Chapter 18 - The MotherShe walked down the stairs slowly.
Adrian could not move.
He had spent twenty years believing she was dead.
She looked older.
But unmistakably his mother.
Her eyes were exactly the same.
“You've grown.”
Adrian's voice was barely audible.
“You're alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew everything.”
“Yes.”
“You let me suffer.”
Her face tightened.
“I let you survive.”
“You call this surviving?”
She looked around.
“Do you know what would have happened if I had stayed?”
“No.”
“You would have been raised inside the consortium.”
“You left me.”
“I saved you.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“You used Sophia.”
“No.”
She looked at Sophia.
“I protected her.”
Sophia stepped forward.
“You destroyed my family.”
“I kept Daniel alive.”
Sophia looked at the wounded man.
Adrian turned.
“Is Daniel alive?”
Graham knelt beside him.
“He's breathing.”
Adrian looked back at his mother.
“Why the money?”
She smiled faintly.
“Because I needed to know whether your employees still had a conscience.”
“You used Emma.”
“I never intended her to find it.”
“Yet she did.”
“That changed everything.”
Adrian shook his head.
“No more riddles.”
His mother sighed.
“Fine.”
She looked at him.
“The consortium planned to replace you.”
“With whom?”
“Vincent.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Vincent?”
“He has spent twenty years building a network inside your organization.”
“Graham?”
“Graham was trapped.”
“Lucas?”
“Lucas was sent by your father.”
Adrian stared.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
Adrian looked at his mother.
“Then why is everyone protecting me by lying?”
She smiled sadly.
“Because truth is dangerous.”
“What truth?”
She glanced at Emma.
“Your daughter is the reason they haven't killed you.”
Adrian froze.
“She knows the account locations.”
“No.”
His mother shook her head.
“She knows the key.”
“What key?”
“The final one.”
The room went silent.
“What does it open?”
“Your father's vault.”
“Where?”
She looked at Daniel.
“Ask him.”
Daniel weakly opened his eyes.
He whispered:
“Not me.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“Then who?”
Daniel looked at Emma.
“Her.”
Adrian stared.
Emma was holding something.
A tiny gold key.
Adrian had never seen it before.
His mother closed her eyes.
“Then it's too late.”
A phone rang upstairs.
Graham answered.
His face went white.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Graham whispered:
“Vincent has entered the building.”
“How many men?”
Graham looked up.
“All of them.”
Gunfire erupted above.
Adrian grabbed Emma.
His mother looked at him.
“Now you have to choose.”
Adrian stared.
“What?”
“Your empire.”
She pointed toward the gold key.
May you like
“Or your family.”
Then the doors exploded inward.
