Chapter 3 - The Bloodline Defense
Adrian did not hesitate for a single second.
He threw himself entirely in front of my daughter and me, shielding us with his own body.
He coldly ordered the armed men to lower their weapons immediately or face the full wrath of the Vale empire.
The guards hesitated, clearly torn between their loyalty to Celeste and their fear of the billionaire heir.
Adrian used their momentary confusion to push us through a side door leading into the estate's sprawling hedge maze.
The freezing night air whipped against our soaking wet clothes as we ran blindly through the towering green walls.
I carried Lucia in my arms, my muscles burning with exhaustion and adrenaline.
Adrian navigated the complex maze from memory, leading us toward a hidden service gate at the edge of the property.
We burst through the iron gate and scrambled into a sleek black sports car hidden in the trees.
Adrian slammed his foot on the gas pedal, tearing down the mountain road toward the city.
He kept looking in the rearview mirror, his jaw clenched tight with silent fury.
He finally spoke, his voice trembling as he asked me how my mother had died.
I told him she died of a sudden illness when I was nineteen, leaving me with nothing but medical debt and a few old photographs.
Adrian gripped the steering wheel so hard his knuckles turned completely white.
He revealed that his grandmother, Eleanor, had spent millions searching for Rose over the last three decades.
The private investigators had always hit dead ends, as if someone very powerful was actively erasing my mother's existence.
I realized with sickening clarity that the Winthrop family must have been involved in her disappearance.
Adrian drove us to a highly secure underground penthouse he secretly owned in the heart of Boston.
He handed me dry clothes and wrapped Lucia in a thick, heated blanket.
He promised me that he would legally ruin Celeste and her father for what they tried to do tonight.
My phone suddenly vibrated in my pocket with a notification.
It was an anonymous video message from an unknown number.
I tapped the screen, and my heart stopped beating completely.
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The video showed Eleanor Vale lying unconscious in a hospital bed, surrounded by beeping machines.
A masked figure leaned into the frame and held a syringe filled with a dark liquid directly over her IV tube.
