Disguised Boss Ordered Coffee in His Own Bar — Then Froze at the Waitress’s 3 Words!
Chapter 12
Adrian stared at Victor.
“About me?”
Victor nodded.
“Your father discovered that the company wasn’t really yours.”
“What?”
“The original shares were placed in a trust before you were born.”
Adrian remembered Samuel’s warning.
The shares.
The trust.
Victor continued.
“Your grandfather created the trust.”
Adrian shook his head.
“My father transferred control to me.”
“He transferred management.”
“Not ownership.”
Adrian looked at Mia.
She whispered:
“So who owns it?”
Victor smiled.
“Your mother.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“The ten percent?”
“Not ten.”
Victor stepped closer.
“All of it.”
Silence.
Adrian understood.
His mother wasn’t merely holding ten percent.
She was the legal beneficiary of the original trust.
Adrian had been running a company he didn’t legally own.
And Joseph had been trying to force him into selling something he never controlled.
Victor laughed.
“Now you understand why everyone wanted your signature.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Where is my mother?”
Victor’s expression changed.
“You’re still asking the wrong question.”
“What question should I ask?”
“Who owns the trust?”
Adrian thought of the old documents.
Samuel.
Eleanor.
Michael.
He suddenly realized something.
The trust had never been controlled by one person.
It required two signatures.
His mother.
And the family lawyer.
Samuel Pierce.
Samuel had been shot.
Which meant the company was frozen.
Unless someone had another way in.
Victor’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Yes.”
He listened.
Then looked at Adrian.
“Joseph has her.”
“Where?”
“The original Cole estate.”
Adrian knew the location.
A property abandoned for decades.
His grandfather’s old mansion.
They drove there.
The mansion was dark.
Adrian entered through the side door.
His mother was tied to a chair.
Joseph stood behind her.
“Stop.”
Adrian raised his hands.
Joseph looked exhausted.
Not powerful.
Not dangerous.
Just old.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”
“You already did.”
Joseph glanced at Eleanor.
“Your mother made choices too.”
Eleanor looked at Adrian.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Joseph sighed.
“There’s one thing you don’t know.”
He took out a folder.
It contained hospital records.
A DNA report.
Adrian looked at it.
Then at Eleanor.
“What is this?”
She didn’t answer.
Joseph did.
“Your mother isn’t your biological mother.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Mia stared at Eleanor.
“What?”
Eleanor began crying.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“When?”
“When it was safe.”
Adrian’s hands trembled.
“Then who am I?”
Joseph looked at him.
“Michael’s biological son.”
Eleanor nodded.
“But not mine.”
Adrian looked shattered.
“Then who?”
Joseph said quietly:
“Your father’s sister.”
Eleanor.
Mia stepped forward.
“What?”
Adrian was the biological son of Michael and Eleanor.
But they had hidden the truth because Eleanor was believed dead in the public record after the family conflict.
The woman who had raised Adrian as his mother had actually been his aunt.
Adrian sat down.
Everything he remembered suddenly felt false.
Joseph said:
“Your father hid you under a false family story because the people hunting him wanted his bloodline.”
Adrian looked at him.
“So all these lies…”
“Were meant to protect you.”
“And who was the real mastermind?”
Joseph’s face went cold.
“Samuel.”
Adrian looked shocked.
“But Samuel was shot.”
“No.”
Joseph smiled bitterly.
“He shot himself.”
