The Choice I Had To Make

I could not move after Adrian told me that Victor had escaped. For several seconds, I simply stared at him. “He escaped?”

Adrian nodded.

“How?”

“We do not know yet.”

“But he was in police custody.”

“I know.”

“Then how did he get out?”

“We are still trying to find that out.”

I wrapped my arms around myself, and the thought of Victor being somewhere outside terrified me, not because I believed he would come looking for me simply because he wanted me back, but because I no longer knew what Victor was capable of doing. The man I had loved for six years had become a stranger.

Adrian walked toward me. “You are not going anywhere alone.”

“I know.”

“You need to stay close to me.”

I looked at him. “Why?”

“Because Victor knows you.”

“That does not answer my question.”

He was silent for a moment. “Because I care about what happens to you.”

My heart skipped, and I looked away. Those words should not have affected me so much, since I had only known Adrian for a few days, yet something about him made me feel safe in a way I had not felt for a long time. I was still afraid, but I did not feel completely alone anymore.

My phone suddenly rang, and I looked at the screen to find an unknown number. I hesitated before answering. “Hello?”

Nobody spoke, though I could hear breathing on the other end. “Who is this?”

Still nothing. Then a man’s voice finally came through. “You should have stayed with Victor.”

My blood went cold. “Who are you?”

“You have no idea what you are getting yourself into.”

“What do you want?”

“You.”

The call ended, and I lowered the phone slowly. Adrian took it from my hand. “What did they say?”

I told him, and his expression hardened. “We are leaving.”

“Where?”

“Somewhere private.”

We left the hotel through the back entrance, and Adrian drove for almost an hour before stopping outside a large house surrounded by tall trees. I looked at the building. “Whose house is this?”

“My grandmother’s.”

“You have a grandmother?”

He gave me a brief smile. “Yes.”

“Is she here?”

“No. She lives abroad.”

We entered the house, which was beautiful but warm, unlike the cold luxury I had become used to around Victor. There were family photographs on the walls, and I stopped in front of one. Adrian was standing beside a woman who looked much younger than I expected. “Is this your mother?”

“Yes.”

“She is beautiful.”

“She was.”

I looked at him, hearing the sadness in his voice unmistakably. “She died?”

“Yes.”

“I am sorry.”

He nodded. “She died when I was twenty.”

I looked at the photograph again. “You must miss her.”

“Every day.”

I did not know what to say, but sometimes grief did not need advice. It only needed someone willing to understand it.

We walked into the living room, and Adrian placed his phone on the table. “I need to make some calls.” I nodded, and he walked away. I sat on the sofa and opened my father’s folder again, unable to stop thinking about what Victor had said. The Marlowe Group. My father had left it to me. I turned another page and found a document I had not noticed before, reading the heading. Transfer of Ownership. My name was written beneath it.

I stared at the document. The company was legally mine, and I had no idea what I was supposed to do with that information. I had never wanted to run a company. I had wanted a quiet life, a home, a family, a man who loved me. I had wanted simple happiness. Instead, I was sitting in a house I had never seen before, holding documents that could make me one of the most powerful women in the city. A thought suddenly entered my mind. Maybe my father had known that one day I would need that power.

Adrian returned to the room. “What did you find?”

I showed him the document, and he looked at it. “It is exactly what I expected.”

“You knew?”

“Yes.”

I frowned. “You knew the company was legally mine?”

“Yes.”

“Why did you not tell me?”

“Because I wanted you to discover it when you were ready.”

I shook my head. “Everyone keeps saying that.”

“I know.”

“I am tired of secrets.”

He sat beside me. “I understand.”

I looked at him. “Then no more secrets between us.”

He nodded. “No more.”

I studied his face. “Do you have feelings for me?”

He did not look away. “Yes.”

My heart started beating faster. “When did that happen?”

“I do not know.”

“But you knew me before.”

“I knew the girl your father was trying to protect.”

“And now?”

He looked at me. “Now I know the woman who is trying to find herself.”

My eyes filled with tears. “I do not know who I am anymore.”

“You will.”

He reached for my hand, and I allowed him to hold it. “I am afraid,” I whispered.

“So am I.”

“You?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because I have spent years trying to protect you without allowing myself to care about you.”

I looked at him. “And now?”

“Now I cannot pretend anymore.”

His thumb moved gently across my hand, and I felt something inside me break open. For the first time since Victor left me, I did not feel like the woman who had been abandoned. I felt like a woman who could choose again.

I leaned toward Adrian, and he kissed my forehead. Then his phone rang, and he answered it, his expression changing instantly. “What happened?” He listened for a moment, then looked at me. “The police found Victor.”

I stood immediately. “Where?”

Adrian’s face was grim. “Your old apartment.”

My heart dropped. “What was he doing there?”

“He was looking for something.”

“What?”

Adrian stared at me. “They found your bedroom destroyed.”

I covered my mouth. “Why would he go there?”

Adrian did not answer at first. Instead, he looked at the folder in my hands. “Because there is something your father left inside that apartment.”

“What?”

“We do not know yet.”

He took his keys, and I stood. “I am coming with you.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“It is too dangerous.”

“I am done being protected by people who refuse to tell me the truth.”

He stared at me, and I held his gaze. “I am going.”

After a long silence, he nodded. “Then stay beside me.”

We left the house together, and as we drove toward the apartment, I watched the city lights through the window. I knew that when I walked through that door again, nothing would ever be the same. I had lost Victor. I had lost the life I thought I wanted. But perhaps losing everything was the beginning of finding myself.

I reached for Adrian’s hand, and he held it tightly. Neither of us spoke, because we did not need to. For the first time, I knew one thing with certainty. Whatever waited for me inside that apartment, I would face it. I was no longer the woman who had walked away from Victor with tears in her eyes. I was becoming someone stronger, and I was finally ready to discover who that woman was.