CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 3
My mother had told me my father died before I was born.
After she passed away, I found a letter hidden in a locked box with old photographs and one name written again and again.
Adrian Cross.
CEO of Cross Atlantic Insurance Group.
She wrote that they had loved each other once, before family pressure, money, and fear tore them apart. She wrote that he never knew she was pregnant.
She wrote that if I ever needed protection, I should find him.
I never did.
I told myself I had survived enough without a father.
Then he found me on the mountain.
Later, in the hospital, Adrian sat beside my bed while doctors fought to keep me and my baby stable. His expensive black coat was still draped over the chair, stained with snow and mud.
He looked like a man who had lost thirty years in one night.
“Elena,” he said softly, “I should have known.”
I could barely speak.
“You didn’t know I existed.”
His eyes filled, but his voice stayed steady.
“I know now.”
The room fell silent when the nurse searched for my baby’s heartbeat.
One second.
Two.
Three.
Then the monitor answered.
A tiny rhythm.
Weak.
Fragile.
Alive.
I cried without making a sound.
Adrian covered my hand with his.
“You’re not alone anymore,” he said.
Then his phone rang.
His company had received Victor’s claim.
May you like
Fifty million dollars.
Filed before my body had even been “found.”
