THE LAWYER WHO LOVED HER ENEMY

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

THE NAME ON THE FILE

Three days after our mock trial, something strange happened.

Adrian stopped arguing with me.

At first, I thought it was a miracle.

Then I realized I hated it.

"You're not going to argue with me?"

We were sitting in the library, surrounded by books, case digests, and enough coffee to keep us awake until graduation.

Adrian didn't look up from his laptop.

"No."

I frowned.

"Why?"

"Because you haven't said anything worth arguing about."

I stared at him.

"That's rude."

"You asked."

"I regret asking."

He smiled.

There it was.

That irritating smile.

I returned my attention to my book.

For the past three weeks, Adrian Cross had slowly become a strange part of my daily life.

I never intended for it to happen.

We had started as rivals.

Then partners.

Somewhere along the way, our arguments had become conversations.

Our conversations had become late-night study sessions.

And our study sessions had become something dangerously close to friendship.

I refused to call it friendship.

At least not yet.

Because friendship with Adrian Cross felt like standing too close to the edge of something I didn't understand.

And I didn't like things I couldn't understand.

"You're staring."

His voice interrupted my thoughts.

I looked up.

"I wasn't."

"You were."

"I was thinking."

"About me?"

I nearly choked on my coffee.

"In your dreams."

He laughed.

I hated how easily he could make me laugh.

"Relax, Serena."

"I'm relaxed."

"You're gripping your pen like you're planning to stab someone."

I looked down.

He was right.

I loosened my grip.

"I have a lot of stress."

"Law school?"

"Everything."

He became quiet.

He knew what I meant.

My family.

My father's past.

The reason I had chosen law.

Things I rarely talked about.

He didn't push me.

That was one thing I had begun to notice about him.

For someone who talked like he knew everything, Adrian knew when to remain silent.

---

"Have you ever thought about what kind of lawyer you want to become?"

The question came unexpectedly.

I closed my book.

"Yes."

"What kind?"

I thought about it.

"A criminal lawyer."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Why are you surprised?"

"You seem more interested in corporate law."

"Because?"

"You're good with documents. Evidence. Financial records."

I smiled.

"You've been paying attention."

"Of course."

The answer came too quickly.

For a second, neither of us spoke.

Then he cleared his throat.

"I mean... we're partners."

"Right."

I looked down.

"Partners."

There was something strange about that word.

Something warm.

Something dangerous.

I pushed the feeling away.

"What about you?"

He leaned back.

"Corporate law."

"Of course."

He smiled.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're a Cross."

"So?"

"Your family owns half the business world."

"That's exaggerated."

"Only half?"

He laughed.

Then his expression changed.

"I don't want to work for my father."

I looked at him.

"What?"

"I said I don't want to work for him."

"Why?"

He stared at the table.

"Because I don't want to become him."

His words were quiet.

But they stayed with me.

Before I could ask what he meant, someone approached our table.

"Adrian."

We both looked up.

A tall man in a dark suit stood beside us.

He looked older than us, perhaps in his late twenties.

His expression was serious.

Adrian immediately stiffened.

"Marcus."

The man glanced at me.

"Who's she?"

"My classmate."

Marcus looked at Adrian.

"Can we talk?"

"Here?"

"Outside."

Adrian closed his laptop.

"Give me a minute."

Marcus walked away.

I watched him leave.

Then looked at Adrian.

"Friend?"

"No."

"Family?"

"No."

"Enemy?"

Adrian gave me a strange look.

"Maybe."

I smiled.

"You're surrounded by those."

He stood.

"Apparently."

He started walking away.

Then stopped.

"Serena."

"Yes?"

His expression softened.

"Don't stay here too late."

I smiled.

"You're not my father."

"I know."

He looked at me.

"Your father would probably tell you to study until midnight."

I laughed.

"That's true."

He smiled.

Then left.

I watched him disappear through the library doors.

I didn't know who Marcus was.

I didn't know why Adrian had looked so tense.

And I certainly didn't know that the man's presence was about to pull a thread from a secret that had been buried for years.

---

That evening, I stayed in the library.

As usual.

The campus had become quiet.

Most students had already gone home.

I gathered my books and walked toward the administrative building because I needed a copy of one of our assigned cases.

The hallway was nearly empty.

I reached the records office.

The door was slightly open.

I knocked.

No answer.

I pushed it gently.

"Hello?"

Still nothing.

I stepped inside.

Stacks of old files covered the shelves.

I approached the desk.

A university staff member had apparently left several folders there.

I found the case materials I needed.

As I turned around, one folder slipped from the edge of the desk.

It fell to the floor.

I bent down to pick it up.

The folder was old.

Brown.

Dusty.

There was a faded label on the front.

I wasn't supposed to look.

I knew that.

But one word caught my attention.

VALE.

My breathing stopped.

I stared at it.

My family's name.

I picked up the folder.

There was another name beneath it.

My father's.

ATTY. DANIEL VALE

I felt the blood drain from my face.

"No..."

I opened the folder.

The first page contained an old newspaper clipping.

PROMINENT LAWYER ACCUSED OF CORPORATE FRAUD

My hands began shaking.

I knew this story.

I had seen that headline before.

But there was something beneath the article.

A handwritten note.

Cross Holdings.

I stopped breathing.

I turned the page.

Another document.

Then another.

My father's name appeared repeatedly.

Alongside the name of a company I knew too well.

CROSS HOLDINGS.

I stared at the documents.

My father had always told me that he had been framed.

But he had never told me the entire story.

Why had the university kept these records?

Why was my father's case connected to Cross Holdings?

And why did the file look like someone had been investigating it long after the case was closed?

I turned another page.

A photograph fell from the folder.

I picked it up.

My father stood beside several men outside a corporate building.

