Chapter 6 - The Dead Man’s Lie
Dorian’s father had ordered the attack.
Not to kill his son.
To frighten Alina away.
August Cross had believed marriage made Dorian weak.
The bullets had been intended to miss.
One nearly hadn’t.
Dorian discovered the truth months later.
By then his father was dying.
“I never told you,” he said, “because he was dead and you were finally sleeping again.”
Alina stared at him.
“You keep deciding which truths I can survive.”
“Yes.”
“And you still don’t understand why that’s the problem.”
“I understand now.”
“Do you?”
“Yes.”
Dorian moved closer but stopped before touching her.
“I spent my life believing protection meant standing between danger and the people I loved.”
“And?”
“I never learned that sometimes protection means telling them where the danger is.”
That was the first apology that reached her.
Not because it fixed anything.
Because it showed change.
The investigation into August Cross’s old records exposed something larger.
He had maintained a secret trust.
The trust controlled properties, accounts and evidence capable of destroying several criminal networks.
And after his death, the access key had disappeared.
Viktor Soren believed Dorian possessed it.
Dorian did not.
Matteo believed Celeste had it.
Celeste denied everything.
Then Alina remembered her wedding gift.
A small antique music box from August.
She had hated it.
Too ornate.
Too heavy.
She had stored it away.
Dorian stared at her.
“Where is it?”
“The penthouse.”
May you like
The most dangerous place they could return.
Which meant, naturally, that was exactly where the truth waited.
