Chapter 3 - The Man Everyone FearedBy Elena's second evening inside the Moretti estate, she had learned three things about Adrian Moretti.
Her second was to look at the men surrounding Adrian Moretti and recognize that refusing might be more symbolic than practical.
“I have class at nine,” she said.
Adrian stared at her as though nobody had mentioned college to him during a kidnapping investigation before.
Lily was still clinging to his neck.
“You're shivering.”
“I'll survive.”
“My daughter says you saved her life.”
“I kept her warm.”
“You don't know what condition she was in.”
“I know enough.”
That caught his attention.
Elena hesitated.
“I'm studying pediatric nursing.”
Adrian looked toward one of his men.
“Doctor?”
“Waiting at the house.”
“Then we're leaving.”
Elena folded her arms.
“And why exactly am I coming?”
Lily answered before her father could.
“Because I want you.”
The simplicity of it silenced everyone.
Adrian looked at his daughter.
Lily's lower lip trembled.
“Please.”
Whatever argument Adrian might have made disappeared.
He glanced back at Elena.
“One hour. Let the doctor examine Lily. Tell us everything you remember. Then my driver takes you wherever you want.”
“That's it?”
“That's it.”
Elena did not believe him.
But she believed Lily.
So twenty minutes later, Elena was sitting in the back of an SUV that probably cost more than every apartment she had ever lived in combined.
Adrian sat opposite her with Lily asleep across his lap.
He barely looked away from the child.
Up close, Elena noticed the exhaustion beneath the intimidating exterior. His beard had not been shaved. There was dried blood on one shirt cuff. A small cut crossed his knuckles.
“You've been searching all night,” Elena said.
“Thirty-one hours.”
Elena looked at Lily.
“She was missing that long?”
“Thirty-six.”
His voice had changed.
No menace.
Only guilt.
Elena said nothing.
They reached the Moretti estate shortly after sunrise.
Estate was the wrong word.
Fortress seemed closer.
High stone walls. Cameras. Iron gates. Armed security. A mansion spread across wooded grounds overlooking the river.
As the SUV stopped, a gray-haired woman ran down the steps.
“Lily!”
Adrian barely had time to exit before she wrapped the child in her arms.
“Oh, my baby.”
Lily stirred.
“Nana.”
Elena remained beside the vehicle until Adrian looked back.
“Elena.”
She followed reluctantly.
Inside, a physician and two nurses were waiting.
Lily refused to let anyone touch her unless Elena stayed.
So Elena stayed.
The examination revealed severe dehydration, exposure, mild frostbite in two toes, and a respiratory infection that was likely beginning before the kidnapping.
“She'll recover,” the doctor said.
Adrian closed his eyes.
Only for a second.
But Elena saw it.
Relief nearly collapsed him.
Then Lily said something that changed the room.
“The man gave me medicine.”
The doctor frowned.
“What medicine?”
“The orange kind.”
Adrian knelt beside her.
“What man, sweetheart?”
Lily looked frightened.
“The man from our house.”
Every face in the room froze.
Adrian's expression became unreadable.
“Someone you knew?”
Lily nodded.
“He said you sent him.”
“Who?”
Her breathing quickened.
Elena stepped forward.
“Don't push her.”
Adrian looked sharply at her.
“She knows who took her.”
“She also just spent more than a day terrified.”
“He's still out there.”
“And she's seven.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Nobody spoke to him that way.
Apparently.
Elena didn't care.
She crouched beside Lily.
“Can I ask you something easier?”
Lily nodded.
“What color shoes were you wearing before you lost them?”
“Pink.”
“Did the man take them?”
“No.”
“Where did they come off?”
“In the car.”
“What did the car smell like?”
Lily thought.
“Oranges.”
Elena glanced at Adrian.
He understood immediately.
“Cleaning solution?”
“Maybe.”
Lily continued.
“And cigars.”
Adrian stood.
One of his guards went pale.
That was when Elena noticed him.
A broad-shouldered man near the doorway named Victor, judging from how the others addressed him.
