Chapter 8 - The Enemy Who Wanted Her Gone
The person standing behind me was someone I knew.
Someone I had trusted.
Someone who had smiled at me every morning for three years.
My fingers tightened around the phone.
The voice on the line was still there.
"Clara."
I couldn't move.
I couldn't speak.
Because the person standing in front of me was the same person whose voice had just warned me not to trust Jonah.
Marcus.
Jonah's closest friend.
The man who had worked beside him for years.
The man who had told me Jonah noticed me more than I realized.
The man who had encouraged me to stay that night.
The man who seemed to know every secret before anyone else.
He stood in the hallway.
Silent.
Watching me.
My mother gasped.
Jonah immediately stepped between us.
"Marcus."
One word.
But it carried a warning.
Marcus looked at Jonah.
And for the first time, I saw something different between them.
Not friendship.
Not loyalty.
Something broken.
"Jonah."
Marcus' voice was calm.
Almost sad.
"I didn't want it to happen this way."
The room went quiet.
My heart sank.
Because those words didn't sound like an innocent person.
They sounded like someone who had already accepted what he had done.
"What did you do?" Jonah asked.
Marcus looked at me.
Not Jonah.
Me.
"I tried to protect her."
I almost laughed.
Another person.
Another excuse.
Another person claiming they were protecting me.
"Everyone keeps saying that."
My voice shook.
"But nobody tells me from what."
Marcus looked away.
"From you."
The words landed like a punch.
Jonah's face changed.
"What?"
Marcus took a step forward.
"From the Navarro name."
Nobody spoke.
The anger in Jonah's eyes grew.
"You don't know what you're saying."
"No."
Marcus shook his head.
"You don't know what you've become."
For a moment, I saw something painful in Jonah's expression.
Because those words came from someone who had known him for years.
Someone who wasn't afraid of him.
"Marcus," Jonah said quietly.
"Tell me the truth."
Marcus stared at him.
"The truth?"
A bitter smile appeared.
"The truth is that Adrian Navarro ruined everything."
My mother immediately looked at him.
"You knew Adrian?"
Marcus looked at her.
"Of course I knew him."
That answer confused me.
"How?"
Nobody answered.
Then Marcus looked at the photograph in my hand.
"The same way everyone connected to this family knows him."
I looked down.
The picture of my father.
Jonah.
And Marcus.
All standing together years ago.
"You were there."
Marcus nodded.
"Yes."
My chest tightened.
"You knew my father."
"Yes."
"You knew my mother was alive."
His silence was enough.
I stepped back.
"How long?"
Marcus looked at me.
"Clara..."
"How long did you know?"
His face changed.
And I knew.
Years.
He had known for years.
The betrayal hurt differently.
Jonah had hidden things because he was afraid.
But Marcus...
Marcus had smiled while knowing the truth.
"Why?"
I whispered.
"Why would you do this?"
Marcus looked at me.
And for a second, I saw regret.
"Because I saw what happened to people who got close to this family."
He looked at Jonah.
"I saw what happened to Adrian."
Jonah's voice became cold.
"Don't use my father's name."
"Why?"
Marcus stepped closer.
"Because you still believe he was a victim."
The tension became unbearable.
Jonah looked ready to explode.
But Marcus continued.
"Adrian Navarro wasn't just investigating the family."
My mother became pale.
"What are you saying?"
Marcus looked at her.
"He was trying to destroy it."
Silence.
I looked at Jonah.
He looked shocked.
Not because he believed Marcus.
Because he had never heard this before.
"My father wanted to destroy his own empire?"
Marcus nodded.
"He discovered what it was built on."
Jonah stared at him.
"What did he find?"
Marcus didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at me.
"Your father discovered that Clara wasn't just his daughter."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Marcus reached into his jacket.
He pulled out a small folder.
"I have proof."
Jonah moved instantly.
"Don't."
Marcus looked at him.
"You're scared she'll see it."
"I said don't."
But Marcus threw the folder onto the table.
Documents scattered.
Old records.
Photos.
Names.
Dates.
My eyes moved across the papers.
Then stopped.
There was a document with my name.
A birth record.
But something was wrong.
The date.
The hospital.
The signatures.
Everything looked different from the records I had grown up with.
"What is this?"
Nobody answered.
I picked up another paper.
And my hands started shaking.
Because there was one name written beside mine.
A name I had never seen before.
Jonah noticed.
"Clara."
I looked at him.
"What is this?"
His expression changed.
He didn't know.
And that scared me.
Because for the first time, Jonah wasn't hiding something.
He was discovering something with me.
Marcus spoke quietly.
"Your mother didn't run away because she was afraid of Adrian."
I looked at him.
"Then why?"
He looked at Jonah.
"Because she was afraid of the person who killed him."
The room went silent.
My mother covered her mouth.
"No."
Marcus nodded.
"Yes."
Jonah stepped closer.
"Who?"
Marcus didn't answer.
He looked at the security cameras.
Then at the locked doors.
Like he knew time was running out.
"Before Adrian died, he left one final message."
Jonah's eyes narrowed.
"Where?"
Marcus looked at me.
"With Clara."
I froze.
"What?"
Marcus pointed toward my necklace.
The necklace my mother had given me.
The necklace I had worn since childhood.
"The answer has been with you your entire life."
Slowly, I touched the necklace.
My hands shook.
"No."
My mother whispered.
"Clara..."
I looked at her.
"What?"
She looked terrified.
Not confused.
Terrified.
And that was when I knew.
She knew.
"Mom."
Her eyes filled with tears.
"What is inside this necklace?"
Nobody answered.
Then the lights flickered again.
A loud sound came from downstairs.
Security shouted.
Jonah immediately moved toward the entrance.
But before he reached it, every screen in the penthouse turned on.
A video appeared.
An old recording.
A man sitting in darkness.
A man I recognized from the photographs.
My father.
Adrian Navarro.
Everyone froze.
The recording started.
His voice filled the room.
"If you are watching this, then Clara finally knows the truth."
My breathing stopped.
Jonah stared at the screen.
My mother began crying.
Then my father's voice continued:
"Jonah, if you're there, I need you to understand one thing."
The screen flickered.
The image became clearer.
May you like
And then Adrian said the words that made Jonah completely freeze:
"You were never my son."
