Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN ROOM 614Adrian locked the ICU door.
At first, she thought she was back inside the tiny apartment she rented above a laundromat in Queens.
The pipes there rattled whenever storms passed over the city, and rain tapped against her bedroom window like fingernails.
Then she tried to breathe.
Pain exploded through her chest.
Her eyes flew open.
White ceiling.
Hospital lights.
Machines.
A plastic line beneath her nose.
Bandages wrapped around her torso.
Her entire body felt as though someone had dropped a building onto it.
Emily tried moving her hand.
Something heavy was on her finger.
Gold.
She blinked.
A wedding ring.
“What the hell?”
Her voice came out like broken glass.
A chair moved beside the bed.
“You’re awake.”
Emily turned.
Adrian Vale sat beside her.
No tuxedo now.
Black dress shirt.
Sleeves rolled to his elbows.
Dark circles beneath eyes that suggested he had not slept.
She remembered blood.
Gunfire.
His face above hers.
Then nothing.
“You,” she whispered.
“Yes.”
Emily lifted her ring finger as far as the IV would allow.
“What is this?”
Adrian looked at the ring.
“My grandmother’s.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
“Why am I wearing it?”
“Because legally, you’re my wife.”
Silence.
Emily stared at him.
Then she pressed the nurse-call button repeatedly.
Adrian reached over.
“That won’t change the answer.”
“Either I’m heavily medicated or New York’s favorite alleged psychopath just told me he married me while I was unconscious.”
“I’m not New York’s favorite.”
She stared.
“That was the part you corrected?”
The door opened.
A nurse rushed in.
“Ms. Carter?”
“Apparently it’s Mrs. Crime Lord now.”
The nurse stopped.
Adrian almost smiled.
Almost.
Emily pointed at him.
“Get him out.”
The nurse looked at Adrian.
Adrian rose immediately.
“I’ll wait outside.”
Emily had expected an argument.
His compliance unsettled her more.
Before leaving, he turned.
“You were unconscious for thirty-six hours. Don’t try to stand.”
The door closed.
Emily looked at the nurse.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
The woman hesitated.
“Oh my God.”
“There are… unusual legal circumstances.”
“Unusual?”
Emily lowered her voice.
“He kidnapped me into matrimony.”
“No one has moved you against medical advice.”
“That is not comforting.”
The nurse checked her monitor.
“You should rest.”
“I have seven bullet holes and a husband I didn’t order. Rest isn’t currently my priority.”
Adrian stood outside while Gabriel briefed him.
“We traced the message about Helena.”
“And?”
“Sent through an encrypted relay. Whoever sent it knew enough to get our attention.”
“Could be bait.”
“Yes.”
“Find where Helena was last seen.”
Gabriel glanced through the glass toward Emily.
“You’re going to have to tell her.”
“Not yet.”
“She’s already furious about the marriage.”
“That’s temporary.”
Gabriel lifted an eyebrow.
“Her throwing a water cup at the door twenty minutes ago suggests otherwise.”
Adrian looked at him.
Gabriel wisely stopped smiling.
The investigation had already uncovered disturbing facts.
Emily’s mother, Rose Carter, had died six years earlier—or so Emily believed.
Her birth certificate listed Rose as her biological mother.
But the DNA analysis told a different story.
Rose had almost certainly been Emily’s aunt or guardian.
Helena Vale was the biological mother.
And Helena’s disappearance had occurred during the bloodiest year in Vale history.
Adrian had been seventeen.
He remembered his sister fighting with their father.
He remembered Helena screaming that she would expose something.
Then she vanished.
Their father, Vincent Vale, said she died in a car accident overseas.
There had been no funeral.
No body.
No grave.
Adrian had believed the story because children often believed powerful fathers.
Until years later.
By then Vincent was dead.
And most people who could answer questions had disappeared.
Now Helena’s daughter was lying inside a hospital under armed guard.
It could not be coincidence.
Gabriel handed Adrian photographs.
“Louis Ferra wasn’t working alone.”
Image one showed a second man leaving the gala before police sealed the building.
Image two showed him standing beside Dominic Ferra, patriarch of the Ferra crime family.
Image three was more interesting.
The same man meeting someone inside Vale Tower three weeks earlier.
Adrian stared.
“That’s one of our accountants.”
“Benjamin Holt.”
“How long?”
“Eight years.”
A traitor inside his organization.
Perhaps more.
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“Bring him in alive.”
Emily demanded answers when Adrian returned.
“You have five minutes.”
“I thought you wanted me gone.”
“I changed my mind.”
“That happens often?”
“Only when strangers marry me.”
Adrian pulled the chair closer.
“The marriage is temporary.”
“Wonderful. My first divorce before my first date.”
“It was done to protect you.”
“From what?”
“The people who shot you.”
“They shot at you.”
Adrian said nothing.
Emily noticed.
Her expression changed.
“No.”
“Emily—”
“No. Don’t do that mysterious crime-boss silence thing. Were those bullets meant for me?”
“Some may have been.”
“Why?”
“I’m trying to determine that.”
“You already know something.”
“I know enough to believe you’re in danger.”
Emily stared at him.
“Before the gala?”
Adrian remained silent.
Her pulse increased.
The monitor beside her sped up.
“You knew my name before anyone told you.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Your mother wasn’t who you thought she was.”
Emily’s face went still.
“My mother died.”
“The woman who raised you died.”
“Her name was Rose Carter, and she was my mother.”
“She loved you. I’m not questioning that.”
“Then what are you saying?”
Adrian had faced armed men without blinking.
This felt harder.
“Rose wasn’t your biological mother.”
Emily shook her head.
“No.”
“We confirmed it through DNA.”
“You tested my DNA while I was unconscious?”
“Yes.”
“What is wrong with you?”
“A long list.”
“Who is my mother?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then spoke.
“Helena Vale.”
Emily stopped breathing for a second.
“Vale?”
“My sister.”
Her eyes moved between him and the ring.
Realization struck.
“Oh my God.”
Adrian knew what she was thinking.
“No. The marriage isn’t real in that sense.”
“You married your niece?”
“For legal protection.”
“That sentence somehow made it worse.”
“Emily—”
“Get out.”
“You need to understand—”
“GET OUT!”
Pain tore through her chest.
The monitor shrieked.
Nurses entered.
Adrian stepped back.
Emily pointed at him while tears filled her eyes.
“You had no right.”
He nodded once.
“You’re correct.”
That answer stopped her.
Adrian turned toward the door.
Then Emily asked quietly, “Is Helena dead?”
He looked back.
“I don’t know.”
Emily’s face crumpled.
Adrian continued.
“Yesterday, someone sent us a message.”
“What message?”
He hated the hope he was about to give her.
“They claimed Helena is alive.”
Emily stared at him.
Before either could say another word, gunshots erupted somewhere downstairs.
Three rapid cracks.
Then another.
Adrian immediately drew a handgun from beneath his jacket.
Emily’s eyes widened.
The hallway alarms began sounding.
Gabriel rushed through the door.
“Adrian, we have a breach.”
“How many?”
“Unknown.”
Adrian looked at Emily.
The room lights suddenly went dark.
Backup power flickered red.
Then a voice came through the hospital intercom.
“Mr. Vale.”
May you like
Static.
“We only want the girl.”
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