Ricardo and Madalena looked at each other and then Ricardo spoke.
"You sitting here today is because we didn't give up for the past twenty one years. We never gave up," he said. "We hired investigators and examined all the adoption records in the state."
"It always led to dead ends until James had a strong lead four years back, and we had Selena observe for the next three years to make sure we were not making any mistakes and to trace how you got to the hands of the Fredericks."
Adrian clenched his fists, rage flooding through him. "The Fredericks."
"Yes." Ricardo's voice hardened. "We researched them to the brim, knowing what they did to you. Had they not been already bankrupt, I would have ruined them myself.'
"Selena already did that," Adrian chuckled.
Ricardo looked at Selena who only shrugged.
Madalena leaned over and held Adrian's hand.
"You're safe now. That's all that matters."
"Am I though?" Adrian asked, leaning forward while fetching his phone from his pocket.
"Someone sent me a threatening text today. One of my cousins apparently. And I didn't even know I had more than one cousin till an hour ago."
Ricardo's face grew dark. "Show me."
Adrian gave him the phone and he read the message, and gave it to Madalena. Her face went cold.
"This is intolerable," she said to herself. "There will be enemy factions but it's too early for it to present itself."
"There's nothing to worry about." Ricardo locked eyes with Adrian. "But we'll find out. And when we do there will be consequences."
He got on his feet and walked to his desk. He drew out a phone and talked fast into it in Spanish. Adrian heard a few words but one of them was certainly a cousin.
Ricardo completed the call and returned to his seat. "We've started an investigation and in less than twenty four hours we'll find out who is behind this."
"And then what happens?" He asked, his eyes flickering from his dad to his mom.
"Well that depends on who it is and what they want. But understand this Adrian, you are a Vale, our son and we protect what's ours."
Madalena took his hand again and pulled him up from the seat. "Come let's give you a tiny tour of what would have been your childhood home, if you were not taken from us."
His dad fell in step with them as they left the room.
"We created three bedrooms for you. One for when you were a baby. The other is what we thought your room would look like in your pre-teems and the last is decorated for a teen."
Hearing those words made tears prick his eyes.
"Why would you do something like that? Isn't that like punishing yourself?"
Madelena clasped his palms tighter. "We wanted to make sure that no matter what age we found you, you'd have a decorated room for you to go back to."
She stopped in front of a huge oaken door and with a huge sigh she pushed it open. Adrian stepped in, a cold ripple running over his skin, raising tiny bumps along his arms. It was the biggest baby room he'd ever seen, it looked like a playground.
On the walls were his baby pictures and he stood in front of one, staring deep into eyes, remembering asking Mrs. Frederick for his baby pictures and she coming up with a blank answer.
When he looked back, he noticed that his parents had given him space. He walked back to them.
"You keep saying something that's stuck to me about family being my greatest threat. Who's to say that it's not family that separated me from you?"
"I believe that too," his dad shook his head. "Over here, blood doesn't always mean loyalty. You need to learn that fast."
A chill ran down his spine.
"Selena would teach you how to be cruel." Her voice was like steel. "You perceive dangers before they get dangerous, bring your enemies closer, use them, learn from them and then kill them. That's the only way you could survive in our world."
Adrian thought about Damon, Maya, the Frederick family and all the people who ever looked down on him. His shoulder finally straightened, they'd taken too much from him but now...
"I don't want to be weak any more," he said to himself,
"Good," Ricardo said, his lips curled up in a smile.
"Then we will see you never are again, but first things first, security, you must have individual protection at once."
Adrian suddenly felt overwhelmed.
"I don't need bodyguards."
"Yes you do," Ricardo declared . "Particularly following that threat. I'm not asking Adrian. This is non-negotiable."
Adrian looked back at Selena and Sinclair who were following them at a safe distance, but she simply nodded. "Your father is right. You do need protection."
Adrian sighed and Ricardo smiled slightly. "Good. I'll have two of my finest men report to you tomorrow morning, but that's not all." He squeezed his shoulder. They were now back at his parents room.
His mom pulled out her checkbook from her bag, wrote on it, tore it and handed it over to him.
When he stared at the number on it, his sight blurred.
Five hundred million dollars.
"This is yours," Madalena said. "To invest however you see fit. Selena will counsel you but the choices are yours, in a year the money should have doubled from all the investments you've made."
Ricardo clapped him on his back.
"Show us what you can do with it. If you impress us, we're going to reward you with something far better."
"What?" Adrian managed to ask, his hands shaking because he was holding the most amount of money he's ever had in his life.
Madalena smiled. "The Vale family heirloom. But you have to earn it first."
"I won't let you down," he swore.
"We know," Ricardo said. "Because you're our son. And Vales don't fail."