ADRIAN'S POV
"We need to find Sophia. Now."
I was already moving toward the door, pulling Iris with me. Eight hours wasn't enough time, but it would have to be.
"Wait." Iris grabbed my arm. "We can't just run out there without a plan. They're expecting that."
She was right. I hated that she was right.
"Then what do you suggest?" I asked.
"We use their own trap against them." Her eyes were sharp, focused. The fear from earlier was gone, replaced by something harder. "They took Sophia to distract us. To make us emotional and stupid. So we pretend to fall for it."
"Pretend?"
"We split up. You go after Sophia publicly—make a big show of searching for her. Meanwhile, I go after the real target." She pulled out her phone. "Your father."
My stomach twisted. "My father is dead."
"Sophia said she saw him. Alive. With Miranda." Iris was typing fast on her phone. "If he's really alive, if he's been hiding for five years, there has to be a reason. Something he wants that he couldn't get while people knew he existed."
My mind raced through possibilities.
"The company," I said slowly. "If he's legally dead, he can't claim ownership. But if I'm discredited, if my reputation is destroyed—"
"The board might vote to bring him back. The prodigal father, returning to save his company from his corrupt son." Iris looked up at me. "That's the plan, isn't it? Destroy you, then swoop in as the hero."
She was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
"How do we prove he's alive?" I asked.
"We make him show himself. Force his hand." She was pacing now, thinking out loud. "He's been hiding for five years. That means he's careful. Paranoid. He won't come out unless—"
"Unless he thinks he's already won," I finished. "Unless he believes I'm completely destroyed and it's safe to reveal himself."
"Exactly." Iris stopped pacing. "So we give him what he wants. We let the annulment happen. We let Miranda release her fake evidence. We let everyone think you've lost."
"That's insane."
"No, it's perfect. Because while everyone's celebrating your downfall, we'll be gathering real evidence. Proof that he's alive. Proof that he and Miranda planned this together." She grabbed my hands. "Adrian, we have to lose the battle to win the war."
I stared at her. Twenty-four hours ago, she was a broken girl standing in the rain with nothing. Now she was planning corporate warfare like she'd been doing it her whole life.
"You're terrifying," I said.
"Thank you." She smiled. "Now let's go save my best friend and destroy your father."
We took separate cars. I went downtown, making sure paparazzi saw me looking frantic and desperate. Playing the part of a man whose world was falling apart.
Iris went north, toward the last location Sophia's phone had pinged before going dark.
"Be careful," I told her before we separated. "If you find him—"
"I won't confront him. I'll just watch. Gather evidence." She squeezed my hand. "Trust me."
I did trust her. That was the terrifying part.
I spent the next three hours making a show of searching for Sophia. Calling contacts. Offering rewards. Making sure every news outlet knew that Adrian Thorne's world was crumbling.
My phone buzzed constantly. Board members demanding explanations. Business partners pulling out of deals. The fake evidence Miranda had threatened was already spreading online.
Everything was going according to plan.
Which meant something was about to go horribly wrong.
At 4 AM, I got a call from an unknown number.
"Adrian Thorne?" A man's voice. Familiar somehow.
"Who is this?"
"Someone who wants to make a deal. I have your wife's friend. Alive, unharmed. For now."
My blood ran cold. "What do you want?"
"Meet me at the old Hartwell Industries warehouse. Alone. One hour. Bring fifty million in bearer bonds." He paused. "Oh, and Adrian? I'd hurry. Your wife is heading into a trap, and you're the only one who can warn her."
The line went dead.
I called Iris immediately. No answer.
Tried again. Straight to voicemail.
"James!" I shouted. "Track Iris's phone. Now!"
But James was gone. The traitor had disappeared hours ago.
I pulled up the tracking app I'd secretly installed on Iris's phone yesterday. For safety, I'd told myself. Just in case.
The dot showed her location.
She was at the Hartwell estate. The house where my father had raised Damien while pretending I didn't exist.
And she wasn't alone. Three other signals surrounded her position.
I was already running for the car when my phone rang again.
This time it was Iris.
"Adrian." Her voice was barely a whisper. "I found him. Your father. He's here. And Adrian—you need to hear this."
