Chapter 7 - The Man Adrian Called Family
Victor Vale had spent twenty-two years teaching Adrian how to survive.
When Adrian’s father died in a sailing accident, Victor stepped into the role of guardian, mentor, and protector. He trained Adrian for board meetings, warned him about predatory investors, and defended him from relatives who wanted control of his inheritance.
Adrian trusted Victor because Victor had always arrived after disaster.
He never considered the possibility that his uncle might have been standing nearby before each disaster began.
Two weeks before the ball, Victor invited Adrian to dinner at the old Vale Club.
The dining room had no windows and admitted no guests without inherited membership.
Victor poured two glasses of whiskey.
Adrian left his untouched.
“Elena does not like you drinking?” Victor asked.
Adrian’s gaze lifted.
“You know her name.”
“Cassandra mentioned it.”
“Cassandra should not know anything about Elena.”
“Yet she does. Which means your secret is no longer secure.”
Adrian leaned back.
“What do you want?”
“The Beaumont agreement signed.”
“No.”
“Reginald’s bank holds enough debt to create a liquidity crisis across Vale Logistics.”
“He also needs our international network. This is not one-sided.”
Victor rotated the silver ring on his finger.
Adrian noticed the gesture but attached no meaning to it.
“The agreement is more complicated than a marriage arrangement,” Victor said.
“There is no marriage arrangement.”
“Your grandfather believed otherwise.”
“My grandfather treated people like assets.”
“He built the company you now control.”
“I rebuilt the parts he nearly destroyed.”
Victor studied him with weary affection.
“You sound like your mother.”
Adrian’s face became unreadable.
“You rarely speak about her.”
“There is little to say.”
“There is everything to say.”
Victor drank.
“Evelyn loved you. She also became unstable after your birth.”
“According to my father.”
“According to doctors.”
“Doctors employed by the family.”
Victor set down the glass.
“Why are you asking?”
Adrian had not planned to mention the east wing, but Elena’s fear had unsettled him.
“Did my mother ever try to remove records from the estate?”
Victor’s fingers stopped against the ring.
“Records of what?”
“You tell me.”
For half a second, Victor’s expression became unfamiliar.
Then the kindly uncle returned.
“The east wing should remain closed.”
“Why?”
“Because some rooms preserve pain rather than truth.”
Adrian rose.
“I am tired of men in this family deciding which truth I can survive.”
Victor looked up at him.
“And I am trying to make sure you survive long enough to hate me.”
Adrian left without signing the agreement.
Victor remained alone at the table.
When the door closed, he called Cassandra.
“You spoke Elena’s name to Adrian.”
“He already knew I had identified her.”
“You were told to observe.”
“I have done more than observe. She entered the east wing.”
Victor’s face darkened.
“How do you know?”
“My investigator photographed her leaving the lower corridor.”
“Did she take anything?”
“We don’t know.”
“Find out.”
Cassandra smiled into the phone.
“I want something in return.”
“This is not a negotiation.”
“Everything is a negotiation. I remove Elena, Adrian signs the Beaumont agreement, and I become his wife.”
Victor’s voice turned cold.
“You will not harm her.”
“Why? Because she is pregnant?”
Silence.
Cassandra’s smile faded.
“You knew.”
“I know everything that threatens Adrian.”
“Then you know the child makes my position impossible.”
“You never had a position. You had a role.”
Cassandra stood from her desk.
“You promised my father.”
“Your father was promised access to a structure. Not Adrian’s affection.”
“I will not be humiliated by a maid.”
Victor ended the call.
Cassandra stared at the phone.
Then she contacted the temporary server she had already bribed.
“Change of plan,” she said. “At the ball, I want Elena on the floor.”
The server hesitated.
“You said no one would get hurt.”
“She will fall into ice, not off a roof.”
“And if she refuses to go near it?”
May you like
Cassandra looked at Elena’s schedule.
“Then give her a reason.”
