Rain slammed against the windshield as the car cut through the dark highway.
Elena sat beside Adrian in silence.
The storm outside matched the storm inside her mind.
Everything had changed in less than twelve hours.
First the scandal.
Then the fake DNA report.
Then Victor’s chilling warning.
Ask Elena’s mother.
Adrian’s hands tightened slightly on the steering wheel.
The road ahead stretched endlessly into darkness.
“We’ll be there in forty minutes,” he said quietly.
Elena nodded.
But her chest felt tight.
Because deep inside, she already knew something was wrong.
Her mother had always been afraid of the Hawthorne family.
When Elena was a child, she once asked why they moved away from the city so suddenly.
Her mother had only said one sentence.
“Some families destroy anyone who stands in their way.”
Back then Elena didn’t understand.
But after everything that had happened—from the sudden marriage arrangement in the beginning of their relationship in Chapter 1: The Contract Marriage, to the power struggle inside the Hawthorne empire during the boardroom war in Chapter 7—she finally began to see the truth.
The Hawthorne name wasn’t just power.
It was history.
And secrets.
A House Full of Silence
Elena’s mother lived in a quiet town nearly two hours outside the city.
A small house.
A quiet street.
The opposite of Adrian’s world.
When the car finally stopped in front of the house, the rain had slowed to a soft drizzle.
The porch light was still on.
Elena frowned.
“She’s awake.”
Adrian turned off the engine.
“Maybe she was expecting us.”
Elena looked at him.
“You think Victor called her?”
Adrian didn’t answer.
But the possibility hung in the air.
They walked toward the door together.
Elena’s heart pounded harder with every step.
She knocked.
The door opened almost immediately.
Her mother stood there.
Maria Vale.
Her face looked pale.
And tired.
But the moment she saw Adrian…
Fear flashed across her eyes.
“You shouldn’t have come,” she whispered.
Elena felt a chill run down her spine.
“Mom… what’s going on?”
Maria stepped aside silently.
“Come inside.”
The Name She Never Wanted to Hear Again
The living room was small and simple.
But the tension inside it felt overwhelming.
Maria sat slowly on the couch.
Her hands trembled.
“I saw the news,” she said quietly.
Elena lowered her voice.
“The DNA report was fake.”
Maria closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
Maria nodded slowly.
“I knew Victor would try something like this one day.”
Adrian spoke for the first time.
“Then you know why.”
Maria looked at him carefully.
“You really don’t know, do you?”
Adrian’s gaze hardened.
“No.”
Maria sighed deeply.
“The truth should have been buried forever.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Mom, please.”
Maria looked at her daughter.
Tears filled her eyes.
“The Hawthorne family ruined my life.”
Elena’s breath caught.
“Victor said the same thing tonight.”
Maria whispered:
“Of course he did.”
Adrian leaned forward slightly.
“What happened?”
Maria hesitated.
For a moment, it looked like she might refuse to speak.
But then she said the name she had avoided for twenty-five years.
“Your father.”
The room went completely still.
A Past No One Knew
Maria’s voice trembled as she began.
“I worked at Hawthorne Industries when I was twenty-two.”
Adrian already knew that part.
Victor had revealed it at the gala.
But the rest…
No one knew.
“Your father wasn’t like Victor,” Maria said quietly.
“He was kind.”
Elena blinked.
Adrian’s father was known as a ruthless businessman.
But Maria’s voice carried something different.
“He helped employees,” she continued.
“He treated people with respect.”
Adrian said nothing.
Because that didn’t match the man he remembered.
Maria continued slowly.
“Then something changed.”
Her hands clenched together.
“Victor wanted control of the company.”
Elena frowned.
“But he never had it.”
Maria looked at Adrian.
“That’s because your father stopped him.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“And?”
Maria swallowed.
“Victor tried to destroy him.”
The words landed heavily in the room.
Adrian had always suspected his uncle was ambitious.
But sabotage?
Betrayal?
That was something else entirely.
Maria continued.
“He tried to frame your father for financial crimes.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“What happened?”
Maria’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“I found the evidence.”
The Night Everything Changed
Elena stared at her mother in shock.
“You had proof?”
Maria nodded.
“I worked in the accounting department.”
She paused.
“I discovered Victor’s illegal transfers.”
Millions of dollars moved secretly through shell companies.
Money that could have sent Adrian’s father to prison.
Maria continued.
“I told your father.”
Adrian’s chest tightened.
“And?”
“He promised he would stop Victor.”
Maria looked down.
