Chapter 3 - THE MAN ADRIAN SHOULD HAVE KILLED YEARS AGO
Victor Sloane had been dangerous twenty years ago.
Age had not improved him.
The photograph showed silver hair, a tailored coat, and the same calm smile Adrian remembered from his father’s office.
“He knows I’m here,” Mara whispered.
Adrian looked at Noah.
“Lock the estate.”
“Already done.”
“Double the west gate.”
“Done.”
“Bring Luca in.”
Noah nodded.
Mara looked between them.
“Who’s Luca?”
“My security director.”
“And what happens when Sloane comes back?”
Adrian’s voice went flat.
“He won’t leave again.”
Mara stepped forward.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No?”
“You don’t get to kill someone because of me.”
“He broke into your home.”
“I know.”
“He beat you nearly unconscious.”
“I know.”
“He murdered your brother.”
Her face tightened.
“I know.”
“Then what exactly are we debating?”
“The difference between justice and revenge.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“You came to the wrong house for that conversation.”
Mara held his gaze.
“No. I think I came to exactly the right one.”
That unsettled him.
She stepped closer.
“You’ve spent three years pretending I don’t notice what kind of man you are.”
“And?”
“You’re dangerous.”
“Yes.”
“You’re feared.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re not careless.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“You don’t know everything I’ve done.”
“No.”
“But I know what you haven’t done.”
He stared at her.
“You haven’t treated your employees like disposable people. You don’t hurt people for entertainment. And every Christmas you anonymously pay the property taxes for three families in Bridgeport.”
His expression changed.
“How do you know that?”
“I clean your office.”
For the first time that day, Adrian almost smiled.
Then Mara’s face became serious.
“Don’t become the man people already think you are because Victor hurt me.”
The words landed somewhere deep.
Before Adrian could answer, Luca arrived.
He was younger than Adrian, broader through the shoulders, and carried himself like someone who had spent too many years expecting bullets.
He stopped when he saw Mara.
“You.”
Mara froze.
“You know me?”
Luca stared at Adrian.
“You didn’t tell her?”
“Tell me what?”
Adrian felt something cold settle in his stomach.
Luca swore under his breath.
Six years ago, before witness protection, Luca had worked undercover inside one of Victor Sloane’s shell companies.
He had secretly given evidence to Jonah Quinn.
Mara stared at him.
“My brother’s source.”
Luca nodded.
“Jonah called me Falcon.”
Tears filled Mara’s eyes.
“He trusted you.”
“He saved my life.”
“Then why didn’t you testify?”
Luca looked at Adrian.
Because that was the problem.
Adrian knew before his brother spoke.
“My father stopped him.”
Mara slowly turned.
“What?”
Adrian’s father, Dominic Vale, had threatened Luca into silence to protect the family’s business ties.
Adrian had discovered part of it after Dominic died.
But not everything.
Mara backed away.
“You knew.”
“Not about Jonah’s murder.”
“You knew your father protected Sloane.”
“Yes.”
Her eyes filled with betrayal.
“And you hired me anyway?”
Adrian froze.
“What do you mean?”
Mara laughed bitterly.
“Do you honestly think I applied here by accident?”
Silence.
Then she told him the secret she had hidden for three years.
May you like
She had taken the job at Adrian’s house because she believed the Vale family had ordered her brother’s murder.
And she had been investigating Adrian from the day she arrived.
