Chapter 3 - The Daughter He Was Never Allowed To Find
"She was never your daughter."
The words stayed in Adrian Blackwood's mind long after the call ended.
The hidden phone in his hand felt heavier than a weapon.
Because weapons were simple.
They destroyed things.
But secrets...
Secrets destroyed everything you thought you knew.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
Across from him, Sadie stood frozen.
She had heard the voice.
She had heard the sentence.
And she already knew exactly what it meant.
"Who was that?" Adrian asked.
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
Sadie looked away.
"Nobody."
Adrian stared at her.
A few hours ago, he would have accepted that answer.
Maybe.
But not anymore.
Not after finding Elena's letter.
Not after seeing the photograph.
Not after hearing someone claim the woman standing in front of him was not his daughter.
"Nobody doesn't call a hidden phone inside a locked box."
Sadie's hands trembled.
She looked toward the open door.
Like she was searching for a way to escape.
Adrian noticed.
"You are afraid."
"No."
"You are."
The silence between them became uncomfortable.
Sadie had spent years hiding.
Hiding her pain.
Hiding her past.
Hiding the truth about why she came to this mansion.
But now the one person she tried hardest to avoid had found everything.
"Tell me the truth."
Sadie laughed quietly.
A broken sound.
"You say that like the truth has ever helped people like me."
Adrian's expression tightened.
"What does that mean?"
She looked at him.
Really looked at him.
And for a moment, Adrian saw something he had never expected.
Disappointment.
Not fear.
Not hatred.
Disappointment.
"I thought you were different."
The words surprised him.
"Different from who?"
"From everyone else."
Sadie looked down at her injured arm.
"My whole life, people with power decided what happened to people without it."
Adrian didn't speak.
Because he knew she was right.
Not about him.
But about the world he lived in.
"Who hurt your arm?" he asked again.
Sadie shook her head.
"I can't tell you."
"Why?"
"Because if I do, someone dies."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Is that a threat?"
"No."
Her voice cracked.
"It's a warning."
That answer made him pause.
Because Sadie wasn't protecting the person who hurt her.
She was protecting him.
And somehow, that bothered him more.
Adrian walked toward the desk and placed the photograph beside the letter.
"Your mother wrote this."
Sadie looked at the paper.
Her eyes filled with emotion.
"She told me never to open it."
"When?"
"Before she disappeared."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"She didn't disappear."
Sadie looked at him.
"What?"
"Someone made her disappear."
The sentence came out colder than he expected.
Because deep inside, he already knew.
Elena had never abandoned him.
Someone had taken her away.
And someone had spent years making sure he believed the wrong story.
Sadie moved closer to the desk.
"Who was she to you?"
Adrian looked at the photograph.
The woman in the picture had smiled at him like he was just a normal man.
Not a mafia boss.
Not a person everyone feared.
Just Adrian.
"She was the only person who knew who I really was."
Sadie touched the edge of the picture.
"My mother talked about someone named Adrian."
His eyes moved to her.
"What did she say?"
Sadie hesitated.
"She said he was kind before the world made him cruel."
The words hit harder than any accusation.
Because Adrian remembered hearing something similar once.
From Elena.
Years ago.
Before everything changed.
Before he built walls around himself.
Before he became someone nobody dared to challenge.
"Why did you come here?" he asked.
Sadie froze.
"What?"
"You didn't just apply for a maid position randomly."
Her silence answered him.
Adrian stepped closer.
"You knew who I was."
Sadie looked down.
"Yes."
"Why?"
She didn't answer immediately.
Then she whispered:
"Because my mother left me one instruction."
"What instruction?"
Sadie's fingers touched the broken silver name tag.
"Find Adrian Blackwood."
The room became silent.
Adrian looked at the name tag.
The words carved on the back suddenly felt different.
"For Sadie. Always."
Not a random message.
Not a servant's secret.
A promise.
"Who gave you that?"
"My mother."
"When?"
"Right before she died."
Adrian's face changed.
"You said she disappeared."
Sadie's eyes became wet.
"That's what everyone wanted me to believe."
A cold feeling moved through Adrian.
"What happened?"
Sadie looked toward the hallway.
Like she was afraid someone could hear.
"She was sick."
Adrian waited.
"But before she died, someone came to our house."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"What did they want?"
Sadie swallowed.
"They wanted proof that I existed."
Adrian's expression darkened.
"Proof?"
She nodded.
"They kept asking my mother where she hid the evidence."
"What evidence?"
Sadie looked at him.
"The evidence that you had a child."
The words landed heavily.
Adrian looked away.
A thousand memories returned.
Elena.
The night she vanished.
The accusations.
The people who told him she betrayed him.
The person who convinced him she never loved him.
All of it.
A lie.
But one question remained.
If Sadie was his daughter...
Why did someone call and say she wasn't?
Before he could ask, the mansion alarm suddenly activated.
A sharp sound echoed through the halls.
Adrian immediately changed.
The vulnerable man disappeared.
The dangerous man returned.
He moved toward the door.
"Stay here."
Sadie grabbed his sleeve.
"Don't."
He looked down at her hand.
"You said someone wanted proof I existed."
Her voice shook.
"That means they know you found me."
Adrian stared at her.
Then he heard footsteps outside.
Multiple footsteps.
Not staff.
Not guards.
Someone had entered the mansion.
Without permission.
Adrian reached inside his jacket.
Sadie saw the weapon.
Her face changed.
"Adrian."
It was the first time she said his name.
Not Mr. Blackwood.
Not sir.
Adrian.
And somehow that stopped him for half a second.
"Stay behind me."
The door to the staff room slowly opened.
A man stood on the other side.
Older.
Wounded.
Holding a photograph in his hand.
Adrian immediately recognized him.
A man who should have been dead for fifteen years.
The stranger looked at Sadie.
Then at Adrian.
And whispered:
"Elena wasn't protecting your daughter..."
He stepped into the room.
"She was protecting her from you."
Adrian's hand tightened.
The stranger raised the photograph.
And on it was a picture of Sadie as a child standing beside a man Adrian had buried long ago.
The man smiled.
May you like
Because he knew the truth was finally about to come out.
And then he said Adrian's real name.
