She Accepted Divorce, He Panicked

115 Back To The Lair

Scarlett's POV

What does that mean?

I stare at Adrian as a million possibilities run around my head. How did he know? Did he know something? Is he talking about the junkie thing, or my dad, or both... I dare not go for the one direction that I'm afraid to go-

Could it mean...that my mom can still be alive?

"It can wait," Aurora rubs my shoulder as I apparently freeze.

"I'm okay," I mumble, but I AM a bit out of it. I don't feel like bursting out in tears when I hear about it again, but I don't know if I could take it to have my hopes up only to be crushed again.

Adrian sighs, giving me a resigned look: "This would be how you feel ALL THE TIME, if you look into this yourself. Every piece of new information, confirmed or not, will be an emotional rollercoaster. And quite frankly, I don't think you can handle it-" "Adrian Dunn!" Aurora bursts out in anger, "How could you-?!"

"Aurora," I follow her up to stop her, "It's okay. I'm okay, and he is actually right. If I can't take such a nothing news, then I can't handle the investigation."

Adrian looks at me with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, That's all I can say to him in front of Aurora for now, "I won't get my hope up that easily from now on. I can handle it."

"Your mother..." Adrian takes a deep breath, "She is likely to be dead. Whatever the truth is, I doubt Jack Fuller would dare to just steal a kid when the mom remains a loose end. So yes, you'd be better off if you

115 Back

can keep that in mind."

"I understand," I nod. Aurora hugs me in silence.

I bite my lips, feeling the little fire of hope that stings me when it's extinguished as I close my eyes. I need to grow up, if I want to find out

the truth about me. If I want to do this for Mom. MY Mom.

"I can do it," I make up my mind, "If she died, then I lost her a long time. ago. I can't lose her twice, right? I want to do something...related to her. I want to...get to know her."

Silence, then Adrian breaks it: "Ava first said that your mom was dead when her father picked you up, but later changed it to your mother begged her father to take you. Ava definitely lied at least once in there, and maybe both times are lies even. We can only know if we look into

it."

Plausible.

I was too upset by Ava's words to remember that she was nothing but a liar. But this liar knows about my family, and the good thing is, I know this liar well.

"I need to move back to the Fullers," I think out loud, seeing a plan more and more clear, "If they could get a fake birth certificate and the full thing, then it's hard to find anything on our own, especially when we have no lead to go on with. But they do. I just need to get close to Jack Fuller's safe."

"And get through his security, and get his password," Adrian curves his lips into a smirk, the politeness in his tone is not diminishing any of the

sarcasm.

I roll my eyes: "I got into it once, then I can do it again!"

"You did?!" This time Adrian laughs with a bit of surprise, "That's

actually impressive. So what did you find?"

4 Back To The Lim

"Well, my adoption files, obviously," I shrug, "I did it because I didn't believe her 'slip of the tongue', I sneaked in and tried out the password, just a combination of Anna Fuller's birthday."

"Interesting," Adrian rubs his chin in deep thought, murmuring, "Then I'm 80% sure that what Ava said was not the truth."

""Why?" I frown in confusion.

"I don't think the safe of someone like Jack Fuller is that easy to break in, little girl," Adrian leans back on the sofa, the foxy smirk on his lips looking way more crafty than Jack Fox Fuller himself, "Whatever you saw, it's fake." What the f-

"Wait," I raise my hand, having a hard time processing what he is saying, "So he faked a fake adoption file? It doesn't make sense-"

"The day when his daughter told you about this huge secret, you figured out a high-end safe's password and found the evidence confirming her story? It's planted."

Damn it! I stare at Adrian in disbelief.

"But that's good news," Adrian grins wider at my regretful look," because we now have a good chance at finding out the truth."All content © N/.ôvel/Dr/ama.Org.

"How?" We three blurts altogether, all staring at Adrian..

"He coordinated the files according to Ava's story last time, so he is very likely to do it again," Adrian turns the ring on his index finger, a dangerous smile on his face, "We catch him in action, and Volia-"

He leads us to the real leads he would be burying.

""All we need now is a plan."