Chapter 10 - THE LIE BETWEEN US
The silence inside the SUV was unbearable.
Adrian stared at the phone.
I stared at Adrian.
And my mother's voice remained trapped between us.
"Harper," she whispered, "are you still there?"
"Yes."
"Listen carefully. Adrian doesn't know everything about his family."
Adrian leaned forward.
"Rebecca Quinn?"
My mother went silent.
"It's Adrian Blackthorne," he said. "I need to know what you mean."
Her voice hardened.
"Ask him about the night Robert died."
Adrian's expression changed.
"My father was killed six years ago."
"Ask him who gave the order to move Robert's car."
Adrian looked away.
My stomach tightened.
"Adrian?"
He didn't answer.
"Tell me."
He exhaled slowly.
"I ordered the security route changed that night."
My heart dropped.
"Why?"
"Because someone threatened my mother. I believed moving my father through a different entrance would protect him."
My mother's voice came through the phone.
"And who told you to change it?"
Adrian closed his eyes.
"Richard Sterling."
I felt sick.
Richard had manipulated Adrian into sending his father directly into an ambush.
Adrian's face went pale.
"I was twenty-nine," he said quietly. "I thought I was protecting him."
My mother answered.
"Samuel Voss has spent decades making innocent people carry the blame for his crimes."
The call crackled.
"Harper, I need you to understand. Adrian may be dangerous, but he isn't the man who betrayed Robert."
I looked at Adrian.
His hands were clenched.
For the first time, I saw something beneath his terrifying reputation.
Guilt.
The kind that eats a person alive.
"Then why did you tell me not to trust him?" I asked.
"Because Samuel has someone close to Adrian. Someone who knows every move he makes."
Adrian's eyes lifted.
"Who?"
My mother hesitated.
Then a man's voice sounded in the background.
"Rebecca, time's up."
The call ended.
I stared at the phone.
"She's alive."
Adrian nodded.
"Yes."
"She's been alive all these years."
"Yes."
I turned toward the window.
Rain streaked the glass.
I wanted to scream.
I wanted to cry.
I wanted to find my mother and demand every answer she'd withheld.
But beneath the anger was something else.
Hope.
Terrifying, impossible hope.
Adrian quietly removed his jacket and placed it around my shoulders.
I looked at him.
"Why are you helping me?"
He hesitated.
"Because your father protected my family."
"That's not the whole reason."
He met my eyes.
"No."
My breath caught.
"Then what is?"
His voice lowered.
"Because you walked into a room full of people who were afraid of Victoria Sterling, and you chose to protect my mother."
He paused.
"Nobody has done that for her in a very long time."
I looked down.
"I didn't do anything special."
"You did."
He reached for my hand.
Then stopped.
Waiting.
I could have pulled away.
Instead, I placed my hand in his.
His fingers closed gently around mine.
For one brief moment, the danger outside seemed far away.
Then Marco's phone rang.
His expression darkened.
"Boss, we've identified the person leaking information from inside the estate."
Adrian straightened.
"Who?"
Marco swallowed.
"Your chief of security."
Adrian frowned.
"You're my chief of security."
Marco looked directly at him.
"Exactly."
May you like
Then he pulled a gun.
And pointed it at my chest.
