Chapter 5 - The Man I Was Told Not To Trust
I read the sentence three times.
Then a fourth.
"Do not trust the man who saved you."
The words stared back at me from my father's handwriting.
The same handwriting that used to appear on birthday cards.
The same handwriting that once wrote grocery lists on the kitchen counter.
The same handwriting I thought I would never see again.
Except now it was warning me about my husband.
The man who had protected me.
The man who had found me when I was broken.
The man who had walked into The Imperial Room and stood between me and the people who tried to destroy me.
Adrian.
I slowly lowered the paper.
Nobody spoke.
Daniel Ross looked uncomfortable.
Like he knew exactly what those words would do to me.
Adrian stood across the room.
Silent.
Too silent.
And suddenly, for the first time since I met him, I wondered if there were things about him I didn't know.
"Say something."
My voice came out quieter than I expected.
Adrian looked at me.
"Clara."
"No."
I shook my head.
"I need you to answer one question."
A pause.
"Did you know about this?"
His expression changed slightly.
Only slightly.
But I saw it.
And that was enough.
"You knew."
Adrian looked away.
My chest tightened.
"How long?"
"Clara..."
"How long did you know my father wrote this?"
"I didn't know about the message."
"But you knew about him."
Silence.
Daniel looked between us.
"This is exactly what I was afraid of."
I turned toward him.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked at Adrian.
Then back at me.
"Your father didn't trust powerful people."
My eyes narrowed.
"And Adrian is powerful."
Daniel didn't answer.
He didn't have to.
The silence was an answer.
I stepped away.
The room suddenly felt unfamiliar.
Even though I had spent countless nights inside Adrian's home.
Even though I knew his habits.
His favorite coffee.
The way he smiled when he thought I wasn't watching.
The way he held my hand when I was afraid.
Now, one sentence from my dead father had planted a question I couldn't remove.
Was Adrian protecting me?
Or was he controlling me?
"Clara."
Adrian's voice was softer.
I looked at him.
"I need you to listen to me."
"That's what everyone says before they tell me something they hid from me."
His face tightened.
That hurt him.
I saw it.
But I was hurt too.
"You knew someone was following me."
"Yes."
"You knew my father was connected to this."
"Yes."
"You knew Marcus Vale was involved."
"Yes."
I laughed once.
Not because anything was funny.
Because suddenly everything sounded impossible.
"So what exactly did you plan to tell me?"
Adrian didn't answer.
That silence was louder than anything.
Daniel slowly stood.
"I should leave."
"No."
Adrian looked at him.
"Stay."
Daniel nodded.
Because he knew something important was about to happen.
Adrian walked to his desk.
He opened a locked drawer.
Then removed a small black box.
My heart started beating faster.
Because I knew that box.
I had seen it before.
Years ago.
The first time I moved into Adrian's apartment.
I asked him what was inside.
He told me:
"Something from before we met."
I never asked again.
Until now.
He placed it on the table.
"I found this three months after we got married."
I stared at him.
"Why didn't you show me?"
"Because I didn't know if it was safe."
I almost couldn't believe him.
"Safe?"
He opened the box.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A small USB drive.
And an old letter.
My father's name was written on it.
My hands became cold.
"What is this?"
Adrian looked at me.
"The reason I started investigating."
I picked up the letter.
The paper was old.
The edges were damaged.
But the name was clear.
Thomas Bennett.
My father.
I opened it.
The letter wasn't long.
Only a few paragraphs.
But every sentence felt like another piece of my life breaking apart.
My father had written about people he trusted.
People who betrayed him.
People who wanted information he had discovered.
Then I saw the name.
Blackwood.
I froze.
My eyes moved back to the page.
Then forward again.
The name was still there.
Adrian saw my reaction.
"I know what you're thinking."
I looked up.
"Do you?"
His face was serious.
"You're wondering if my family was involved."
I couldn't speak.
Because that was exactly what I was wondering.
Daniel looked down.
"I didn't want you to find out this way."
I turned toward him.
"What do you mean?"
He sighed.
"Your father's investigation wasn't only about Marcus Vale."
A pause.
"It involved several families."
My fingers tightened around the paper.
"And the Blackwoods?"
Daniel didn't answer immediately.
Then he said:
"Yes."
The room became completely silent.
I looked at Adrian.
Waiting.
Hoping.
I didn't know what I wanted him to say.
Maybe I wanted him to deny everything.
Maybe I wanted him to tell me it was all a misunderstanding.
But he didn't.
Instead, he said:
"My father knew your father."
The words felt like a physical blow.
"How?"
"They worked together."
"On what?"
Adrian looked at the documents.
"On the investigation that got your father killed."
I stepped back.
"No."
"Clara..."
"No."
My voice shook.
"You're telling me your family was connected to my father's death?"
"No."
He moved toward me.
I stepped away.
And I hated that I did.
Because the hurt on his face was immediate.
But I couldn't stop.
Everything I believed was changing too quickly.
The man I loved.
The man who saved me.
The man my father warned me about.
All connected.
"Then tell me the truth."
Adrian looked at me.
"I am."
"All of it."
A long pause.
Then he reached for the USB drive.
"There is one thing you haven't seen."
He placed it on the desk.
"This contains the original evidence your father collected."
I stared at it.
"Why didn't you open it?"
"I tried."
"And?"
His expression changed.
"It requires a password."
I looked at Daniel.
"Do you know it?"
Daniel shook his head.
"Your father never told anyone."
Adrian looked at me.
"But I think he left a clue."
My eyes moved to the letter.
The handwriting.
The warning.
The secrets.
"What clue?"
Adrian picked up the photograph from the box.
It was old.
A picture of my father standing outside a building.
I looked closer.
There was something written on the back.
A date.
And four words.
My breathing stopped.
Because I recognized them.
They were words my father used to say when I was a child.
Words I thought only I knew.
Adrian looked at me.
"Clara."
I looked at him.
"The password."
My fingers touched the photograph.
Then the USB drive.
And for the first time, I realized my father hadn't only left a warning.
He had left a way to uncover the truth.
I entered the four words.
The screen lit up.
The drive opened.
One file appeared.
Only one.
A video file.
Created seventeen years ago.
The name of the file was:
"FOR CLARA ONLY."
I clicked it.
The screen went black.
Then a man's face appeared.
My father.
Older than I remembered.
Tired.
Afraid.
Looking directly into the camera.
May you like
And the first words he said made Adrian freeze.
"If you are watching this, then the man beside you has already found you..."
