Chapter 3 - THE CONFESSION UNDER THE FLOORBOARDSElena trembled violently, her eyes darting toward the crib where baby Lily stirred, letting out a soft, sleepy yawn before drifting back off to sleep.
“I—I don’t know what you're talking about, Mr. Vale,” Elena stammered, though the tremor in her voice betrayed her instantly. “Marcus... Marcus is at the memorial hall. He's managing the guests—”
“Marcus is a dead man walking,” Adrian interrupted, leaning down so his face was inches from hers. The sheer malice radiating from his eyes made her shrink back against the chair. “You have three seconds to tell me why my daughter is living in this room while my fiancée is rotting in a grave, or I will let you experience what a real execution looks like.”
Elena broke. Tears spilled over her eyelashes as she clutched at the lapels of his coat.
“He made me do it!” she sobbed. “Marcus planned the whole thing! It wasn't about business, Mr. Vale! It was about control!”
Adrian’s grip tightened. “Explain.”
“Marcus wanted your entire empire,” Elena gasped between sobs. “He knew that as long as Evelyn and the baby were alive, your priorities would shift. You were planning to step away from the syndicate, to go legitimate for them. Marcus couldn't let that happen. He built this empire with you; he believed he deserved to rule it by your side, not as your second-in-command!”
“The ambush,” Adrian ground out, his teeth clenched so hard they ached.
“Marcus hired the rogue unit,” Elena confessed, her voice dropping to a hysterical whisper. “He had Thomas Kane set up. He thought Thomas would die in the explosion along with Evelyn and the baby. But Thomas survived, pulled the baby from the wreckage, and brought her to Grace’s cousin. Marcus has been hunting for Thomas ever since to tie up the loose ends.”
Adrian stood up straight, his chest heaving. The betrayal hit him not like a wave, but like a bullet to the chest—clean, precise, and fatal. For fifteen years, he had bled for Marcus. For fifteen years, Marcus had stood beside him, whispering poison while smiling in his face.
Suddenly, a heavy thud echoed from the front of the warehouse.
Footsteps. Multiple pairs of them. Heavy, purposeful, and closing in fast.
Elena went pale. “Oh God... he’s here.”
Adrian looked down at sleeping Lily. He carefully scooped her up from the crib, pulling her tiny, warm body against his chest. She smelled of baby powder and sweet milk—a scent that instantly melted the ice around his heart, replacing it with a ferocious, primal need to protect her.
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“Stay here,” Adrian told Elena, drawing his pistol with his free hand.
He stepped out into the hallway just as the front doors of the warehouse were kicked open with a thunderous crash.