"Iris, get out of there. It's a trap—"
"No, listen. He's talking to someone. Someone I recognize." She paused, and I heard voices in the background. "Adrian, your father is talking to my father. They're working together. They've been working together this whole time."
The world stopped.
"What?"
"My father helped your father fake his death five years ago. In exchange for—" Her voice cracked. "In exchange for my mother's trust fund. Adrian, they killed her. My mother didn't die from cancer. They poisoned her to get her money."
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.
"Iris, run. Right now. Get out—"
A sound. A crash. Iris screaming.
Then a man's voice came on the line. Cold. Familiar. My father's voice.
"Hello, son. Did you miss me?"
"If you hurt her—"
"You'll do what? You have nothing, Adrian. No proof. No power. No wife soon, once that annulment goes through." He laughed. "I built you up just to watch you fall. And now that you're broken, now that you've lost everything like I lost everything when your mother blackmailed me—I'm taking back what's mine."
"She didn't blackmail you. That's a lie—"
"Is it? How would you know? You were just a child. You don't know what really happened between your mother and me. You don't know the truth about anything."
In the background, I heard Iris shout, "He's lying, Adrian! Don't believe—"
The sound cut off.
"One hour," my father said. "The warehouse. Fifty million for your wife's friend. And another fifty million for your wife." He paused. "Or I kill them both and frame you for murder. Your choice."
He hung up.
I stood there, phone in hand, trying to process everything.
My father was alive.
He'd been working with Iris's father.
They'd killed her mother.
And now they had both Sophia and Iris.
I had one hour and no money—I'd frozen everything to protect it from Miranda.
And I was supposed to choose between saving my wife or saving her best friend.
My phone buzzed. A text from Damien.
*I know where Dad is. I know what he did. Meet me at the warehouse. I'll help you. We're brothers. That has to mean something. —D*
Brothers.
Damien knew we were brothers.
How long had he known?
Another text came through, this one from Vivienne.
*Everything I did was under orders from your father and Miranda. They threatened my family. I'll testify against them if you protect me. Please. I'm so sorry. —V*
Another from Patricia, Iris's stepmother.
*I didn't know they killed her mother. I swear I didn't know. Please save Iris. I'll give you everything I took from her. The house, the money, all of it. Just save her. —P*
Everyone was suddenly on my side.
Everyone wanted to help.
It was too convenient.
Too perfect.
Which meant it was all part of the trap.
I called the one person I could trust. The one person who'd never lied to me.
Catherine, my lawyer, answered on the first ring.
"Adrian? It's four in the morning—"
"I need you to do something for me. No questions asked."
"What?"
"If I die tonight, I need you to make sure Iris gets everything. The company, the money, all of it. And I need you to investigate my father and Iris's father for murder. Can you do that?"
Long silence.
"Adrian, what's happening?"
"Can you do it?"
"Yes. But—"
"Then do it. I'm texting you the details now." I hung up and sent her everything—every suspicion, every piece of evidence, everything I knew.
Then I got in my car and drove toward the warehouse.
Toward my father.
Toward the truth about everything.
My phone buzzed one more time.
Unknown number. A video file.
I almost didn't open it.
But something made me click.
The video showed Iris tied to a chair in what looked like the warehouse. But she wasn't scared.
She was smiling.
"Hi, husband," she said to the camera. "If you're watching this, it means you're about to do something stupid and heroic. Don't. I have a plan. Trust me like I trusted you."
The camera pulled back, showing who was holding it.
My mother.
Not Miranda. Not an actress.
My actual mother.
Alive.
Standing next to Iris.
Looking twenty years older but unmistakably her.
"Hello, Adrian," she said softly. "I know you have questions. Come to the warehouse. Come alone. And I'll tell you everything. The truth about your father. About Marcus. About why I let you think I was dead for twenty years."
She smiled, and it was sad and beautiful and broke something inside me.
"It's time for you to know who you really are. And why everyone has been trying to destroy you since the day you were born."
The video ended.
I sat in my car, shaking.
My mother was alive.
My father was alive.
Everything I'd believed for twenty years was a lie.
And in one hour, I'd finally learn the truth.
Or die trying.