Chapter 11 - The Price of Loving Adrian Crowe
Harper laughed.
Once.
Broken.
“No.”
Elaine lowered the gun slightly.
“Daniel was your father in every way that mattered.”
“No.”
“Harper—”
“No.”
Victor smiled.
“You always were stubborn.”
Adrian moved between them.
Victor raised another weapon.
“Don't.”
Harper stared at Elaine.
“Tell me he's lying.”
Elaine couldn't.
Years earlier, before Daniel, Elaine had been involved with Victor.
She became pregnant.
Victor wanted the child hidden because Alexander was gathering evidence against him.
Elaine fled.
Daniel married her and raised Harper as his own.
When Victor discovered the truth, Harper became leverage.
Daniel died protecting her.
Harper looked physically ill.
“So this was never about a ledger.”
“It began with one,” Victor said. “Then Adrian complicated things.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
Victor continued.
“Crowe Meridian belongs to the Crowe bloodline.”
Adrian understood.
“You want Harper recognized.”
“She is a Crowe.”
“No,” Harper said.
Victor looked at her.
“You're my daughter.”
“My father was Daniel Lane.”
Victor's smile disappeared.
Harper stepped closer.
“He packed my lunches. He taught me to ride a bike. He stayed up when I had nightmares. You don't get to rewrite that because you contributed DNA.”
Even Adrian looked at her differently.
Victor raised the gun.
“I can still rewrite your future.”
Adrian moved.
The shot fired.
Harper screamed.
Adrian staggered.
Blood appeared at his side.
Something in Harper changed.
She grabbed the metal fire extinguisher beside the roof access and swung.
Victor went down.
Cole rushed through the door.
Elaine kicked Victor's weapon away.
Charles restrained him.
Harper dropped beside Adrian.
“Look at me.”
“I'm fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“I've done that before.”
“This is not the time to be annoyingly masculine.”
He almost smiled.
Paramedics arrived.
Victor was arrested through officials Alexander's evidence had exposed.
For the first time in decades, Adrian allowed police into his world.
At the hospital, Harper sat beside his bed.
“You could leave,” Adrian said.
“So could you.”
“I'm attached to several machines.”
“Excuses.”
He looked at her.
“Harper.”
Her joking expression faded.
“What?”
“You should leave me.”
She stared.
“That's romantic.”
“I'm serious.”
“I know.”
“My life isn't safe.”
“No.”
“I've done things you would hate.”
“Probably.”
“I cannot become someone else overnight.”
“I didn't ask you to.”
He looked away.
Harper touched his hand.
“I asked what you do next.”
His fingers closed around hers.
Then Cole entered.
His face was pale.
“We have a problem.”
Adrian sat up.
“What?”
Cole placed Daniel's recovered ledger on the bed.
The final page was missing.
Harper frowned.
“I had it.”
“Not that page.”
Cole opened the back cover.
A hidden pocket had been cut open.
Someone had removed a second final page.
May you like
And on the empty pocket, one name remained written in Daniel's handwriting.
ADRIAN.
