Chapter 7 - The Music Box
They entered the penthouse before dawn.
Alina found the box inside a closet.
Dorian opened the false bottom.
Inside was a key.
And a handwritten note.
TO THE ONE PERSON MY SON TRUSTS MORE THAN HIMSELF.
Alina’s hands trembled.
August had given it to her.
Not Dorian.
The key opened a private deposit vault.
Inside were ledgers, recordings and legal documents.
Enough evidence to dismantle what remained of the Cross family’s criminal past.
But there was something else.
A letter from August to Alina.
He admitted ordering the attack.
He admitted believing she was Dorian’s weakness.
Then came the line that made her stop.
I WAS WRONG. YOU WERE THE REASON HE BECAME THE MAN I NEVER HAD THE COURAGE TO BECOME.
Alina silently handed the letter to Dorian.
He read it twice.
Then sat down.
For the first time she saw him grieve his father honestly—not as a successor, not as a son defending a legacy, but as a man acknowledging that love and damage could come from the same person.
Alina sat beside him.
Their hands rested inches apart.
May you like
Dorian did not reach for her.
So she reached for him.
