Chapter 8 - What Adrian Never Told Me
Adrian's mother was alive.
Her name was Vivienne Vale.
And Adrian had not spoken to her in twelve years.
"Where is she?" Mara asked.
"Paris, according to public records."
"According to reality?"
"I don't know."
That answer no longer surprised Mara.
They returned to Gabriel's files.
Vivienne appeared repeatedly.
Foundation board meetings.
Research dinners.
St. Arden fundraising events.
Then Mara found an image dated after Vivienne supposedly left America.
She was standing beside Warren Hale.
"She stayed involved."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Apparently."
Mara watched him.
"You're allowed to be angry."
"I am."
"You don't look angry."
"That's why I'm still useful."
She understood him better now.
Adrian did not lack emotion.
He locked it behind walls because emotion, to him, was something enemies could use.
Mara touched his hand.
He looked down.
Neither moved.
The intimacy felt more dangerous than the kiss in the corridor.
That kiss had been desperation.
This was choice.
Mara withdrew first.
"We find Daniel."
Adrian nodded.
Gabriel's files revealed an old Vale property north of the city.
A private medical retreat closed for years.
They arrived before dawn.
Inside were fresh tire tracks.
The basement contained cells.
One was occupied.
Daniel.
Mara ran to him.
For one heartbeat she forgot every lie.
She threw her arms around him.
He held her.
"Mara."
Then she remembered Lucy crying for a father who was alive.
She stepped back and slapped him.
Daniel accepted it.
"You deserved worse."
"Probably."
Tears ran down her face.
"You watched us."
"Yes."
"You let me think you were dead."
"Yes."
"You let Curtis terrorize me."
His expression broke.
"He wasn't supposed to threaten Lucy."
"But he did."
"I know."
"No. You don't get to use those words anymore."
Daniel lowered his eyes.
Adrian unlocked the restraints.
"Where is Vivienne?"
Daniel looked at him.
"I don't know."
"Why did you say 'mother'?"
"Because the person who entered the room called herself that."
Adrian went still.
"Describe her."
"Sixties. Dark hair streaked with silver. Vale eyes."
Adrian looked away.
It was enough.
Daniel continued.
"She said Gabriel nearly ruined everything."
Adrian's restraint cracked.
His fist struck the wall.
Mara jumped.
Daniel didn't.
"She admitted killing him?"
"No. She said his death was necessary."
Adrian turned.
For the first time, Mara saw the man New Orleans feared.
Not loud.
Not wild.
Worse.
Still.
"Where did she go?"
"She took Celeste."
Mara's heart dropped.
"Why?"
"Because Mara and Celeste together can prove what Lantern did."
"How?"
Daniel looked at Mara.
"Your DNA."
The original Mercer research had used embryos from Evelyn's pregnancy to establish a hereditary cell line.
Mara and Celeste were genetically identical.
But they had been exposed to different experimental conditions before birth.
One had been secretly treated.
One had not.
Their records could prove human experimentation began before they were born.
"Which one was treated?" Mara whispered.
Daniel's eyes filled.
"We don't know."
Mara thought of Lucy.
"If it was me, Lucy could have inherited something."
"Yes."
That was why Lucy mattered.
She wasn't simply leverage.
She was evidence.
They returned to Adrian's estate with Daniel under guard.
Lucy saw him through the window.
"Daddy?"
Mara's heart shattered.
Daniel dropped to his knees.
Lucy ran.
He caught her and sobbed.
No strategy.
No secrets.
Just a father holding the child he'd abandoned to save.
Mara turned away.
Adrian stood beside her.
"You can hate him and still be glad he's alive."
She looked at him.
"How do you know?"
"Because that's what family does to us."
That night Daniel told them everything.
Gabriel had discovered Lantern.
Daniel helped him.
Elaine Porter copied patient files.
Hale initially helped them, then betrayed them after Vivienne threatened his family.
Curtis became Daniel's reluctant intermediary.
But one mystery remained.
Who had sent the warning photographs?
Celeste.
Daniel believed she had been protecting Mara secretly for years.
At 2:13 a.m., Adrian's secure phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"Mother."
Mara stood.
Vivienne's voice was audible.
"Hello, darling."
"Where is Celeste?"
"Safe."
"If you hurt her—"
"You still threaten before you understand. Your father hated that habit."
Adrian's hand tightened around the phone.
"What do you want?"
"Mara."
Mara's blood chilled.
Vivienne continued.
"Bring her to St. Arden tomorrow night."
"No."
"Then Celeste dies."
Mara stepped toward Adrian.
He shook his head immediately.
Vivienne laughed softly.
"Still protecting women who don't belong to you."
Adrian's eyes met Mara's.
Vivienne added:
"Ask Mara why Daniel chose her."
Mara frowned.
"What?"
Daniel went pale.
Vivienne heard the silence.
"Oh. He never told her."
Mara turned toward Daniel.
"Tell me what?"
Daniel stood.
"Mara—"
"Tell me."
His eyes closed.
"I knew who you were before we met."
The room went silent.
Mara stared at the husband she'd mourned for two years.
"Our marriage?"
Daniel couldn't look at her.
"It started as an assignment."
Mara stepped backward.
Lucy slept upstairs.
Her dead husband was alive.
Her mother might be alive.
Her twin had been kidnapped.
And now the seven years she'd believed were hers began collapsing too.
Adrian moved toward her.
Mara raised a hand.
"Don't."
Then Daniel said the words that finally broke her.
"Vivienne Vale was the person who paid me to find you."
May you like
Adrian slowly turned toward him.
And someone knocked three times on the front door...