He recovered quickly.
But not quickly enough.
Elena had spent years waiting tables.
Waitresses learned faces.
They learned the difference between anger, embarrassment, guilt, and fear.
Victor was afraid.
Adrian left the room to take a call.
Elena watched Victor follow.
Something cold moved through her.
Twenty minutes later, Lily slept.
Adrian returned.
“Your hour is over,” he said.
“Good.”
Elena picked up her backpack.
“Your driver will take you home.”
She reached the hallway before Lily cried out.
“Elena!”
Elena returned.
Lily was awake and panicking.
“Don't leave.”
“I have to go to school.”
“He'll come back.”
“Who?”
Lily's eyes darted toward the doorway.
Victor stood there.
Only for a moment.
Then he walked away.
Lily whispered, “The man who smells like smoke.”
Elena's heart hammered.
“Lily, was he the one—”
The girl covered her mouth.
Adrian stepped closer.
“What?”
Lily began crying.
“No, no, no.”
Elena pulled her into a hug.
“It's okay.”
Adrian looked between them.
“What did she say?”
Elena faced him.
“You have a problem.”
“What problem?”
“Someone in your house may have helped kidnap your daughter.”
Adrian's expression turned lethal.
“You're certain?”
“No.”
She lowered her voice.
“But Lily just saw one of your men and nearly stopped breathing.”
“Which man?”
Elena hesitated.
That was enough.
Adrian followed her gaze toward the hallway.
“Victor?”
Lily whimpered.
Adrian went very still.
“Victor has worked for me twelve years.”
“That doesn't make him innocent.”
“It makes your accusation serious.”
“I didn't accuse him.”
“You just did.”
Elena stood.
“Fine. Then forget I said anything.”
She started walking.
Adrian grabbed her wrist.
Not violently.
But firmly.
Elena stared at his hand.
He released her instantly.
“Sorry.”
She hadn't expected that.
Neither, apparently, had his guards.
Adrian stepped back.
“If you're right, you may have noticed something my people missed.”
“I'm not becoming part of this.”
“You already are.”
“No. I found a scared kid. That's all.”
His eyes moved toward Lily.
“She trusts you.”
“That doesn't mean you own me.”
A hint of something crossed his face.
Respect, perhaps.
“I don't own people.”
Elena almost laughed.
“I'm sure your biography says that too.”
One of his guards coughed to hide a reaction.
Adrian ignored him.
“I want to hire you.”
Elena blinked.
“For what?”
“Stay with Lily until we know who took her.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Ten thousand dollars a week.”
Elena stared.
He might as well have said ten million.
Her tuition balance was $8,420.
Her landlord had given her five days to pay late rent.
Her car had died three months ago.
Adrian saw the hesitation.
“Twenty.”
“No.”
“Twenty thousand.”
“That isn't what I meant.”
“Then tell me what you need.”
Elena looked toward Lily.
The child was gripping the edge of the blanket.
Terrified.
Elena hated that she understood that fear.
She had been nine when her mother disappeared for three days during one of her worst addiction spirals.
Nine when Elena learned how long nighttime could become when the adult who was supposed to protect you vanished.
“Three days,” Elena said.
Adrian frowned.
“I'll stay three days.”
“Why three?”
“Because by then she should be stronger. And because I have exams.”
“You're negotiating study time during a security crisis?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Adrian Moretti almost smiled.
“Fine.”
“One more condition.”
“What?”
“I don't take blood money.”
The room went silent.
Elena continued.
“If you want to pay me, the money comes from one of your legal businesses. Documented. Taxes. Contract.”
Adrian stared at her for several seconds.
Then he extended his hand.
“Agreed.”
Elena shook it.
His hand was warm.
Hers was still cold.
Neither of them knew that somewhere beneath the Moretti estate, a security recording was already being erased.
And the man deleting it had just received a message.
THE GIRL REMEMBERS TOO MUCH.
May you like
A second message followed.
HANDLE THE STUDENT TOO.
Related Stories
