Chapter 7 - THE KISS THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING|
For the next four days, Sera avoided Adrian except when work required them to speak.
She researched Daniel's former employer, searched public court records, and contacted a retired journalist who had written about the old investigation.
The journalist agreed to meet her at a diner outside downtown.
He arrived twenty minutes late, visibly nervous.
“Your father wasn't a thief,” he said before sitting down. “He was trying to expose a network of fraudulent acquisitions.”
“Who ran it?”
“Several people. The names changed whenever investigators got close.”
“Was Vincent Vale involved?”
The journalist's face drained of color.
“Where did you hear that name?”
Before he could answer, he noticed a black sedan parked across the street.
He stood abruptly.
“Forget we met.”
“Wait!”
He was already moving toward the back exit.
Sera followed him outside, but he disappeared into the crowd.
That evening, she returned to Adrian's office and found him waiting beside the windows.
“I told you I'd share what I found,” she said. “You haven't shared anything.”
“I've been trying to determine who you can trust.”
“You don't get to decide that for me.”
He turned.
“You met the journalist.”
She went still.
“How do you know?”
“Marcus saw you leave the diner.”
“Were you following me?”
“Yes.”
The blunt admission infuriated her.
“You promised.”
“I promised to tell you what I discovered. I didn't promise to let you walk into a trap.”
“You're not my father, Adrian.”
“No,” he said quietly. “I'm the man who knows what happens when someone gets too close to the truth.”
She stepped nearer.
“And what happens when you get close to someone?”
His jaw tightened.
“That depends on how much they matter.”
The answer silenced her.
For several seconds, they stood close enough for her to notice the faint scar near his eyebrow.
“Why do you keep everyone away?” she whispered.
“Because people leave.”
“Everyone?”
“Everyone I've loved.”
Sera's anger softened, but she didn't retreat.
“You can't spend your life punishing strangers for what other people did.”
He looked at her as though she had reached a place inside him nobody had touched in years.
“Don't make promises you can't keep.”
“I'm not promising anything.”
“Then why are you still here?”
She didn't have an answer.
Adrian reached toward her, stopped, and let his hand fall.
Sera made the decision for both of them.
She kissed him.
For one suspended moment, the man who could silence an entire boardroom seemed incapable of moving.
Then his hand settled gently against her cheek, and he kissed her back with a tenderness that contradicted every rumor she'd heard about him.
When they separated, she rested her forehead against his.
“This changes nothing about the investigation,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“And you don't own me.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Marcus spoke only five words.
“Sir, we found Daniel Walsh.”
Adrian's expression changed.
Sera stepped back.
“Where is he?”
Marcus hesitated.
May you like
Then came the answer.
“In a photograph taken yesterday. He's alive.”
