CHAPTER FOUR: RESURRECTION

Flowers filled the hospital room, mountains of them. Roses, lilies, orchids, the kind of expensive arrangements that screamed money and sympathy. The cards all said the same thing: get well soon, thinking of you, prayers for your recovery.

None were from Adrian.

Marcus walked in with coffee and stopped dead. "Jesus. Who died?" He caught himself. "Sorry."

"Adrian's playing his part perfectly." I pointed to the biggest bunch, white roses that probably cost a fortune. "Those are from the mayor. The lilies are from his business buddies. The orchids are from some fancy club."

Marcus set his coffee down and read a card. "Half the city's crying for you."

"While he is probably laughing at home." Something in my tone made Marcus look at me deeply and what he saw made him step back.

"You've been awake all night, haven't you?"

"I've been thinking." The words hung between us like a loaded gun.

Marcus sat down slowly with his eyes searching my face. "Thinking about what?"

"About who really wanted me dead." His coffee cup slipped from his fingers and crashed against the floor, brown liquid spreading across white tiles.

"Aurora, what are you saying?"

"I'm saying it wasn't just some random guy that shot me, Marcus." He grabbed napkins and started cleaning up the mess with his hands shaking.

"The cops said it was a break-in. You told me you didn't see who—"

"I lied." My words came out flat and cold. "It was Adrian."

Marcus's body went completely still and the napkins fell from his hands.

"That's impossible."

"Impossible? I thought so too, but unfortunately it's the truth. He was wearing his navy silk robe, the one I bought him for his birthday. The gun was small and silver.He smiled right before he pulled the trigger and said I should have loved him better."

Marcus backed away from the bed with his eyes wide. "No, Aurora, maybe you're confused. Maybe the medication is making you—"

"Make it up?" Tears started falling and I couldn't stop them. "I remember everything,Marcus.Every single detail of that night."

Marcus stood there with his mouth hanging open. "Adrian shot you?"

I nodded while wiping my face with the back of my hand. "Yes, he shot me. And the most funny part of the matter is that he is on TV crying and offering a million-dollar reward to catch himself. Pretty smart, right?"

Marcus collapsed in his chair. "This is crazy."

"What's crazy is letting him walk free."

"We need to go to the police."

"And say what? That Adrian shot me?" I made a bitter sound. "Rich powerful CEO versus damaged girl in a hospital bed. Who do you think they'll believe?"

Marcus just stared at me and his mouth opened like he wanted to argue but nothing came out because we both knew I was right. Adrian had money, power, connections, and all I had was a bullet wound and no proof.

He closed his mouth and looked away while shaking his head slowly. "So what do you want to do?"

"I want Aurora Winters to die."

He blinked. "What?"

"For real this time.Heart failure, complications, whatever."

Marcus started shaking his head. "You can't just disappear. There's paperwork, records—"

"You work witness protection cases and you know people who make fake IDs for a living."

He stopped shaking his head.

"That's different."

"You know people and I need you to help me become someone else."

"No way, Aurora. Are you even listening to yourself?" He jumped up and headed for the door. "You're hurt and angry, you're not thinking straight."

"I'm thinking perfectly fine."

"Then prove it. Tell me one thing, one concrete thing you're planning to do to him."

"I will gather information and build evidence ," I said. " When the time comes—"

"When the time comes you'll what? Turn him in? He covered his tracks too well. The police closed the case and there's no evidence linking him to what happened.I can't help you with this Aurora"

"Then get out."I said with pain and anger burning in my voice.

He stood there with his hand on the door handle, fighting with himself.

Finally he came back. "If I do this, and I'm not saying I would, what would you want?"

I couldn't help the small hard smile that spread across my face.

"A new identity, complete history from birth to present, someone with the right background to work in Adrian's world."

"And then what?"

"Then I get hired somewhere he'll notice me. Get close. Learn his secrets." My smile felt sharp as broken glass. "Then I watch everything he loves burn down to the ground."

Marcus was quiet for a long time with just the sound of machines and distant hospital noise filling the room.

"This would cost a lot."

"I know."

"It would take months, maybe a year."

"I have time."

"If we get caught—"

"We won't."

He looked at me one more time, searching for the girl he'd grown up with, and when he didn't find her his shoulders sagged in defeat.

"What do you want your new name to be?"

"Rory Black."

"And when you get close to Adrian?"

I closed my eyes and let the woman I was becoming take shape in the darkness, someone beautiful enough to catch Adrian's attention, someone smart enough to play his games, someone ruthless enough to win.

"Reina Vale," I said softly. "And she's going to make Adrian Thorne wish he'd never been born."