
Lena ran toward Emma.
Her daughter began crying.
“Mommy's here.”
She lifted the tiny baby against her chest.
Behind her, Adrian remained on the floor.
Too still.
Lena turned.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“Adrian?”
He looked at her.
May you like
Then at Emma.
And collapsed.
