Chapter 5 - The Man She Loved Was Becoming the Monster She FearedDaniel’s confession changed everything.
Victor Kestrel had found him twenty-eight years earlier.
Daniel had been given a choice.
Reveal where Celeste was hiding or watch Victor’s men kill the infant daughter Daniel had never even held.
Daniel chose Simone.
Celeste escaped before Victor reached her.
But she never forgave Daniel for giving up her location.
“I was afraid,” Daniel said.
Simone stood across the underground room from him.
“You chose me.”
“Yes.”
“By sacrificing her.”
“Yes.”
“And she spent the rest of her life protecting me from both of you.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Simone wanted to hate him.
Instead she understood him.
That was worse.
Because understanding made anger complicated.
Adrian left the room first.
Simone found him outside beside the pond.
Snow had begun falling.
“You okay?” she asked.
He laughed quietly.
“Interesting question.”
She stood beside him.
“My father betrayed my mother. Your father tried to kill mine. Jonah was groomed by Margaret Lin. My mother apparently spent thirty years building a secret archive.”
“Families are exhausting.”
Simone almost laughed.
Then Adrian said, “You should release it.”
“The ledger?”
“Yes.”
“To the police?”
“Federal prosecutors. Journalists. Everyone.”
She studied him.
“Your name is in it.”
“I know.”
“You could go to prison.”
“I know.”
“You could lose everything.”
Adrian looked toward the farmhouse.
“I already lost the illusion that any of it was worth keeping.”
That answer stayed with her.
For three days they worked through Celeste’s archive.
The scale was enormous.
Corruption reached into businesses, unions, police departments, judges’ chambers.
Some names were dead.
Others remained powerful.
Margaret Lin appeared repeatedly.
So did Marcus.
Then Owen found something worse.
Recent transactions.
Celeste’s archive had been updated after her death.
Someone had been using it.
“Who?” Simone asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“Not me.”
Adrian examined the records.
“Jonah.”
But Simone noticed the dates.
The most recent entry was two days after Jonah died.
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
“He couldn’t have done this.”
Silence.
Another traitor.
Again.
Adrian reacted differently this time.
He locked down the farmhouse.
Confiscated phones.
Separated his men.
Interrogations began.
Simone watched from the kitchen.
The man she had come to know disappeared.
In his place emerged Adrian Kestrel, crime boss.
Cold.
Controlled.
Terrifying.
One guard lied about leaving his post.
Adrian slammed him against the wall.
“Who are you working for?”
“No one.”
Adrian hit him.
Blood appeared.
Simone stepped forward.
“Adrian.”
“Stay out of this.”
The words cut.
The guard insisted he was innocent.
Adrian raised his fist again.
Simone caught his wrist.
Everyone froze.
“Enough.”
His eyes turned toward her.
For one second she saw something frightening.
Not anger at her.
Absence.
As if violence had become automatic.
Then recognition returned.
He released the guard.
“Get out.”
The man fled.
Simone followed Adrian into the hallway.
“What was that?”
“A mistake.”
“You almost beat a man unconscious.”
“I said it was a mistake.”
“No. A mistake is forgetting somebody’s birthday.”
His jaw tightened.
“You don’t understand what happens when people betray you in this world.”
“I understand exactly what happens. I watched Jonah die.”
“That’s different.”
“Why?”
“Because I can’t lose you too.”
The words stopped her.
Adrian looked equally surprised he had said them.
Simone’s voice softened.
“That doesn’t give you permission to become him.”
“Become who?”
“Your father.”
Adrian stepped back.
She immediately regretted it.
But did not retract it.
“I’m trying to keep everyone alive.”
“No. You’re trying to control every possible outcome because somebody you trusted betrayed you.”
His eyes hardened.
“You think this is therapy?”
“I think you’re terrified.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Of Marcus?”
“Of caring.”
Silence.
Snow tapped against the windows.
“You survived fifteen years because you never gave anyone enough power to destroy you,” Simone continued. “Then Jonah proved he already had it. Now you’re trying to make sure nobody ever gets that close again.”
“That sounds intelligent.”
“It sounds lonely.”
He stared at her.
“Maybe lonely is safer.”
Simone felt the words land.
“Maybe.”
She walked away.
That night she slept alone.
At dawn, gunfire woke her.
Marcus had found them.
Explosions shook the farmhouse.
Windows shattered.
Owen shouted orders.
Simone grabbed her weapon.
Adrian appeared.
“Basement. Now.”
“No.”
“Not today.”
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Please.”
That word changed everything.
She went.
Daniel followed.
The attack came from three sides.
Marcus had at least twenty men.
Simone watched through security monitors as Adrian’s remaining loyalists fought.
Then one camera showed Marcus himself.
Walking toward the barn.
Carrying a gasoline can.
Daniel cursed.
“The tunnel.”
“What tunnel?”
“There’s an escape route beneath the barn.”
Marcus knew.
Which meant someone had given him Celeste’s plans.
Daniel opened the basement door.
“We have to move.”
They entered the tunnel.
Halfway through, Simone heard footsteps behind them.
She turned.
A shadow.
Gunfire.
Daniel shoved her aside.
The bullet struck him.
“Dad!”
He fell.
Simone fired toward the attacker.
Adrian appeared from the opposite end, killing the gunman.
Then he dropped beside Daniel.
Blood spread across Daniel’s abdomen.
“No.”
Simone pressed both hands against the wound.
Daniel looked at her.
“Birdie.”
“No.”
“Listen.”
“You’re not dying.”
“Probably not.”
She blinked.
Daniel grimaced.
“Lower abdomen. Hurts like hell, but I’ve been shot worse.”
Simone almost strangled him.
Adrian laughed.
For one absurd second, all three did.
Then another explosion shook the tunnel.
They escaped through the forest.
The farmhouse burned behind them.
Again, Simone watched a piece of her mother disappear in flames.
But the ledger was with her.
Celeste’s archive had been copied.
Marcus had destroyed a building.
Not the truth.
They reached a safe vehicle.
Adrian climbed behind the wheel.
Simone sat beside Daniel in the back.
As they drove, her phone vibrated.
A message from an unknown number.
A photograph.
Adrian and Simone outside the farmhouse.
Taken less than an hour earlier.
Beneath it:
You keep choosing him.
Your mother made the same mistake.
Simone showed Adrian.
His face hardened.
Then another message arrived.
Ask Adrian what happened to Celeste’s clinical trial.
Simone looked up.
Adrian’s hands tightened on the wheel.
He knew.
Again.
“Adrian.”
He did not answer.
“Tell me.”
His eyes met hers in the mirror.
And Simone knew before he spoke.
Her mother’s treatment had not failed naturally.
May you like
Someone had interfered.
And Adrian had known for years.
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