Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO USED MY NAME AS A WEAPON
Marcus Vale had visited my mother while pretending Adrian sent him.
My name had been the excuse that got him through her door.
The realization made me sick.
Adrian stared at the statement.
“I never sent him.”
I looked at him.
“I believe you.”
His eyes lifted.
That didn't mean I forgave the threat.
It didn't mean his past choices disappeared.
It only meant the evidence pointed somewhere else.
A heavy metallic sound echoed through the wall.
The backup generator stopped.
The lights died.
Then every security lock clicked open.
“Move,” I whispered.
Adrian could barely walk, so I pulled his arm across my shoulders.
We left through the maintenance passage.
The mansion was nearly black.
Wind screamed through broken windows somewhere in the east wing.
Then a voice echoed from behind us.
“Nora.”
Marcus.
I didn't turn.
Adrian whispered, “Left.”
We entered the old library.
A second doorway led toward the central staircase.
Marcus's footsteps came closer.
“Do you really think he deserves saving?”
I kept moving.
“He threatened your mother.”
Adrian stiffened beside me.
Marcus continued.
“He stood by while Elena died.”
Adrian whispered, “Keep going.”
But Marcus knew where to cut deepest.
“He said nothing when that man mocked you at dinner.”
I stopped.
Adrian looked at me.
Marcus laughed from the darkness.
“He still thinks you're beneath him.”
I turned.
Marcus stood at the end of the hallway.
No gun visible.
That didn't comfort me.
I looked toward Adrian.
Then back to Marcus.
“You're wrong.”
Marcus smiled.
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
I took a breath.
“He treated me badly.”
Adrian flinched.
“He judged me.”
I continued.
“He failed my mother when she needed courage from him.”
Marcus's smile grew.
Then I finished.
“But unlike you, he admitted it.”
The smile vanished.
I tightened my hold on Adrian.
“And I don't need him to be innocent for you to be guilty.”
For one second, Marcus looked stunned.
Then he lunged.
Adrian pushed me aside.
Both men crashed through a side table.
I grabbed the nearest object.
A heavy lamp.
But before I could swing it, Marcus pulled a knife.
Adrian caught his wrist.
They struggled.
I saw Adrian’s injured leg buckle.
Marcus raised the knife.
I threw the lamp.
It struck his shoulder.
The knife fell.
Adrian shoved him away.
Then headlights suddenly swept across the windows.
Blue and red lights flashed through the snow.
Emergency responders.
Police.
Marcus looked toward the window.
Panic hit his face.
He ran.
Not toward us.
Toward the front entrance.
The police intercepted him outside.
Within minutes, voices filled the mansion.
Paramedics reached Adrian.
I stepped back as professionals took over.
For the first time all night, I allowed myself to shake.
A paramedic noticed.
“Ma'am, are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You're bleeding.”
I looked down.
My hand had been cut somewhere during the struggle.
I hadn't even noticed.
Then Adrian called my name.
“Nora.”
I looked toward the stretcher.
His oxygen mask covered half his face.
But his gray eyes were fixed on me.
I stepped closer.
He lifted one hand.
I hesitated.
Then took it.
His fingers closed weakly around mine.
“I’m sorry.”
My throat tightened.
“For which part?”
A faint smile.
“All of it.”
Then his eyes closed.
The paramedic reassured me that he was still responsive.
But before they carried him outside, a detective entered holding Damian's folder.
“Nora Bennett?”
I nodded.
“We found something you need to see.”
Inside was a second medical file.
Not my mother’s.
Mine.
It contained photographs of me going back seven years.
College registration.
Work schedules.
My mother's hospital visits.
Then one note:
SUBJECT MUST NEVER LEARN DIANE HID ELENA’S ORIGINAL RECORDING WITH HER.
May you like
My heart stopped.
Somewhere among my mother's possessions was a recording Elena made before she died.
