Chapter 11 — The Silence Between Truth and Trust
The next morning dawned pale and uncertain, as if the sky itself hadn’t decided whether to cry or clear.
Cathy Duke woke early, though she hadn’t truly slept. Her eyes burned from the night’s tears, but her heart still felt heavier than her body.
She sat on the floor beside her bed, the pen Adrian had given her resting in her palm.
A.V.
She traced the letters again, slower this time — Adrian Vale.
Each stroke felt like a truth she hadn’t been ready to face.
It wasn’t that she cared about his wealth or his name — those things were air and shadow to her.
It was the lie. The silence that wasn’t hers this time.
For years, she had lived in a quiet world, learning that silence could be peaceful — healing, even.
But his silence?
It was full of walls.
At noon, Luna arrived at the shop, humming as she always did.
But the moment she saw Cathy’s face, her song faded.
“Oh no,” she said softly. “That’s your heartbreak face.”
Cathy managed a weak smile and reached for her notepad.
I think I found out something I wasn’t meant to.
Luna frowned, pulling up a stool. “About Adrian?”
A small nod.
He’s not who he says he is. His real name is Vale.
Luna blinked. “Vale? As in— the Vale family?”
Cathy nodded again, eyes down.
Luna let out a low whistle. “Wow. That’s… a lot to process.”
He lied to me, Cathy wrote. All this time.
Luna’s expression softened. “Maybe not lied — maybe he just didn’t know how to tell you yet. You know how people get when they’re afraid of losing something real.”
But if it was real, why hide? Cathy scribbled quickly. Why pretend to be someone else?
Luna sighed. “Because sometimes love asks for honesty, and fear answers with disguise.”
That made Cathy pause.
Luna squeezed her hand. “Whatever his reason, you need to talk to him. Don’t carry questions in silence — you of all people deserve answers in truth.”
Across the city, in a half-finished glass building that overlooked the river, Adrian stood at the edge of a construction platform, the wind tugging at his coat.
Elaris shimmered below — a mosaic of reflections and rain-soaked streets.
He wasn’t there to admire the view. He was there to think.
Marcus approached quietly behind him. “You’ve been up here an hour. What’s going on?”
Adrian exhaled. “He found me.”
Marcus stiffened. “Your father?”
“Yes.” He turned, jaw tight. “He knows where I am. He knows about her.”
Marcus cursed under his breath. “What are you going to do?”
Adrian’s voice was calm, but his eyes betrayed him. “Protect her. Whatever it takes.”
That evening, Cathy stood outside his apartment.
She hadn’t planned to come, but her feet had led her there before her heart could argue.
The city was quiet, bathed in the amber of streetlights. She hesitated, clutching the silver pen in her hand like a charm.
Then she knocked.
Adrian opened the door, surprise flickering across his face.
“Cathy.”
She stepped inside without writing, without smiling. Her eyes said everything.
He closed the door gently. “What’s wrong?”
She held up the pen first, then the envelope.
The air froze.
He looked at them — then at her. His throat tightened. “You found it.”
She nodded slowly, her eyes glistening.
“I was going to tell you,” he said quickly, his voice low and raw. “I just… I wanted to wait until—”
She shook her head. Tears pooled. She reached for her notepad with trembling fingers.
Until what? Until I fell harder? Until the lie didn’t matter anymore?
Adrian’s jaw clenched. “It was never a lie about you. My name, my family — they’re just noise I’ve been running from.”
Why run? she wrote, pressing the pen so hard the letters carved the paper. You have everything.
He laughed bitterly. “Everything but peace. Everything but freedom.”
He took a step closer, searching her face. “Cathy, when you met me, I wasn’t pretending to be someone else. I was finally being myself. Adrian Rivers was the only version of me that wasn’t controlled, wasn’t watched, wasn’t…”
He stopped, his voice cracking. “… wasn’t miserable.”
Her tears fell quietly. She wrote slowly:
Then why not trust me with the truth?
He closed his eyes. “Because the truth destroys everything it touches in my world. And you’re the only thing I can’t afford to destroy.”
Silence stretched between them — fragile, breaking.
Cathy turned away, hugging her arms around herself.
Adrian reached out, hesitated — then gently caught her wrist.
She didn’t pull away. But she didn’t look at him either.
“Cathy,” he whispered. “Every lie I told was to protect the one thing that wasn’t built on lies — this. What we have.”
She turned, tears still shining.
He reached up, brushing a tear from her cheek. “I’ll tell you everything. Just— please, don’t walk away yet.”
Her breath trembled. She reached for her notepad.
You should have trusted me to stay, not lied to make me stay.
Adrian’s heart cracked open.
Before he could speak, she gently placed the pen — his mother’s pen — back in his hand.
Keep this. It doesn’t belong to me anymore.
Then she turned and walked toward the door.
“Cathy—”
She stopped but didn’t look back.
She lifted her hand slightly, signing without turning: Goodbye for now.
And then she was gone — leaving behind the soft scent of flowers and the echo of a love that had grown too deep for either of them to control.
That night, Adrian sat in the dark, the pen cold in his hand.
The city outside pulsed with light, but his apartment felt hollow — every corner still carrying the memory of her.
He opened his phone. Dozens of missed calls — all from Vale Industries.
Finally, he answered one.
“Adrian Vale,” came his father’s voice, smooth and commanding.
“Don’t call me that,” Adrian said softly.
“I warned you,” Gabriel replied. “Distractions make men weak. You’ve forgotten what you were born for.”
Adrian’s hand tightened around the pen. “No. I’ve just learned what it means to live.”
There was silence. Then the faintest sigh. “Come home, son. Before this little rebellion ruins you — and her.”
The line went dead.
Adrian lowered the phone, eyes burning.
Outside, the wind howled faintly through the streets, carrying with it the sound of rain.
He whispered into the silence, “I’m not going back.”
But deep down, he knew his father’s reach didn’t end with threats.
And somewhere across the city, in her quiet apartment, Cathy sat by the window, staring at the raindrops trailing down the glass — each one a reflection of everything she couldn’t say.
Love wasn’t gone.
But trust... trust had gone silent.
0 Comments
What would you do in this situation? Share your thoughts and advice below—we’d love to hear from you❤️