PART 3: THE SECRET BEHIND MY MARRIAGE
For several seconds, neither Adrian nor I spoke.
The message remained on my phone screen.
YOU WON THE FIRST ROUND.
NOW FIND OUT WHY YOUR HUSBAND REALLY MARRIED YOU.
The words felt heavier than the pain in my body.
Because revenge was supposed to be over.
The Hawthorne empire was collapsing.
Diane was exposed.
Ethan was losing everything.
Chloe was running.
I should have felt victorious.
Instead, I felt something much worse.
Confusion.
Fear.
Because Adrian’s reaction told me one thing.
He knew exactly who sent it.
“Adrian,” I whispered.
He didn’t answer.
His eyes stayed locked on the screen.
“Who is it?”
For the first time since I had known him, Adrian Blackwood looked uncertain.
And that frightened me more than anything.
Because Adrian was the kind of man who could walk into a room full of enemies and make them afraid.
But now…
He looked like he was seeing a ghost.
“Adrian.”
My voice became sharper.
“Tell me.”
He finally looked at me.
“You need to leave this house.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“Now.”
He grabbed my arm gently.
Not like they had.
Not to control me.
To protect me.
“Clara, listen to me. The Hawthornes weren’t the beginning.”
My heart sank.
“What does that mean?”
He hesitated.
Then said:
“They were only the middle.”
The Blackwood estate was on the other side of the city.
A private property surrounded by trees, cameras, and security.
Normally, the place felt peaceful.
Tonight, it felt like a fortress.
The moment we arrived, Adrian’s security team locked every gate.
Nobody entered.
Nobody left.
I sat in the living room wrapped in a blanket while a doctor checked my injuries.
A bruised shoulder.
Cuts on my hands.
Nothing compared to what they had tried to do.
But the doctor’s eyes told me something.
The physical wounds would heal.
The betrayal was harder.
When the doctor left, Adrian poured two glasses of water.
He handed me one.
Then sat across from me.
“You deserve the truth.”
I looked at him.
“I thought I already knew everything.”
He gave a sad smile.
“That’s what makes secrets dangerous.”
He placed a file on the table.
The same kind of file that had destroyed the Hawthornes.
Except this one was thicker.
Older.
My name was written on the cover.
I stared at it.
“What is that?”
Adrian didn’t answer immediately.
Then:
“The reason Ethan married you.”
The room went cold.
I opened the file.
The first page was a photograph.
Me.
Years ago.
Before Ethan.
Before the Hawthorne family.
I was standing beside my father.
A younger version of myself.
Happy.
Confused.
I looked up.
“What does my father have to do with this?”
Adrian leaned back.
“Everything.”
I turned the page.
There were documents.
Old company records.
Bank transfers.
Names.
And one name appeared again and again.
Hawthorne.
My hands tightened.
“My father worked with them?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“Your father discovered something.”
“What?”
He looked at me.
“The Hawthornes were stealing from their own investors.”
I stopped breathing.
My father.
The man who always told me honesty mattered.
The man who disappeared from my life when I was young.
“He knew?”
Adrian nodded.
“He collected evidence.”
I kept reading.
“And then?”
Adrian looked away.
“He tried to expose them.”
The silence that followed felt unbearable.
“What happened to him?”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“That is the question nobody answered.”
I looked at him.
“You mean…”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“Your father didn’t die accidentally.”
My fingers went numb.
Everything I believed about my life shifted.
“I thought he left.”
Adrian’s expression softened.
“That’s what they wanted you to believe.”
I looked back at the file.
My entire life had been built around a lie.
Then I saw something.
A photograph.
Ethan.
Standing beside Diane.
And another man.
A man I didn’t recognize.
But Ethan was younger.
Maybe twenty years old.
The three of them were together.
My stomach turned.
“When was this?”
Adrian looked.
His face darkened.
“Ten years ago.”
My wedding anniversary.
The day I met Ethan.
The day he approached me.
The day he said it felt like fate.
“It wasn’t fate,” Adrian said.
I looked at him.
“He was assigned to you.”
The words destroyed something inside me.
“No.”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Clara.”
“No.”
I stood suddenly.
The room spun.
“He loved me.”
Adrian didn’t answer.
Because silence was worse.
“He told me I was different.”
My voice cracked.
“He told me I was the only person who understood him.”
Adrian looked at me.
“I believe he meant some of it.”
That hurt.
“What?”
“I don’t think Ethan planned to love you.”
A pause.
“But he did.”
I stared at him.
“Then why?”
Adrian opened another document.
A contract.
My name was on it.
My inheritance.
My father’s old shares.
The shares I never knew existed.
My blood ran cold.
“What is this?”
“Your father left you ownership.”
I looked at the numbers.
The amount was impossible.
A hidden fortune.
A controlling stake in multiple companies.
Including Hawthorne Logistics.
I whispered:
“They married me for this.”
Adrian nodded.
“Yes.”
The truth finally landed.
The insults.
The control.
The humiliation.
It wasn’t because I wasn’t enough.
It was because they were afraid.
Afraid I would discover who I really was.
Afraid I would discover what my father left me.
A sound came from Adrian’s security system.
A sharp alarm.
We both froze.
One of his men rushed in.
“Mr. Blackwood.”
Adrian stood.
“What happened?”
The guard looked nervous.
“The woman from the Hawthorne estate.”
My heart stopped.
“Chloe?”
The guard nodded.
“She’s not running.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Where is she?”
The guard swallowed.
“She turned herself in.”
I frowned.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Adrian looked at me.
“No.”
His voice was low.
“It doesn’t.”
The guard continued.
“She says she knows who killed your father.”
The room went silent.
Adrian stared.
Then asked:
“What did she say?”
The guard looked at me.
“She said…”
He hesitated.
“She said Clara has been searching for the wrong enemy.”
A chill moved through me.
“What does that mean?”
The guard answered:
“She said the person who destroyed your family…”
A pause.
“Is someone you trust.”
I looked at Adrian.
He looked back at me.
And for the first time…
I wondered.
Was Adrian really my protector?
Or was he part of the secret too?
Because suddenly, one terrifying thought entered my mind.
Everyone had lied to me.
My husband.
His family.
My past.
Maybe even the man standing in front of me.
Then my phone rang.
Unknown number.
I answered.
A distorted voice whispered:
“Clara…”
I froze.
Because I knew that voice.
A voice I hadn’t heard in years.
A voice I thought was gone forever.
My father.
May you like
“Don’t trust anyone.”
The line went dead.