I recognized one immediately.

Victor Cross.

Adrian's father.

My fingers went cold.

"No..."

I turned the photograph over.

There was a date written on the back.

June 14, 2011.

The year everything happened.

My heart began pounding.

Then I saw another name written beneath the date.

A. Cross.

I stared at it.

Adrian?

No.

That was impossible.

He would have been too young.

Maybe it referred to someone else.

I turned the photograph back around.

There were five people standing together.

My father.

Victor Cross.

Two other executives.

And a young boy.

The boy couldn't have been more than thirteen.

I recognized him.

Dark hair.

Sharp eyes.

The same expression.

Adrian.

I dropped the photograph.

It landed face-up on the floor.

My entire body went numb.

He had been there.

He had been there when my family's life fell apart.

But why?

---

"Serena?"

I froze.

A voice came from behind me.

I quickly picked up the photograph.

It was Professor Reyes.

She stood in the doorway.

Her eyes immediately went to the folder in my hands.

Then to my face.

"What are you doing here?"

"I..."

My voice failed.

She walked toward me.

"That file isn't available to students."

I looked down.

"I'm sorry."

She took the folder from my hands.

Her expression changed when she saw the documents.

"You shouldn't have seen this."

"Professor..."

She closed the folder.

"Go home."

"But this is about my father."

"I know."

I froze.

"You know?"

Professor Reyes didn't answer.

"How?"

She looked at me for a long moment.

Then sighed.

"Your father was one of the finest lawyers I ever knew."

My eyes burned.

"You knew him?"

"Yes."

"Then tell me what happened."

She looked away.

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because some truths are dangerous when you find them before you're ready."

I felt anger rising inside me.

"I've been ready for fifteen years."

She looked directly at me.

"No."

Her voice softened.

"You've been angry for fifteen years."

I couldn't answer.

"Those aren't the same thing."

She placed the folder back on the desk.

"Go home, Serena."

I stared at her.

"Did my father work for Cross Holdings?"

She didn't answer.

"Professor."

Silence.

"Did Victor Cross frame my father?"

Her eyes closed briefly.

When she opened them, I saw something I'd never seen before.

Fear.

Not uncertainty.

Fear.

"I can't discuss this."

Then she walked away.

I stood alone in the records room.

My heart was pounding.

My hands were trembling.

For fifteen years, I had believed my father's downfall was a simple story.

He had been accused.

He had been betrayed.

The Cross family had benefited.

But now I knew there was more.

Much more.

And Adrian Cross had been there.

---

I left the university almost an hour later.

The rain had started.

I stood beneath the entrance, watching the water pour over the pavement.

I didn't have an umbrella.

I didn't care.

I stepped into the rain.

"Serena!"

I stopped.

I knew that voice.

I turned.

Adrian was running toward me.

He was holding an umbrella.

His hair was already wet.

"What are you doing?"

"Going home."

"In the rain?"

"Apparently."

He stepped beside me and held the umbrella over my head.

"You'll get sick."

"I'll survive."

He studied my face.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"You're lying."

"I'm not."

"You are."

I looked at him.

For the first time, I couldn't see my friend.

I saw the boy in the photograph.

The boy standing beside my father.

The boy whose family had destroyed mine.

"Adrian..."

"Yes?"

"Where were you on June 14, 2011?"

His expression changed.

Completely.

The color disappeared from his face.

The umbrella tilted slightly in his hand.

"What?"

I repeated the question.

"Where were you?"

He stared at me.

"Why are you asking?"

"Just answer."

His jaw tightened.

"I don't remember."

"You're lying."

He looked away.

"I was a child."

"You were thirteen."

His eyes snapped back to mine.

"How do you know that?"

I took a step backward.

He knew.

He knew exactly what I was talking about.

"Because I found a photograph."

Silence.

"What photograph?"

"You."

His face became unreadable.

"Standing beside my father."

The rain continued falling around us.

Neither of us moved.

Finally, Adrian whispered:

"Where did you find it?"

"In the university records."

He looked terrified.

Not angry.

Terrified.

"Serena..."

"Tell me the truth."

"I can't."

"Why?"

"Because you don't understand."

"Then make me understand."

He looked at me.

His eyes were filled with something I couldn't identify.

Regret.

Fear.

Maybe guilt.

"I didn't know what was happening."

I stared at him.

"What does that mean?"

He swallowed.

"I was thirteen."

"You were there."

"Yes."

The word hit me harder than I expected.

I stepped back.

"You were there."

"I didn't know what my father was doing."

"Did he know my father?"

Adrian closed his eyes.

"Yes."

"Did your father destroy my father's career?"

Silence.

"Adrian."

He opened his eyes.

"I don't know."

I laughed bitterly.

"You don't know?"

"I was a child."

"But you remember."

He looked at me.

"Yes."

"What do you remember?"

His voice was barely audible.

"I remember your father arguing with mine."

My heart stopped.

"What were they arguing about?"

Adrian looked away.

"I don't remember."

"You're lying again."

"I can't tell you."

"Why?"

He finally looked at me.

"Because if I tell you..."

He paused.

"...you'll hate me."

I stared at him.

The rain fell between us.

Then I whispered:

"Maybe I already should."

His expression broke.

For the first time since I had met Adrian Cross, I saw genuine pain in his eyes.

He lowered the umbrella.

Rain immediately soaked his hair and shoulders.

Neither of us moved.

Then he said the words that would haunt me for years.

"I hope someday you'll understand that being born a Cross doesn't mean I chose what they did."

I wanted to believe him.

God, I wanted to.

But that night, standing in the rain with the boy who had slowly become my friend, I realized something terrifying.

The past I had spent fifteen years trying to escape...

had been sitting beside me in the classroom all along.

And his name was Adrian Cross.