Chapter 4 - The Secret Lily Couldn't SayThe next morning, Elena missed her pharmacology exam.
The first was that everyone feared him.
The second was that he knew it.
The third was that Lily didn't.
To Lily, he was simply Daddy.
She climbed into his chair during breakfast. Stole strawberries from his plate. Drew purple mustaches on photographs in his office and taped paper hearts to his laptop.
Adrian tolerated all of it with astonishing patience.
But the moment Lily left the room, the transformation was immediate.
Men arrived carrying folders.
Phones rang.
Doors shut.
Conversations turned quiet.
Elena did her best to stay out of them.
She failed.
Late that afternoon, Lily was sleeping when Elena went downstairs looking for tea.
She heard voices from Adrian's study.
“You want me to believe Victor betrayed us?” someone asked.
“I want evidence.”
“You've killed men on less.”
Elena stopped walking.
Adrian answered.
“Lily was involved.”
“That should make you faster.”
“It makes me careful.”
Elena continued toward the kitchen before she heard more than she wanted.
She found tea, bread, and Rosa Moretti, Adrian's mother, standing beside a stove despite the fact that three staff members appeared ready to cook for her.
Rosa was sixty-three, elegant, sharp-eyed, and surprisingly warm.
“You're too thin,” Rosa declared.
Elena looked down at herself.
“Hello to you too.”
“Sit.”
“I just wanted tea.”
“Tea isn't food.”
Ten minutes later, Elena had soup, bread, roasted chicken, and a slice of lemon cake she had not requested.
Rosa watched her eat.
“You saved my granddaughter.”
“So everyone keeps telling me.”
“Does gratitude make you uncomfortable?”
“Large amounts of it do.”
Rosa smiled.
“You remind me of Adrian's father.”
Elena nearly choked.
“I hope that's not romantic foreshadowing.”
Rosa burst out laughing.
Adrian entered at precisely the wrong moment.
“What?”
“Nothing,” Elena said.
Rosa looked delighted.
“Sit, Adrian.”
“I have work.”
“You have soup.”
He obeyed.
Elena stared.
“You listen to your mother?”
“Sometimes.”
“Good to know the terrifying Adrian Moretti has weaknesses.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You find me terrifying?”
“I found your twelve SUVs terrifying.”
“Fourteen.”
“That doesn't help.”
A corner of his mouth moved.
Before Elena could decide whether Adrian Moretti was actually capable of humor, Lily screamed upstairs.
Both of them moved instantly.
They reached her room together.
Lily was standing on the bed, sobbing.
“There's someone outside.”
Adrian crossed to the window.
Nothing.
Elena knelt beside Lily.
“Did you see somebody?”
“A face.”
“Where?”
“The tree.”
Security flooded the grounds within seconds.
No intruder was found.
But near the east wall, a guard discovered a child's pink shoe.
Lily's missing shoe.
Adrian stared at it inside a plastic evidence bag.
Someone had entered the estate.
Or someone already inside it had placed it there.
Adrian ordered the house locked down.
Nobody entered.
Nobody left.
Elena's three-day arrangement suddenly felt meaningless.
That evening Adrian found her studying pharmacology in the library.
“You should go.”
She looked up.
“Interesting timing.”
“You're not safe here.”
“I wasn't safe in the warehouse either.”
“This is different.”
“Because someone left the shoe?”
He didn't answer.
Elena closed her textbook.
“Is Victor still here?”
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“Missing.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It isn't.”
Adrian walked toward the fireplace.
“He left two hours before Lily disappeared. Security footage shows his car exiting the west gate.”
“And?”
“He says he drove to Atlantic City.”
“Says?”
“He hasn't answered his phone since yesterday.”
Elena studied him.
“You trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“Friend?”
“Closest thing I had to a brother.”
The admission surprised her.
“What happens if you find him?”
Adrian looked toward the fire.
“You don't want that answer.”
“Probably not.”
Silence stretched between them.
Then Elena asked the question that had been circling her thoughts.
“Are the rumors true?”
“Which rumors?”
“That you're a criminal.”
His face revealed nothing.
“Do you really want an answer?”
“I wouldn't have asked.”
“My family has businesses that existed before I was born. Some started legally. Some didn't.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
He turned.
“When my father died, I inherited enemies along with companies. I spent fifteen years trying to separate the two.”
“You expect me to believe you're legitimate now?”
“No. I expect you to believe complicated things can still be true.”
Elena thought of her mother.
Of addiction.
Of loving someone while hating what they became.
“I believe that.”
Adrian studied her.
“What about your family?”
She stiffened.
“What about them?”
“You never mention them.”
“Because I'm here to help Lily, not become your biographical research project.”
His expression told her he understood the boundary.
“Fair.”
She reopened her book.
Adrian didn't leave.
“What are you studying?”
“Medication calculations.”
“I was good at math.”
Elena glanced at him.
“You own casinos.”
“Exactly.”
Despite herself, she laughed.
It was the first time Adrian heard it.
He looked startled by how much he liked the sound.
Neither acknowledged the moment.
Then the lights went out.
The entire estate went black.
An alarm screamed.
Adrian moved before Elena could.
“Stay here.”
“Where's Lily?”
“With Rosa.”
A gunshot exploded downstairs.
Then another.
Adrian reached beneath his jacket.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“You said Rosa has Lily.”
His face changed.
They ran.
The hallway emergency lights flashed red.
Security guards shouted.
A third gunshot echoed from the west wing.
They reached Lily's room.
Empty.
“Lily!”
Elena's stomach dropped.
Then she heard crying.
Closet.
She opened it.
Lily and Rosa were inside.
Safe.
Adrian knelt and pulled them both close.
Downstairs, the intruder was captured.
A man Elena had never seen.
One of Adrian's security team dragged him into the foyer.
Blood ran from his mouth.
Adrian approached slowly.
“Who sent you?”
The intruder laughed.
“You think this is about money?”
Adrian said nothing.
The man looked past him.
Directly at Elena.
Her skin prickled.
Then he smiled.
“The college girl wasn't supposed to survive the warehouse.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Adrian's head snapped toward her.
“What did you say?”
The intruder laughed again.
“Ask Victor.”
A second later, chaos erupted.
The man bit down hard.
Adrian's security chief lunged toward him.
Too late.
His body convulsed.
Poison.
Within seconds, he collapsed.
Dead.
Elena stared in horror.
Adrian turned toward her.
For the first time since they met, he looked afraid.
Not for himself.
For her.
“You're not leaving.”
Elena shook her head.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don't.”
“Someone just admitted you were a target.”
“Then I'll go to police.”
“There are police officers on someone's payroll.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know things you don't.”
“And that's exactly the problem!”
Her voice echoed through the foyer.
Everyone stopped.
Elena pointed toward the dead man.
“This is your world. Guns. Secrets. People dying before they can talk. I don't belong here.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“Maybe not.”
He stepped closer.
“But whoever did this thinks you do.”
Elena looked at Lily.
The little girl was watching from the stairs.
Terrified.
And suddenly Elena understood.
May you like
The kidnapping wasn't over.
It had only failed.
Related Stories
