Chapter 10 - The Secret Adrian Carried“I was nineteen.”
Adrian's voice was low.
“My mother had already begun working with Halcyon.”
Claire watched him.
“What happened?”
“Your father discovered their operation.”
“So he was going to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped?”
“No.”
“Then why were you there?”
“My mother sent me to stop him.”
Claire's heart pounded.
“You were supposed to kill my father?”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“She told me to scare him.”
“What did you do?”
“I went to the hangar.”
Jonathan Whitmore was there.
Claire's father.
Alive.
“Your father knew I wasn't like my mother. He tried to talk to me.”
Adrian looked down.
“I believed him.”
“So you helped him escape.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Someone else arrived.”
“Who?”
Adrian's eyes met hers.
“Your mother.”
Claire froze.
“She had a gun.”
Her mother.
The woman she had just hugged.
The woman who claimed to protect her.
“Did she shoot him?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“My mother.”
Silence.
“She shot Jonathan.”
Claire closed her eyes.
The truth hit like a physical blow.
“My mother witnessed it?”
“Yes.”
“Then why was she blamed?”
“Because she took the evidence and disappeared.”
Claire whispered, “And my father?”
“He wasn't dead.”
“What?”
Adrian continued.
“I got him out.”
Claire stared.
“He survived?”
“Yes.”
“Then the plane crash…”
“Was staged.”
Claire struggled to understand.
Adrian's voice broke.
“Your father went into hiding.”
“Where?”
“I don't know.”
“Then who has been sending us these recordings?”
Adrian looked at the projector.
“Someone who knew he was alive.”
A door opened behind them.
A woman entered.
Claire's mother.
Alive.
Blood on her sleeve.
Claire rushed toward her.
“You're hurt!”
“I'm fine.”
Claire stopped.
“You knew.”
Her mother looked at Adrian.
“Yes.”
“You knew my father survived.”
Her mother looked away.
“Your father is alive.”
Claire began to cry.
“Where?”
“Somewhere safe.”
“Where?”
Before her mother could answer, every light went out.
A gunshot sounded.
Her mother dropped.
Claire screamed.
Adrian caught her before she hit the floor.
“Mom!”
A sniper had fired from the warehouse roof.
Adrian looked upward.
The shot had passed through the wall.
Her mother was bleeding.
But the wound wasn't fatal.
“She’ll live.”
Claire exhaled.
Then a voice echoed through the darkness.
“Good.”
Victor stepped into the light.
He held a detonator.
“I wanted you all together.”
Claire stared.
“What do you want?”
“The Meridian.”
“You won't get it.”
Victor smiled.
“I already have.”
He pressed a button.
Every screen in the warehouse lit up.
Claire's personal bank accounts appeared.
Her foundation.
Her inheritance.
Her legal documents.
Then a final line.
TRANSFER OF CONTROL: PENDING.
Claire's face went cold.
“What did you do?”
Victor smiled.
“Mason filed the transfer before he died.”
“He couldn't.”
“He didn't need to.”
Victor looked at Claire.
“Your signature was already recorded.”
Claire remembered every digital authorization Mason had made her approve.
Her blood ran cold.
She had unknowingly given them everything.
Victor stepped closer.
“By sunrise, the Whitmore empire will belong to me.”
Adrian raised his gun.
Victor laughed.
“Shoot me.”
He tapped the detonator.
“You'll bury your mother with me.”
Claire's eyes met Adrian's.
She whispered:
“Don't.”
Victor smiled.
“You have twelve hours.”
Then he walked away.
May you like
The warehouse doors exploded shut.
And the countdown began.
