They Where Coming For Me

I stared at the message on Adrian’s phone until the words became blurred. She knows too much now. Get rid of her before she learns the rest. My hands began to shake. “Who sent that?” I asked.

“I do not know.”

“Can you find out?”

“I will try, but we need to leave first.”

I looked around the police station. People were walking through the hallway as if nothing had happened, officers were speaking to one another, phones were ringing, and somewhere nearby someone was laughing. Nobody seemed to know that I had just been threatened, and nobody seemed to care.

I looked at Adrian. “Where are we going?”

“Somewhere safe.”

“I thought your house was safe.”

“It was.” His expression turned serious. “It is not anymore.”

The words made my stomach turn. I followed him outside, and we walked quickly toward his car while I kept looking over my shoulder, expecting someone to appear behind us. When we reached the car, Adrian opened my door, but before I got inside I noticed a man standing across the street, wearing a gray jacket and holding a phone. The moment our eyes met, he turned away.

“Adrian.”

He followed my gaze. “Get inside.”

I did not argue. Adrian got behind the wheel and drove away, saying nothing for several minutes while I watched the road behind us through the side mirror. “Is he following us?”

“I do not think so.”

“You do not sound sure.”

“I am not.”

I turned toward him. “Why are you helping me?”

He glanced at me. “I already answered that.”

“No. You told me about a promise you made to my father, but I want the real reason.”

Adrian kept his eyes on the road. “My father died when I was young.”

I waited.

“My mother raised me alone. Your father helped us when we had nothing. He paid for my education and gave my mother a job.”

I looked at him. “That is why you trusted him.”

“Yes.”

“And that is why you are protecting me.”

“It is part of the reason.”

I studied his face. “What is the other part?”

He did not answer, and I looked away, unsure why his silence bothered me so much.

We drove for another twenty minutes before Adrian stopped outside a quiet building. “This is my office,” he said.

I looked at the tall building. “You brought me here?”

“It is secure.”

We entered through a private entrance, and a security guard greeted Adrian and immediately opened a locked door for us. Inside, the building was quiet, and Adrian led me to his office, where large windows overlooked the city. Unlike Victor’s office, there was nothing flashy about the room, only a few shelves holding books and files. A photograph stood on his desk, and I stopped when I saw it. It showed Adrian with an older man, and my heart skipped. “That is my father.”

Adrian looked at the photograph. “Yes.”

“You knew him well.”

“He was like a father to me.”

I moved closer. “Why have I never seen this picture?”

“Because your father kept our relationship private.”

“Why?”

“Because he knew people were watching him.”

I looked at Adrian. “Who?”

He walked toward a cabinet and opened it. “Your father was investigating a group of businessmen who were using several companies to move illegal money.” He handed me another file. “Victor became involved because he needed their support to expand his business.”

I opened the file, and there were several names inside. One of them made me stop. Richard Marlowe. My father’s name. I looked at Adrian. “Why is my father’s name here?”

“He was investigating them.”

“Was he part of the group?”

“No.”

“Then why is his name listed?”

“Because he was trying to expose them.”

I slowly turned the page and found another name. Damian Cross. I looked at Adrian. “Is this you?”

He nodded.

“You were involved too?”

“Yes.”

“What did you do?”

“I helped your father collect evidence.”

I stared at the file, and suddenly something clicked inside my mind. “You knew about Victor before I met him.”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you let me be with him?”

Adrian looked away. “Your father believed Victor could change.”

“And you agreed?”

“No.”

“Then why did you say nothing?”

“Because your father asked me not to interfere unless Victor became a direct threat to you.”

I closed the file. “And when did he become a threat?”

Adrian looked at me. “When he started using your name to access your father’s money.”

My heart stopped. “What?”

“Victor did not only take money from your father.” He stepped closer. “He used your identity to move some of it.”

I felt sick. “Why?”

“Because the money was placed in accounts connected to you.”

I shook my head. “I never opened any accounts.”

“I know.”

“Then how?”

“Victor had access to your documents.”

I remembered the years we had spent together, and how Victor had known everything about me, my passwords, my identification documents, my bank details, my signatures. I suddenly felt completely exposed. “He used me.”

“Yes.”

I looked down at the file. “Then why did he propose to Sophia?”

Adrian’s expression hardened. “Because marrying her would give him access to another company.”

“What company?”

“The company your father left you.”

I looked at him in disbelief. “He knew about the Marlowe Group?”

“Yes.”

“So the engagement was not about love.”

“No.”

I felt tears fill my eyes. I had spent the previous night believing that Victor had chosen Sophia because he loved her more, but now I understood there had been another reason entirely. Maybe he had never chosen her because he loved her. Maybe he had chosen her because he needed something.

I wiped my tears. “Why did you not tell me all this before?”

“Because I wanted proof.”

“You have proof now.”

“Yes.”

“Then what happens next?”

Adrian looked at me. “You take control of what belongs to you.”

I stared at him. “What if I do not know how?”

“I will help you learn.”

I looked at him for a long moment, and for some reason the way he said it made my heart beat faster, not because I needed him, but because for the first time someone was offering to stand beside me without asking me to become smaller.

Before I could respond, the lights suddenly went out, and the entire office fell into darkness. I heard Adrian move toward me. “Stay where you are.”

My heart began racing. “Adrian?”

“I am here.”

A loud sound came from the hallway, something hitting the door, followed by another sound as someone tried to force it open. Adrian reached for my hand, his fingers closing around mine. “Do not make a sound.”

I held my breath as the door shook again, and then a man’s voice came from the other side. “Give us the girl.”

I looked at Adrian, and his grip tightened around my hand. The man outside spoke again. “We know she has the file.”

I looked down at the folder in my other hand. They knew. Somehow, they already knew what we had discovered. Then the door began to break, and I realized that whatever happened next would determine whether I survived long enough to learn the truth about my father’s death.