Chapter 8
Elena Cross had disappeared seven years earlier.
Victor admitted that much.
I asked where she went.
He claimed he did not know.
Nobody believed him.
“Try again.”
Victor sighed.
“She wanted money.”
Isabella laughed.
“No.”
Victor turned toward her.
She continued.
“She wanted safety.”
I looked between them.
Interesting.
Victor wanted Elena painted as greedy.
Isabella wanted her remembered as frightened.
Two different stories.
Neither clean.
“Start from the beginning.”
Isabella looked at me.
“Your father had an affair with Elena.”
“Before or after my mother died?”
“After.”
“And the child?”
“A boy.”
“What name?”
She hesitated.
I noticed.
“You know.”
“Adrian.”
The name meant nothing to me.
That made it worse.
“Where is he?”
Isabella said nothing.
Victor did.
“Gone.”
I turned.
“Dead?”
“No.”
“Then where?”
Victor looked at the floor.
“Your father sent them away.”
Isabella scoffed.
“Liar.”
Victor snapped, “You were there.”
“Yes.”
“And you helped.”
Silence.
I looked at Isabella.
“Helped with what?”
Her face tightened.
Khloe understood first.
“You helped hide them.”
Isabella looked at her.
“Because Anthony asked me to.”
I stared.
“You were twenty-one.”
“Yes.”
“And my father trusted you with this.”
“He trusted me more than he trusted you.”
The sentence was designed to hurt.
It worked less than she wanted.
“What happened to Adrian?”
Her expression changed.
“He grew.”
I almost laughed.
“Children do.”
“He started looking like Anthony.”
There it was.
A hidden heir gets harder to hide once blood begins repeating itself in a face.
I turned to Victor.
“What did you do?”
“Moved them.”
“How many times?”
“Three.”
“Why?”
Victor looked at Isabella.
Then answered.
“Because someone kept finding them.”
“Who?”
He swallowed.
“Your father’s old captains.”
May you like
That meant the secret was never contained.
It had been hunted.
