Chapter 3 Three

Adrian couldn't stop staring at the small metal device.

It lay on his desk, harmless-looking, yet the faint symbol etched on its surface sent a chill through him. A circle divided by two diagonal lines, the same mark that appeared on the files leaked nine years ago, the ones that destroyed his father's company and led to his death.

He ran his thumb over the mark again, heart pounding. That symbol had been erased from all Blackstone records. Only one person should have known it existed.

His father's partner, Victor Crane.

And Victor had vanished the night the scandal broke.

Adrian sat back in his chair, staring out the window as rain streaked down the glass. The city lights blurred like fading memories. He had spent years rebuilding everything, his company, his reputation, his control. But now the past was knocking again, and it wore the face of Noah Graves.

He hated that name.

He hated that he didn't hate it enough.

"Sir?" Lila's voice broke through the silence as she stepped into the room. "You wanted me to check the device?"

Adrian nodded and handed it to her. "Discreetly. No one else should know it exists. Not yet."

Lila frowned slightly. "You don't think Graves planted it?"

Adrian looked at her, his expression unreadable. "That's what I intend to find out."

She gave a curt nod. "Understood."

When she left, Adrian leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples. He had waited years for revenge, for the moment Noah would walk through his door, giving him a chance to make him pay for everything his family lost.

But now, with that symbol staring back at him, the certainty he'd carried for years began to crack.

What if Ethan Graves really hadn't done it?

What if someone else had used them all?

Adrian exhaled sharply, pushing the thought away. He couldn't afford doubt. Not now.

He pressed the intercom. "Send Graves to my office."

Minutes later, Noah entered, his steps steady despite the tension that filled the room. "You wanted to see me?"

Adrian studied him, trying to read something, guilt, fear, anything, but all he saw was calm determination.

"I looked into the logs," Adrian said slowly. "You were right. Someone used your credentials through a backdoor system that doesn't officially exist anymore."

Noah raised a brow. "So someone inside the company?"

"Possibly." Adrian's tone was clipped. "But don't take that as an apology."

Noah smirked faintly. "Didn't expect one."

Their eyes locked, the air between them tense and charged. For a brief moment, Adrian remembered what it felt like to be twenty again-when looking at Noah meant safety, warmth, belonging. He hated that those memories still had power.

"Find whoever did this," Adrian said finally. "And keep it quiet."

"I already planned to."

As Noah turned to leave, Adrian called out, "Graves."

He paused.

Adrian's voice softened for a second. "If you're lying to me again..." He hesitated, something unspoken hanging between them. "You know what it will cost."

Noah met his gaze. "Then I guess I better make sure I'm telling the truth."

He left, and Adrian was alone again.

Hours later, Noah sat in the server room surrounded by screens, tracing the digital footprints left by the hacker. Whoever it was, they were good, too good. But something about the code felt familiar. The rhythm of the patterns, the encryption style...

It was almost identical to Ethan's old system.

Noah's chest tightened. He hadn't seen that code since before Ethan died. He leaned closer, scrolling through the data until a single name appeared buried in the metadata: C.V.

He frowned. "C.V.? Who the hell is that?"

Before he could dig deeper, footsteps echoed in the hall. He turned and saw Lila watching him from the doorway.

"You're still here," she said softly.

"Trying to earn my paycheck," he replied without looking up.

She hesitated, then stepped closer. "Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead."

"Why did you really come back?"

Noah froze for a moment before answering. "Because I got tired of running from the past."

Lila studied him for a long moment. "You know Adrian doesn't believe you."

"I know."

"And yet you stay."

He looked at her then, eyes steady. "Because someone has to find the truth. Even if it kills me."

Lila's expression softened. "You really think your brother was innocent?"

"I know he was." His voice was quiet but sure. "Ethan didn't have it in him to betray anyone."

She nodded slightly, then said, "Be careful, Noah. Around here, truth has a way of ruining people."

Before he could ask what she meant, she turned and walked away.

Later that night, Adrian sat alone in his penthouse office, the city stretched endlessly below. He couldn't stop replaying the day in his head, Noah's calm defiance, the way he'd stood up to him without flinching, the same stubborn courage he'd fallen for years ago.

He poured himself a drink and stared at the file on his screen. The device's metadata had just come back from Lila's discreet scan.

The manufacturer ID was registered to Crane Technologies, Victor Crane's old company.

Adrian's fingers tightened around the glass. Victor Crane had been his father's partner and best friend, until the day the files leaked. Then he disappeared, leaving Adrian's father to face the fallout alone.

And now Crane's mark was back, buried in the same code that used Noah's access.

The room felt suddenly smaller, the air colder.

Adrian set the glass down and opened an old encrypted folder labeled Blackstone 9. Inside were the remnants of the scandal, emails, corrupted files, fragments of data from the original leak.

He hesitated only a moment before running the decryption program.

Lines of code flickered across the screen, forming a string of names, transactions, and files. Most were meaningless, but one line stopped him cold.

Recipient: C.V.

The same initials Noah had found.

His pulse quickened. "C.V.," he whispered. "Crane Victor."

He sat back, mind racing. If Crane had sent those files, it meant Ethan had been framed. It meant everything he'd believed for nine years, the hate, the blame, the revenge, was built on a lie.

He ran a hand through his hair, frustration and guilt twisting together.

What if Noah had been right all along?

The thought stung. Because if Ethan was innocent, that made Adrian the villain.

He stood abruptly and crossed to the window. The storm outside had grown stronger, lightning cutting through the sky. Below, the city pulsed with life, unaware of the ghosts he was battling.

A knock came at the door.

"Come in," he said.

Lila stepped inside, her expression cautious. "You're still here?"

"I could ask you the same."

She hesitated. "I ran an additional trace. The device wasn't just connected to our internal systems. It also linked to an external source."

Adrian turned sharply. "Where?"

Her eyes met his. "An unregistered server in Virginia. Under the name E. Graves."

Adrian froze. "That's not possible. Ethan's dead."

"I know," she said softly. "But someone's using his credentials."

For a moment, neither spoke. The only sound was the rain against the glass.

Finally, Adrian whispered, "Find out who's behind it. I don't care how deep you have to dig."

Lila nodded and left.

Adrian sank into his chair, staring at the screen. His mind was spinning, Noah's return, the device, the mark, the name. None of it made sense anymore.

Maybe the truth he'd buried was starting to claw its way back to the surface.

He picked up his phone and opened a message thread labeled Unknown.

The last message read: He's back. What do we do?

Adrian hesitated before typing his reply.

Wait. I want to see how far he'll go.

He hit send and leaned back, exhaustion heavy in his chest.

He was still staring at the window when a voice behind him said quietly,

"You shouldn't have sent that message, Adrian."

He froze.

The voice wasn't Lila's.

He turned slowly, and his eyes widened.