Her Father Called Him a Killer. Seven Years Later, She Discovered He Went to Prison for Her.
CHAPTER 7
The truth about Noah changed everything.
He wasn’t simply Marcus Hale’s son.
He was the legal heir to the Vale empire.
Eleanor’s grandfather had created the trust after discovering Richard had been stealing company assets.
But there was one condition.
Noah had to survive until his eighteenth birthday.
Richard had spent years trying to prevent that.
Eleanor looked at the documents.
“His birthday is next month.”
Adrian nodded.
“That’s why Richard is desperate.”
Sophia arrived before dawn.
When she saw Noah, she stopped.
Her son stared at her.
For a long time, neither moved.
Then Noah asked:
“Why did you leave me?”
Sophia cried.
“I didn’t.”
“Everyone said you did.”
“I was trying to save you.”
Noah looked away.
“I hated you.”
Sophia nodded.
“I know.”
“I don’t know you.”
“I know.”
She stepped closer.
“But I never stopped loving you.”
Noah finally broke.
He hugged her.
Eleanor turned away.
Adrian stood beside her.
“You okay?”
She nodded.
“Are you?”
He smiled.
“I’ve been better.”
She looked at his scars.
“Does prison ever stop following you?”
“No.”
“Then how do you live with it?”
Adrian looked at Noah.
“By remembering why I survived it.”
Eleanor took his hand.
For the first time, Adrian didn’t pull away.
But they had little time.
Richard had disappeared.
And he still controlled half the city’s police force.
They needed evidence strong enough to destroy him.
Sophia knew where to find it.
Marcus had hidden a final recording.
The problem was finding it.
The clue was inside the photograph Adrian had kept for seven years.
The black crown.
It wasn’t a gang symbol.
It was a company seal.
A secret division inside Vale Industries.
A division created by Richard.
The Crown Group.
It had been used to move money, silence witnesses and eliminate anyone threatening the family.
Marcus had discovered it.
That was why he died.
Eleanor looked at Adrian.
“The knife.”
He nodded.
“The Crown Group.”
She suddenly understood.
The men attacking her weren’t random.
They had been sent by Richard.
But someone else had been giving them orders.
Someone higher.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at the documents.
Then his face changed.
“Your father isn’t the leader.”
Eleanor froze.
“What?”
He pointed to a signature.
The name beneath it wasn’t Richard Vale.
It was Jonathan Vale.
Eleanor’s uncle.
Her father’s older brother.
The man everyone believed had died in a plane crash twelve years earlier.
Eleanor whispered:
“He’s alive.”
Adrian nodded.
“And he’s been running the Crown Group from the beginning.”
The real enemy had finally revealed himself.
