Semua Bab His Dark Covenant: Bab 1 - Bab 10

The dead woman was standing in the doorway.Elena Cross forgot how to breathe.For six years, she had imagined her mother's face in a thousand different ways.Older.Tired.Sick.Maybe smiling.Maybe crying.Maybe dead.But never this.Never alive.Never looking directly at her from the end of a dark hotel corridor."Mom?"The woman didn't answer.She simply turned and disappeared through the service door.Elena ran.Her heels struck the marble floor as she pushed through the doorway, but the corridor beyond was empty."Wait!"Nothing.She reached the end of the passage and found a steel exit door swinging gently on its hinges.Rain hammered the alley outside.The woman was gone.Elena stood beneath the awning, staring into the darkness.Six years of grief had taught her not to believe in miracles.But she had seen that face.She knew it.Every line.Every movement.Every slight tilt of the head.It had been her mother.Or someone who looked exactly like her."Elena."Adrian's voice c

Elena heard the name of the man she had spent six years mourning—and suddenly understood that she might never have known her own father.Your father.The words echoed through the foyer.Her father had been dead for seventeen years.Or so she had been told.She looked at Isabella."Say that again."Isabella's expression tightened."Your mother was working with Adrian's father.""My father.""No."Elena's voice sharpened."You said she was helping my father.""I said your mother was helping someone.""You said my father."Isabella glanced at Adrian.He hadn't moved.That frightened Elena more than anything."Adrian."His eyes met hers."I think Isabella means your mother's husband.""My father.""Yes.""Then explain."Adrian's jaw tightened."I can't."Elena laughed once.A hollow sound."Of course you can't."She turned toward Isabella."How did my father die?"Isabella hesitated."Car accident.""That's what I was told.""Because that's what everyone was told."Elena froze.Adrian clo

The lock clicked behind them.Elena spun around."Adrian.""I heard it."He moved toward the archive door and tested the handle.Locked.He tried the emergency release.Nothing."Someone has overridden the system."Elena turned toward the dead projector.Her mother's final words still echoed in her mind.The Covenant was created to protect you.Protect her?From what?And why had that protection required secrecy, surveillance, and a hidden account opened before she was born?"Play it again."Adrian looked at her."The recording?""Yes.""It's already gone.""Then find it."He returned to the projector.Elena watched him work.For the first time, she saw something different in him.Not fear.Not anger.Determination.He wasn't trying to control the situation.He was trying to understand it.After several seconds, the projector flickered.Claire's face returned.But this time, there was no sound.Adrian frowned."Someone remotely interrupted the recording."Elena stepped closer."Can yo

The photograph slipped from Elena's fingers.It landed face-up on the library table.Her childhood bedroom stared back at her.The faded blue curtains.The old bookshelf.The small wooden desk where she'd written her first school essays.Everything was exactly as she remembered it.Except for the envelope.FOR ELENA.And beneath it:YOUR FATHER ISN'T DEAD.For six years, she had lived with one certainty.Her father was dead.Now even that had been taken from her."Call them."Adrian's voice was quiet.Elena looked up."Who?""The people at the house."She grabbed her phone."No."Adrian frowned."What?""If someone wanted us to find that photograph, then rushing there is exactly what they expect."He stared at her."You're right."The realization seemed to surprise him.Elena looked at the photograph again."Whoever broke into the house wanted me to see this.""Yes.""Which means they know we're here.""Probably.""And they're watching us."Adrian's expression hardened."Definitely."

The figure beneath the trees disappeared before Elena could blink.She ran toward the chapel doors."Elena!"Adrian caught her wrist."Let go.""You're not going after him.""He knows where my father is.""And that's exactly what he wants you to think."She pulled against his grip."You don't know that.""I know Victor.""You've never even seen him.""I've spent half my life cleaning up his work."Elena stopped.Adrian released her.The chapel suddenly felt too small.Claire watched them both.Then she said quietly:"He's right."Elena turned."You know where Victor is?""No.""Then what do you know?"Claire's eyes moved toward the black envelope."He doesn't want you to find Samuel."Elena's heart tightened."Then what does he want?"Claire answered with a single word."Access."---They returned to the mansion before sunrise.No one spoke during the drive.The black envelope sat between Elena and Adrian.The photograph of Samuel remained inside.Elena couldn't stop looking at it.He