Chapter 5 - The Marriage They Never Expected
Adrian stared at the photograph.
For perhaps the first time since I met him, fear reached his eyes.
Not fear for himself.
Recognition.
"Whoever took this has access."
"We already knew that."
"No."
He turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
I read it.
LIKE BROTHER, LIKE BROTHER.
Adrian took the photograph.
His knuckles whitened.
Sarah whispered, "What does that mean?"
He didn't answer.
The briefcase contained Julian's files.
Police reports.
Financial statements.
Private correspondence.
And one medical examiner's report marked COPY—NOT FILED.
Julian had officially died in a car accident.
This report suggested he had been unconscious before the crash.
A sedative had been found in his blood.
The official report contained no mention of it.
Sarah sat back.
"Someone altered the investigation."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"My father controlled half the city then."
I looked at him.
"Your father?"
"He's dead."
"That hasn't made dead people less suspicious lately."
He almost smiled.
Almost.
We spent the night reading.
By dawn, a pattern emerged.
Martin Carter had diverted money.
Beatrice helped cover it.
Julian discovered part of the scheme through my mother.
Julian intended to expose them.
Someone stopped him.
Mom gave birth to Lily days later.
She suffered complications.
Then she died.
Maybe naturally.
Maybe not.
We had too many questions.
But we finally had proof of something important.
Beatrice's custody case was based on fabricated financial complaints.
Emails in Julian's files showed Martin planning years earlier to challenge any future guardianship if Caroline had another child.
He had written:
Control the child, control the account.
I felt nauseated.
Lily had been a strategy before she learned to walk.
Sarah believed the documents could destroy Beatrice's case.
But Adrian wanted the person inside his security network found first.
We argued.
Of course we did.
"You cannot keep us locked in your house."
"Someone photographed me sleeping."
"Exactly. Your house isn't safe."
"Then another property."
"No."
"Rose."
"No."
"You have a child to protect."
"I have a sister to raise. There's a difference."
His jaw flexed.
"Fine. You have Lily to protect."
"So do you now."
He went silent.
I hadn't meant it as a weapon.
But the truth sat between us.
His niece.
His brother's daughter.
Our strange marriage had turned us into a family neither of us expected.
That evening, Lily asked if Adrian was her uncle.
We had decided not to lie.
"Yes," I said.
She stared at him.
"For real?"
"For real," Adrian answered.
"So Rose married my uncle."
I closed my eyes.
"Please don't phrase it that way."
Lily frowned.
"But technically—"
"Stop learning technicalities from Sarah."
Adrian covered a smile with his hand.
Then Lily became serious.
"Did my dad know about me?"
The room changed.
I took her hand.
"We don't know."
"Did he love my mom?"
I looked at the photograph.
"They looked happy."
"That's not what I asked."
Adrian crouched beside her chair.
"My brother was difficult."
"Like you?"
"Worse."
She smiled faintly.
"But when he loved someone, he loved them completely."
"Do you think he would have loved me?"
Adrian answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
Lily nodded.
That was enough for now.
Later, I found Adrian on the balcony.
"You handled that well."
"She deserved an answer."
"You gave her one you couldn't prove."
"I knew my brother."
I stood beside him.
The lake was black below us.
"I shouldn't have slapped you."
"No."
"You could pretend to make this easier."
"I don't want you apologizing for being angry."
"Still."
He looked at me.
"You were told your mother hid a connection to my family. You thought I knew. I would have hit me too."
I laughed.
Then became quiet.
"Adrian."
"Yes?"
"Why did you really need a wife?"
"I told you."
"The will."
"Yes."
"That's all?"
He didn't answer.
I turned.
"Rule four."
He sighed.
"My father believed marriage forced discipline. His will divided voting control of several companies. I could inherit my shares regardless, but I couldn't control the family trust unless I married before forty."
"You're thirty-seven."
"Thirty-eight."
"Ancient."
"Thank you."
"Why not marry someone from your world?"
"Because women from my world knew exactly what marrying me bought them."
"And I didn't?"
"You wanted one thing."
"Lily."
"Yes."
He looked at me.
"I trusted that."
That sentence stayed with me.
"What happens now?" I asked.
"When the custody case ends?"
"With us."
He looked away toward the lake.
"Our agreement said you could leave."
"That's not an answer."
"No."
"Adrian."
His eyes returned to mine.
"What do you want me to say?"
"The truth."
His voice lowered.
"I don't want you to leave."
There it was.
No grand speech.
No performance.
Just truth.
My heartbeat became inconvenient.
"I don't know what I want."
"Then don't decide tonight."
"You make that sound easy."
"I've waited for harder things."
I looked at him.
"Like what?"
His expression shifted.
Before he could answer, glass shattered downstairs.
Adrian pulled me behind him.
A security alarm sounded.
Men moved through the hall.
We ran to Lily's room.
Empty.
My lungs stopped.
Then Lily called from the bathroom.
"I'm here!"
I opened the door.
She was crouched inside with Mrs. Bell.
Safe.
A brick had broken the library window.
Wrapped around it was a note.
Adrian unfolded it.
COME TO CAROLINE'S GRAVE ALONE.
Below that:
MIDNIGHT.
Sarah shook her head.
"Absolutely not."
I looked at the clock.
11:18.
Adrian said, "They're trying to separate us."
"Yes."
"So we don't go."
I read the note again.
Then noticed something.
The handwriting.
I had seen it before.
On birthday cards.
Christmas envelopes.
Condolence notes.
"It's Beatrice."
At midnight, we didn't go alone.
We went smarter.
Police stayed back.
Federal investigators waited nearby.
Adrian and I entered the cemetery together.
Beatrice stood beside Mom's grave.
She looked ten years older.
"You brought him."
"Yes."
"I said alone."
"I stopped following your instructions years ago."
Her eyes filled.
"Rose, I did terrible things."
"Then start talking."
She looked at Adrian.
"Your brother found Martin's accounts."
"I know."
"No. You don't."
She pulled an envelope from her coat.
"Julian wasn't killed because of the money."
"Then why?"
"Because he found out who was protecting Martin."
Adrian went still.
"Who?"
Beatrice looked toward the darkness beyond the graves.
"He was supposed to meet Caroline that night. He never arrived."
"Who stopped him?"
She handed Adrian the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A man shaking Martin's hand.
I didn't recognize him.
Adrian did.
His face changed.
"No."
I grabbed his arm.
"Who is it?"
He whispered a name.
"Thomas Bell."
I frowned.
"Bell?"
Then I understood.
Mrs. Bell.
Adrian's housekeeper.
The woman currently alone with Lily.
My phone rang.
Home security.
I answered.
A recorded alert played.
UPSTAIRS MOTION DETECTED.
Then Lily's voice came through my phone.
Not a call.
A live microphone.
"Mrs. Bell?"
Silence.
May you like
Then a man's voice answered her from inside the bedroom.
"Your uncle should have stayed away from that locker."
