Chapter 8 - The Price of a New Life
The first threat arrived three months after Adrien buried his old name.
The message appeared on my phone at 3:17 a.m.
I opened it and saw a picture of Adrien sleeping beside me.
But beneath the image were four words:
"Peace never lasts."
I stopped breathing.
Because I knew whoever sent it had been inside our home.
For a few seconds, I just stared at the screen.
The room was dark.
Quiet.
Safe.
At least that was what I thought.
Adrien was asleep beside me, his breathing slow and steady.
A sound I never thought I would hear when I first met him.
Peace.
The man who once spent every night fighting ghosts from his past was finally resting.
And now someone wanted to take that away.
My first instinct was to wake him.
My second was to hide the phone.
I hated that I even considered protecting him from the truth.
Because that was exactly what everyone had done to him his entire life.
They lied.
They hid things.
They made choices for him.
I had promised myself I would never become another person who controlled his life.
So I touched his shoulder gently.
"Adrien."
His eyes opened instantly.
Not slowly.
Not confused.
Instantly alert.
The old instincts never disappeared.
"What happened?"
I handed him the phone.
The moment he saw the picture, his entire body changed.
The warmth disappeared.
The man beside me vanished.
And for a second, I saw the person everyone feared.
The mafia boss.
The survivor.
The man who had spent his whole life preparing for betrayal.
"When was this taken?"
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
"I don't know."
He looked around the room.
"Did you hear anything?"
"No."
Adrien stood.
He moved through the apartment silently.
Checking doors.
Windows.
Corners.
Every possible entrance.
I watched him.
And I realized something.
Even after everything changed, even after he escaped his father’s control, he still lived like a prisoner.
A prisoner of memories.
A prisoner of fear.
"Adrien."
He stopped.
"You’re doing it again."
He looked back.
"Doing what?"
"Looking for the person who is going to hurt you."
His expression hardened.
"Because someone is."
I walked closer.
"Maybe."
A pause.
"But you’re not letting yourself live because of it."
He didn’t answer.
Because he knew I was right.
The next morning, Mateo arrived.
He looked different.
Not because of his clothes.
Because of the weight he carried.
Since exposing Adrien’s father, he had disappeared from the Russo organization.
He no longer stood behind Adrien like a shadow.
He looked like a man trying to rebuild himself.
"I traced the message."
Adrien stood across from him.
"And?"
Mateo hesitated.
That was never a good sign.
"It came from an encrypted server."
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
"Who?"
Mateo looked at me.
Then back at him.
"Someone who should not exist."
The room became silent.
Adrien’s expression changed.
"Explain."
Mateo placed a folder on the table.
Inside was a photograph.
A man.
Older.
Unknown.
But the name written beneath it made Adrien freeze.
"Luca Vieri."
I looked at Adrien.
"You know him?"
His face became unreadable.
"My father's closest ally."
Mateo nodded.
"He disappeared the night your father was exposed."
Adrien picked up the photograph.
"I thought he ran."
"So did everyone."
Mateo opened the folder.
"But three days ago, someone used his access codes to enter an old Russo account."
I felt a chill.
"Why would he come back now?"
Nobody answered.
Because everyone knew the answer.
Revenge.
That evening, Adrien barely spoke.
He sat by the window, looking over the city.
The same city he once ruled through fear.
The same city he was trying to leave behind.
I walked toward him.
"You’re blaming yourself."
He didn’t turn.
"I should have seen it."
"Seen what?"
"That my father wasn’t the only person planning things."
I stood beside him.
"Adrien."
"He was right about one thing."
I looked at him.
"About what?"
"Trust."
His voice became quieter.
"My entire life, I believed trusting people made me weak."
He looked down.
"And every time I trusted someone, they proved me right."
I reached for his hand.
"But you trusted me."
He looked at our hands.
"And that was the one thing I never regretted."
The answer surprised me.
Because Adrien Russo was not a man who admitted weakness.
But with me, he did.
"You know what scares me?"
I asked.
He looked at me.
"That you think protecting me means pushing me away."
His eyes softened.
"I don't want you hurt."
"And I don't want you alone."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then his phone rang.
Mateo.
Adrien answered.
"What happened?"
The silence that followed changed everything.
"What do you mean missing?"
Adrien listened.
Then his expression became serious.
He ended the call.
"What?"
He looked at me.
"Toby."
My heart stopped.
"What about Toby?"
"He never arrived home from school."
The world suddenly became smaller.
No.
Not Toby.
Not after everything.
Not after all the years we fought.
I grabbed my coat.
Adrien was already moving.
"We’ll find him."
I looked at him.
His voice was calm.
But his eyes showed something else.
Fear.
Real fear.
Because Toby wasn't just my brother.
He was the person who reminded Adrien that he could still save something good.
The search lasted six hours.
Police reports were filed.
Security footage was checked.
Every contact Adrien had was activated.
But there was nothing.
No ransom note.
No witnesses.
No evidence.
Until Mateo found something.
A small envelope left inside Toby’s locker.
Adrien opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
Only one sentence.
"Let’s see if the nurse can save someone this time."
My hands went cold.
Because whoever took Toby knew exactly who I was.
They knew what Adrien cared about.
They knew his weakness.
Me.
Adrien crushed the paper in his hand.
"This is my fault."
I looked at him.
"No."
"If I had never entered your life—"
"No."
My voice became stronger.
"Don’t do that."
He looked at me.
"Don’t turn this into another punishment."
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then his expression changed.
Not anger.
Determination.
The same look he had when I first met him.
The difference was…
This time he wasn't fighting because of revenge.
He was fighting because he loved someone.
Mateo approached slowly.
"We found a location."
Adrien turned.
"Where?"
Mateo looked at the address.
Then his face changed.
"It's an old Russo property."
The room went silent.
Adrien understood immediately.
His father's world.
The past he had tried to escape.
The place where everything started.
I grabbed his hand.
He looked at me.
"You don’t have to come."
I squeezed his fingers.
"Yes, I do."
"Helena—"
"My brother is there."
A pause.
"And so is the man I love."
The words surprised both of us.
Because I had never said them before.
Adrien stared at me.
Then slowly nodded.
For the first time that night, his fear disappeared.
Because he wasn’t walking into the darkness alone.
May you like
But neither of us knew that the person waiting for us inside the old Russo estate wasn’t just someone from Adrien’s past.
It was someone who knew the truth about mine.
