Chapter 7 - The Man Who Never ForgotAdrian Vale didn't attack immediately.
He sent a message.
A photograph.
Lily standing outside the Maine house.
Taken from across the street.
On the back:
BRING HER HOME.
I crushed the photograph.
Lily saw it.
“Daddy?”
I hid it.
“Everything is fine.”
She looked at me.
“You're lying.”
I almost laughed.
She had inherited my worst habit.
“I'm protecting you.”
She frowned.
“Everyone says that.”
I knelt.
“This time, I mean it.”
We moved Lily and my mother to a secure property.
But Adrian was already inside my organization.
He had men everywhere.
The betrayal came from someone I trusted.
Marcus.
My head of security.
He confessed before I could confront him.
“I didn't know where she was.”
“But you told them Grace was with me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They have my son.”
I understood.
Fear makes good men do terrible things.
I told him:
“Help me get him back.”
He agreed.
We created a plan.
Adrian expected me to attack.
Instead, I invited him to my mansion.
One table.
Twenty chairs.
The same dining room where Amara had asked:
May I eat with you?
Adrian arrived alone.
He looked around.
“You've changed.”
“No.”
I pointed to the chair.
“Sit.”
He did.
“What do you want?”
“My daughter.”
“She isn't yours to take.”
“She belongs to the family.”
“No.”
I placed a photograph of Lily on the table.
“She belongs to herself.”
Adrian smiled.
“You've become soft.”
“Maybe.”
I leaned forward.
“But soft men don't survive in my world.”
He laughed.
Then the doors opened.
Lily walked in.
Adrian stood.
I moved between them.
He stared at her.
For a moment, something like regret crossed his face.
Then he whispered:
“She looks like your mother.”
I said:
“She is my daughter.”
Adrian lowered his weapon.
“Your father never wanted her dead.”
“Then why hide her?”
“Because he knew the truth would destroy everything.”
“What truth?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Your father didn't start the empire.”
I frowned.
“Who did?”
He smiled.
May you like
“Your grandfather.”
My entire understanding of my family collapsed.
