All Chapters of SECRETLY The Billionaire Tycoon: Chapter 61
- Chapter 70
96 chapters
YOU HAVE TWO HOURS
The words hung in Marcus's studio like a grenade that hadn't detonated yet.Adrian stared at his brother, trying to process what he'd just heard. "What do you mean our mother isn't dead? I visited her in Ireland. She's Sister Mary Catherine. She's alive and living in a convent.""I know. I've been in contact with her for years." Marcus set down his tea, his expression shifting from peaceful to deeply troubled. "She helped me disappear. Provided connections, resources, places to hide. We've stayed in touch through letters and occasional coded phone calls. But three days ago, I received a message that changed everything."He pulled out his phone, showing Adrian a text message. The number was blocked, the message brief but chilling:Sister Mary Catherine is being hunted. Thomas Kane found out she's alive. He wants revenge on Vincent through her. Protect her if you can. —Friend"Thomas Kane," Adrian said, remembering Elena's revelation. "Vincent's brother. The original enforcer.""Our unc
THERE'S BLOOD EVERYWHERE
The clock started the moment Thomas finished speaking.Two hours. One hundred twenty minutes. Seven thousand two hundred seconds to defeat a trained assassin and search a massive ruined estate for a hidden antidote.Adrian's security team moved to intervene, but Thomas had already pressed the knife closer to Sister Mary's throat. A thin line of blood appeared where the blade's edge met skin."I said one-on-one. No interference. Or I open her throat right now and we all watch her die in three minutes instead of two hours." Thomas's voice carried absolute certainty that he'd follow through.Adrian held up his hand, signaling his team to stand down. "Let them go. All of them. This is between you and me."Thomas smiled. "Not quite. I need insurance." He gestured with the knife. "Your girlfriend and your long-lost brother—they go into locked rooms. Different sections of the estate. They can't help you fight. They can't help you search. You're truly alone. Just like Vincent used to do. Test
YOU'LL NEVER FIND HIS BODY
Adrian followed the blood trail with growing dread.The room where Marcus had been locked was in the east wing—a former bedroom now reduced to exposed stone and rotted timber. The door had been broken from the outside, hinges torn from their mountings with force that suggested Thomas had used improvised tools or pure rage.Blood spattered the floor. Not arterial spray suggesting fatal injury, but enough to indicate violence. Struggle. Someone hurt badly enough to leave a trail.Adrian's security team arrived with medical kit and tactical lights. They swept the room professionally, documenting evidence, tracking the blood's path."DNA analysis will take hours," one of the operators said. "But blood type matches Marcus Kane's medical records from fifteen years ago."Adrian felt cold settling in his chest. Marcus had spent a decade building peace in Tangier. Had escaped the Kane family nightmare. And now Thomas had dragged him back into it.The blood trail led outside—across overgrown ga
YOU'RE GOING TO PRISON
Adrian kept his expression neutral as they moved toward the door, supporting Marcus's weight.Behind them, Thomas was examining the signed documents with satisfaction, flipping through pages to verify each signature, each notarization, each witness stamp.It took him approximately forty-five seconds to notice."Wait."Adrian stopped. Didn't turn around. Just stood in the doorway, Marcus leaning against him."These page numbers." Thomas's voice shifted from satisfaction to confusion. "They don't match. Page 247 should be the final trust transfer. But this shows... this is page 189."Marcus turned his head slightly, enough to meet Thomas's eyes. His face was swollen from the beating, but his smile was genuine."I was an artist. Specifically, a forger. Before Morocco, I spent two years in Paris studying with masters who specialized in reproducing historical documents. I'm very good at it." His voice was weak but carried unmistakable satisfaction. "During your captivity, when your men tho
WHAT ABOUT JUSTICE?
