Chapter 5 - The Call From BuffaloThe hospital went into lockdown within four minutes.
She always wore pearls when she expected a fight.
Adrian remembered that from childhood.
Funerals.
Board meetings.
Divorce negotiations for relatives.
Any room Helena intended to control eventually contained those pearls.
She walked into the private hospital wing with Victor Shaw beside her.
Victor was sixty-three now.
Still broad-shouldered.
Still expressionless.
Emily recognized him instantly.
Her hand tightened around Lucy’s.
“That’s him.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“Victor stays outside.”
Helena smiled.
“Adrian, don’t be childish.”
“Outside.”
Victor looked at Helena.
She gave a tiny nod.
He remained in the hallway.
Helena entered.
Her gaze found Lucy.
For the first time, the smile disappeared.
Daniel had lived again in that child.
Same brown eyes.
Same stubborn chin.
Same habit of lifting one eyebrow when suspicious.
Helena whispered, “My God.”
Emily moved Lucy behind her.
“Don’t.”
Helena recovered.
“You must be Emily.”
“You know exactly who I am.”
“Yes.”
“No pretending?”
“I’m too old for pretending.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“That would be a recent development.”
Helena ignored him.
She looked at Lucy again.
“How old are you?”
Lucy looked at her mother.
Emily answered.
“Eight.”
Helena calculated instantly.
“Daniel’s?”
Adrian’s voice went cold.
“You already know.”
“I suspected.”
“You searched her school records.”
“I needed to know whether this was fraud.”
Emily stared.
“Fraud?”
Helena finally looked at her.
“Women have claimed connection to this family before.”
Emily stepped forward.
“I never asked your family for a cent.”
“No. You merely kept Daniel’s child hidden.”
Adrian slammed his hand against the table.
“Enough.”
Lucy jumped.
He immediately regretted it.
He lowered his voice.
“Lucy, would you go with Marcus for a minute?”
Lucy didn’t move.
“Mom?”
Emily nodded reluctantly.
Marcus took Lucy toward the playroom at the end of the hall.
Once they were gone, Adrian locked the door.
“Now we speak clearly.”
Helena crossed her arms.
“Fine.”
“Did you force Daniel and Emily off the road twenty-two years ago?”
“I sent Victor to bring my son home.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
“He was seventeen.”
“So was Emily.”
“And she was influencing him.”
Emily laughed.
“I was making coffee for minimum wage.”
“You encouraged him to abandon his education.”
“He was miserable.”
“He was immature.”
“He was terrified of you.”
Helena’s eyes flashed.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Did Victor hurt him?”
“No.”
Emily stared at her.
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“He came to me bruised.”
Helena’s jaw tightened.
“That happened later.”
Adrian felt dread.
“What happened later?”
Helena looked away.
“Daniel confronted Malcolm.”
“About what?”
Silence.
“Mother.”
“Business.”
“What business?”
“Company matters.”
Emily whispered, “That’s what he discovered.”
Adrian’s patience broke.
“What did Daniel discover?”
Helena turned toward him.
“You think knowing will improve anything?”
“Yes.”
“It won’t.”
“Tell me.”
“He discovered your father had been secretly moving money from Vale Industries.”
Adrian frowned.
“Dad?”
“Millions.”
“For what?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
Adrian shook his head.
“That makes no sense.”
“Your father and Daniel argued. Daniel accused him of stealing from the family company. Malcolm struck him.”
Emily closed her eyes.
The bruises.
Adrian felt nausea.
“And then Daniel left?”
“Yes.”
“You told us he stole money.”
Helena didn’t answer.
“Mother.”
“We needed an explanation.”
“So you made him the criminal.”
“I protected this family.”
Adrian stared at her as if she were a stranger.
“You destroyed his name.”
“I protected yours.”
“What does that mean?”
Helena’s composure finally cracked.
“Because you were taking over the company! If investors discovered your father had diverted millions and your brother disappeared after confronting him, Vale Industries would have collapsed.”
“You chose the company over Daniel.”
“I chose what remained.”
Emily spoke quietly.
“Except Daniel wasn’t gone yet.”
Helena looked at her.
Emily held up the letter.
“He wrote this six months later.”
Helena’s face drained.
“That’s impossible.”
Adrian watched closely.
For the first time since she arrived, Helena looked genuinely shocked.
“You thought he was dead,” he said.
Helena stared at the letter.
“We believed…”
“What?”
Victor suddenly entered.
Adrian turned.
“I told you to stay outside.”
Victor didn’t look at him.
He looked at Helena.
“We should leave.”
Adrian stepped into his path.
“Nobody leaves.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
Adrian held up the letter.
“Daniel survived at least six months after he disappeared.”
Victor’s eyes flickered.
Only once.
But Adrian saw it.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew.”
Victor remained silent.
Emily suddenly spoke.
“Buffalo.”
Victor looked at her.
The smallest reaction.
Enough.
Adrian grabbed his jacket.
“What happened in Buffalo?”
Victor shoved him away.
Marcus rushed in from the hallway.
The two men squared off.
Helena shouted, “Stop!”
Adrian pointed at Victor.
“My brother sent a letter from Buffalo. Why did you react?”
Victor looked at Helena.
Then at Adrian.
“You don’t want this.”
“That stopped being your decision twenty-two years ago.”
A scream erupted down the hall.
Emily spun.
“Lucy!”
Everyone ran.
The playroom door stood open.
A nurse lay on the floor, dazed.
Marcus had left Lucy there less than two minutes earlier.
Emily rushed inside.
Empty.
The window was closed.
A stuffed bear lay overturned.
On the floor was Lucy’s bracelet.
And beside it, a note.
Adrian picked it up.
Three typed words.
GIVE BACK THE LETTER.
Emily’s scream echoed through the hospital.
Adrian turned toward Victor.
But Victor looked just as shocked as everyone else.
Which meant someone else knew.
May you like
Someone else had been watching.
And Lucy Hart had just become the price of a secret buried for twenty-two years.
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