Chapter 13 - THE SECRET FROM THE PAST THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING

That evening, Elena found me in the library. She was carrying a heavy leather-bound ledger she had pulled from the deepest shelf of Arthur’s locked cabinet—one we had only just found the key to.

“Adrian,” she said, her voice tight. “You need to see this.”

She laid the ledger on the table and opened it to a page marked with a faded blue ribbon. The handwriting was Arthur’s—neat, precise, cold.

I leaned over and read.

*The child is mine. Evelyn will raise him as James’s son. He will bear the name. He will inherit the fortune. And when James dies… Adrian will hand it all to me. He is my blood. He will obey. He will not have a choice.*

My stomach turned. He had written this the day I was born. Before I had taken my first breath. He had planned my entire life. He had known I would be his tool.

But then Elena turned the page. And my breath caught.

There was a second entry. Dated three months later. In Evelyn’s handwriting.

*Arthur is wrong. The boy has James’s heart. He is gentle. He is kind. He is nothing like you. I will not let you use him. If you harm him… or the girl… I will destroy everything. I will tell James the truth. I will ruin you both. And I will spend the rest of my life making sure you never touch what is mine.*

Evelyn had known. From the very beginning. She had seen what Arthur intended. And she had turned against him. She had protected me. Not out of kindness alone… but out of defiance. She had raised me to be James’s son. Not Arthur’s. She had deliberately made me everything Arthur hated.

“She chose James,” I whispered. “She chose us. Even back then.”

Elena turned another page. And there it was—the final entry. Written in Arthur’s hand, dated the day Grace died.

*Grace knew. She knew I would turn him against me. She took him away. She cut me out. She stole my son. For that… she had to die.*

I stared at the words. Written in his own hand. A confession.

Arthur had killed Grace because she had saved me. Because she had opened my eyes. Because she had loved me enough to make me strong enough to stand against him.

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Grace died protecting me. Protecting us.

And I would not let her death be in vain.