Chapter 209.

Adrian raised a brow. "Emilia—"

"You know someone could have taken his identity, right?" she rushed out. "Someone could have used his name. Someone could have created those companies and moved the money and done all of this."

Her voice grew more desperate with every word. "And now you’re telling me it was my father?"

"I’m not asking you to believe me without evidence."

"But you already decided."

"No."

"You did."

Adrian shook his head. "I followed evidence."

"Evidence you found because you were looking for him."

"Emilia."

"You were looking for him." She paced away from him.

Adrian remained still. "Are you listening to me?"

"My father was a good man." Her voice cracked. "He was the best man until his very last breath."

She turned away from Adrian. "He loved us."

Adrian’s expression softened.

"He loved my mother. He loved me." She pressed a hand against her chest. "I remember that."

Adrian didn’t interrupt.

"I remember the way he used to carry me when I was little. I remember him coming home and lifting me into his arms."

A tear slipped down her cheek. "That man would never do this."

Adrian’s jaw tightened. "I believe that you remember him that way."

Emilia’s eyes flashed. She shook her head. "Don’t say it like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I’m a child remembering something incorrectly."

"I’m not."

"Then say it."

Adrian frowned. "Say what?"

"Say that my father was a good man."

He looked at her. "I can’t tell you something I don’t know to be true."

Her lips parted.

The words hurt more than she expected.

"You can’t?"

Adrian’s silence answered her.

Emilia nodded slowly. She looked away. "Of course you can’t."

Adrian stood. "Emilia, listen to me."

She looked at him. "I am listening." Her voice trembled. "I’ve been listening to you this entire time."

He took one careful step toward her.

She didn’t move away.

"I didn’t come here to destroy your father," he said quietly. "I came here because I needed to understand what happened to my family."

"And somehow my father was always at the center of it." She cut him off bitterly. "That’s what you keep saying."

She wiped her cheek. She looked directly at him. "But you never saw him."

Adrian didn’t answer.

"You never stood in front of him. You never heard him admit anything."

"No."

"Then how do you know?"

"I have evidence."

"Evidence." She laughed again. "You have evidence that someone used my father’s name."

"Emilia—"

"You don’t know it was him." She challanged him. Then something seemed to occur to her.

Her expression changed. Slowly, and painfully.

"Wait."

Adrian’s face tightened.

She looked at him as though she were seeing him differently for the first time. "Were you with me because you wanted to know more about my father?"

Adrian frowned. "Emilia, don’t say that."

"Don’t say that?" She abruptly sat on one of the chairs in the room. "Why?"

"Because it’s not true."

"Isn’t it?"

"No."

She stared at him. "Don’t you find it strange?"

Her voice rose.

"Don’t you find it strange that you were sitting in the exact bar I walked into right after my breakup with Noah?"

Adrian’s expression changed. "Emilia."

"What were you doing there?"

"I was there before you arrived."

"Why?"

He didn’t answer immediately.

She stepped closer. "Were you waiting for me?"

"No."

"Then what were you doing there?"

"I was working."

"Working?"

"Yes."

She shook her head. "Of course."

"Emilia, I didn’t know you were coming."

"You expect me to believe that?" She looked up at him. The rims of her eyes reddened.

"It’s the truth."

She laughed bitterly. "Then you came to Blackwood."

Adrian’s eyes remained fixed on hers.

"Under a false impression."

"False pretenses."

"Whatever you want to call it." She snapoed at him. She stood straight. "Why?"

Her voice cracked. "Why did you come here?"

Adrian took a breath. "To investigate."

"To investigate my father."

"Yes."

She nodded. Her eyes filled. "You came to Blackwood to investigate my father. And then you met me."

She took a soft breath, and continued. "And you got close to me."

His expression tightened. "Emilia—"

"Was that part of the investigation?"

"No."

"Was I?"

"No."

"Did you look at me and think, ’That’s Dante’s daughter’?"

"No." Adrian responded immediately.

"Did you see me as a way into him?"

"No."

"Did you think if you got close enough to me, I’d tell you something?"

"Emilia, stop this."

Her breathing became uneven. "Then why?"

"I fell in love with you."

She stared at him.

He said it without hesitation. But she was already too hurt to let the words soothe her.

"How convenient."

Adrian flinched almost imperceptibly. "Don’t do this, Emilia."

"How convenient that you fell in love with me while investigating my father."

"It wasn’t planned."

"Nothing with you was planned, apparently." She turned away.

Adrian watched her shoulders rise and fall. "Emilia."

She shook her head. "No."

He stopped.

"Just..." She pressed both hands against her temples. "I don’t want to hear it."

"Please."

"I don’t want to hear another explanation."

Adrian’s voice softened. "I know this is a lot."

"A lot?" She turned. "You just told me my dead father is alive." Her eyes were full of tears. "You told me he’s been alive all this time."

She pointed toward him.

"You told me the man I spent my entire life believing was good may have stolen money and destroyed people’s lives."

Her voice broke.

"And then you expect me to sit here and calmly listen to you tell me you love me?"

Adrian swallowed.

She stared at him. "How?"

He had no answer that could make this easier.

She shook her head. "If your facts are right..." Her voice became quieter. "If everything you’re saying is true..."

She wiped another tear from her cheek. "How are you in love with me?" She sniffed. "One way or the other, you would be lying."

Adrian’s eyes softened. "Emilia."

"Was it a lie?"

"No."

"How can you really be in love with me if my father committed these crimes?" She searched his eyes desperately. "How?"

Adrian stepped toward her. "You’re not him."

She shook her head. "You don’t know that."

"I do."

"You’ve spent enough time with me because you were investigating him."

"That’s not why I stayed."

"How do I know that?"

"You don’t."

The answer stopped her.

Adrian didn’t try to force certainty into her. His voice was quiet. "I know why I love you."

Emilia’s face crumpled slightly. "I don’t want to hear it."

"Please." She backed away. "Just stop."

Adrian stopped immediately.

She pointed toward the door. "Get out."

He froze.

"Emilia."

"GET. OUT." Her boive hardened. "I don’t want to hear another word."

He stared at her.

She couldn’t look at him anymore.

"Please."

That one word was softer, and somehow worse.

Adrian’s chest tightened.

He wanted to stay. Every instinct in him screamed to stay, to explain, and to make her understand that none of it had been a lie.

But this wasn’t the moment to demand that she believe him. So he nodded, and walked toward the door. His hand reached for the handle.

Behind him, Emilia spoke again.

"Adrian?"

He stopped. He turned slowly.

She still wasn’t looking at him.

"Was there ever a moment..." Her voice trembled. "When you looked at me and didn’t see my father?"

Adrian’s expression broke. "Every moment."

She finally looked at him.

He held her gaze. "I never looked at you and saw Dante."

Her lips trembled.

"I saw you."

A tear slipped down her cheek.

Adrian opened the door. "And I still do."

He stepped outside, and the door closed softly behind him.

Emilia stood in the middle of the room.

For several seconds, she didn’t move.

Then she looked down at the bracelet on her wrist. The little charm caught the light, and she touched it with trembling fingers.

And suddenly, the room felt too quiet.

Too small, and too full of memories she no longer knew how to trust.

She sat on the edge of the bed.

Her breathing became shallow.

Outside the room, Adrian remained standing in the hallway. He didn’t leave immediately. He stared at the closed door, and his jaw tightened.