Chapter 3 - Into the ShadowsAdrian didn’t negotiate. He gathered both of his daughters into his arms, shield-blocking them with his own body, and backed out into the freezing night.
The heavy mahogany doors slammed shut behind them, the sound echoing like a gunshot.
Standing in the pouring rain, soaked to the bone, Lila wept against his shoulder. “Daddy, are we homeless?”
“Never,” Adrian swore, his voice trembling with raw determination. “Look at me, both of you. Daddy is going to fix this. Everything they took... I’m taking it back.”
He carried them to his SUV parked down the driveway. Once the girls were wrapped in warm blankets in the backseat, Adrian pulled out a hidden secondary phone from the glove compartment. He dialed a number he hadn't called in ten years.
“Marcus,” Adrian said as soon as the line connected. “They took the estate. They have the key.”
On the other end, a gravelly voice replied, “I told you Vanessa was a viper, Adrian. Where are the girls?”
“Safe with me. But Julian has a gun, and they’ve already altered the land registry. I need an off-grid location, now.”
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“Drive to the old harbor warehouse on 4th Street,” Marcus instructed. “And Adrian? Don’t trust anyone from the corporate board. Vanessa made calls two hours ago. They’re freezing all your personal accounts as we speak.”
Adrian stared through the windshield at the distant lights of his former mansion. They thought they defeated me, he thought. They have no idea what I’m willing to burn down.