“But Victor found out.”
Silence filled the room.
Maria’s voice shook.
“That night…”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“…everything went wrong.”
The Hidden Crime
Adrian’s voice turned cold.
“What happened that night?”
Maria took a deep breath.
“Victor came to the office.”
“He threatened your father.”
Elena whispered:
“And?”
Maria closed her eyes.
“They fought.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Then Maria said the words that changed everything.
“Victor pushed him.”
Elena gasped.
Adrian’s heart pounded once, hard.
“Pushed him where?”
Maria’s voice cracked.
“From the balcony.”
The room fell silent.
Adrian’s father had died in what the world believed was a tragic accident.
A fall.
A misstep.
But Maria was saying something else.
Murder.
The Witness
Elena stared at her mother.
“You saw it?”
Maria nodded slowly.
“I was in the hallway.”
Adrian spoke carefully.
“Did Victor see you?”
“Yes.”
Maria’s voice trembled.
“That’s why he threatened me.”
“What kind of threat?”
Maria whispered:
“If I spoke… I would disappear too.”
Elena felt sick.
“So you stayed silent.”
Maria nodded.
“I had to.”
Then she looked at Elena.
“I was already pregnant.”
Elena froze.
“You mean…”
Maria squeezed her hands.
“With you.”
The Secret Victor Fears
Adrian stood slowly.
Now Victor’s actions made sense.
The fake DNA scandal.
The public humiliation.
The sudden attack.
Victor wasn’t just trying to steal the company.
He was trying to silence Maria.
Because if the truth came out—
Victor Hawthorne would be exposed as a murderer.
Marcus’s earlier theory suddenly became terrifyingly clear.
The DNA scandal wasn’t the real attack.
It was a distraction.
A way to destroy Adrian’s credibility before the real truth surfaced.
Elena whispered:
“That’s why Victor told us to ask Mom.”
Maria nodded.
“He’s warning you.”
Adrian’s eyes darkened.
“No.”
“He’s panicking.”
The Evidence That Still Exists
Adrian turned back to Maria.
“If you saw everything…”
“Do you have proof?”
Maria hesitated.
Then slowly stood.
“There’s something I kept.”
She walked to a small cabinet near the wall.
Opened a hidden drawer.
And pulled out a sealed envelope.
The paper inside looked old.
Very old.
Maria handed it to Adrian.
“I never showed anyone.”
Adrian opened the envelope carefully.
Inside was a photograph.
A security camera image.
The balcony.
Two men fighting.
Victor.
And Adrian’s father.
The moment before the fall.
Adrian’s blood ran cold.
Because this wasn’t just evidence.
It was a weapon.
One that could destroy Victor forever.
The War Finally Begins
Adrian placed the photograph back into the envelope.
His expression had turned completely emotionless.
But Elena knew him well enough now to understand.
This was the calm before destruction.
“Victor tried to destroy my father,” Adrian said quietly.
“And now he’s trying to destroy my empire.”
Elena stepped beside him.
“What are you going to do?”
Adrian looked toward the rain outside the window.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
His voice was calm.
But deadly.
“I’m going to end this.”
Elena felt a chill.
Because Adrian Hawthorne had never sounded more dangerous.
Marcus once said something about Adrian during the brutal power battle inside the Hawthorne boardroom in Chapter 7.
A sentence that suddenly returned to Elena’s mind.
“Adrian doesn’t fight wars.”
“He finishes them.”
Adrian turned toward Elena.
“Tomorrow morning…”
“The world will learn the truth.”
Elena whispered:
“About Victor?”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
Then his voice lowered slightly.
“And about what really happened to my father.”
The Shadow Watching Them
Outside the house, a black car sat quietly at the end of the street.
Inside it, a man watched the small home through binoculars.
His phone buzzed.
He answered calmly.
“Yes.”
Victor Hawthorne’s voice came through the speaker.
“Did they arrive?”
“Yes, sir.”
Victor smiled faintly on the other end of the line.
“Good.”
“Then the next phase begins.”
The man in the car hesitated.
“Should I proceed tonight?”
Victor answered softly.
“Yes.”
“Before Adrian learns too much.”
The man nodded.
And stepped out of the car.
Walking slowly toward Maria Vale’s house.
Inside the living room…
None of them knew the next attack was already approaching.
To Be Continued…
Next chapter will reveal:
-
Victor’s assassin arriving at Maria’s house
-
Adrian protecting Elena in a life-or-death moment
-
And the shocking betrayal inside Hawthorne Industries that no one expected.