Adrian sat in his lawyer's office staring at evidence that would end Brandon Sterling's lawsuit definitively.The text messages were damning. Fourteen months of coordination between Isabella and Brandon. Planning. Strategy. Calculated manipulation of a marriage that Adrian had believed, however naively, held some foundation of genuine connection.Lawrence, Adrian's lead attorney, leaned forward with the kind of intensity lawyers develop when they see guaranteed victory."Use this. Present it in closing arguments. The jury will see that Isabella wasn't just having an affair—she was actively conspiring with Brandon to position herself for maximum financial leverage in divorce proceedings. Brandon's entire case collapses. He can't claim you fabricated evidence out of jealous rage when his co-conspirator was your own wife working against you from inside the marriage."The other attorneys nodded. Three senior partners, two associates, all in agreement. This evidence was a nuclear option th
LEAVE DANIEL KANE OR DIE
Sophia stood in the penthouse living room, still wearing her coat, her expression carrying the weight of a question that demanded an answer."Do I still love Isabella?"Adrian repeated Sophia's question aloud, giving himself time to formulate a response that was honest rather than convenient. Michael's baby monitor sat on the coffee table between them, the soft sounds of infant sleep providing counterpoint to the tension in the room."I love who I thought she was," Adrian said finally, choosing each word with care. "I mourn who she could have been. The woman I married—or thought I married—was someone kind, vulnerable, trying to escape her family's dysfunction. That person probably never existed. Isabella was always calculating, always strategic, always playing a longer game than I understood."He stood, moving to the window overlooking Manhattan. The city glittered below—millions of lives, millions of stories, millions of people making choices that would define their futures."But no,
DESTINED TO BE TOGETHER
Jenny's phone wouldn't stop buzzing.She sat in Daniel's apartment—the place Adrian had arranged for his younger brother in a secure building near his private school—watching notification after notification flood her screen.You're going to die slowly. I'll make sure you feel every second.Your brother walks home at 3:15 every day. Easy target.Daniel will never love you. You're temporary. I'm forever.Last chance. Leave him or I start cutting pieces off people you love.Each message was more graphic than the last. Detailed descriptions of violence. Specific threats against her family members. Photographs of Jenny's apartment building, her mother's workplace, her brother's school.Daniel watched her face go pale as she scrolled through them. "How many?""Forty-seven in the past two hours." Jenny's voice was steady despite obvious fear. "They started this morning. Haven't stopped.""We need to tell Adrian. Now."Adrian arrived at Daniel's apartment within twenty minutes, Sophia and Ryk
THIS FAMILY IS A TARGET
The voice analysis took twelve hours to confirm what Adrian's instinct had already told him.Ryker played the recording again, this time with enhanced audio filtering that removed background noise and clarified the speaker's voice patterns."The voice matches Genevieve Bordeaux. Catherine's granddaughter. The woman who tried to force you into marriage during the Paris incident."Adrian remembered Genevieve vividly. Beautiful. Calculating. Catherine's proxy in the attempted blackmail scheme that had nearly destroyed him months ago. After Catherine's death from cancer three weeks ago, Adrian had assumed Genevieve would retreat to Paris and focus on managing the Bordeaux family fortune.Apparently, that assumption had been wrong."She's been manipulating Melissa Crawford," Ryker continued, pulling up communication records. "Email exchanges going back five weeks. Genevieve provided information about Daniel—his schedule, his preferences, his vulnerabilities. She fed Melissa's delusion, enc
AGENDA REVEALED
The emergency injunction arrived via courier at 9:47 AM on a Tuesday morning.Adrian was feeding Michael when the doorbell rang—holding a bottle with one hand, supporting the six-month-old with the other, trying to manage the complex logistics of single parenting while also running a humanitarian empire.The legal documents were thick, official, carrying the weight of New York Family Court authority.Emergency Motion to Block Adoption Proceedings - Matter of: Baby Michael (Last Name Sealed)Petitioner: Jennifer Sterling, EsquireBasis: Blood relation and superior familial claimAdrian read through the motion with growing disbelief. Jennifer Sterling—Brandon's older sister, a corporate attorney Adrian had met perhaps twice during his marriage to Isabella—was filing to block the adoption Adrian and Isabella had carefully arranged.Her claim was straightforward and legally compelling: She was Michael's biological aunt. Brandon Sterling was Michael's father (or so public records indicated
THE DEBT COLLECTOR
Ryker's background check results arrived at 3:47 AM.Adrian was still awake—sitting in his penthouse with Michael asleep in the nursery, processing the fact that Jennifer Sterling had just taken custody of his son through fraudulent claims. He'd expected some irregularities. Maybe financial instability. Perhaps questionable associations.What he didn't expect was a death sentence."Sir, you need to see this." Ryker's voice over the phone carried urgency that suggested immediate crisis. "Jennifer Sterling isn't just in debt. She's borrowed from the Castellano family."Adrian felt ice spreading through his chest. "The Castellanos. As in the crime syndicate?""These aren't payday lenders she's dealing with. The Castellano family runs loan sharking, extortion, and enforcement operations across five states. They kill people who don't pay. Literally. Bodies found in rivers. People who disappear and are never found. That's who Jennifer owes three million dollars to."The implications hit Adri