Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE DOOR
The pounding came again.
Harder this time.
“Mr. DeLuca!”
Marcus moved first, reaching beneath his jacket.
Adrian stayed beside the laptop.
Daniela could barely hear the man outside over the blood pounding in her ears.
Her mother was alive.
Maybe.
Adrian’s mother was alive.
Maybe.
And one of those women had just said Daniela was the reason Adrian’s father died.
Nothing in the room made sense anymore.
“Who is it?” Adrian called.
“Tyler.”
Daniela looked at Marcus.
“The sound technician?”
Marcus frowned.
“He was supposed to remain in the ballroom.”
Adrian nodded once toward the door.
Marcus unlocked it but kept his hand inside his jacket.
Tyler stumbled into the office.
His face was pale.
His tuxedo shirt was damp with sweat.
“Victoria’s gone.”
Adrian’s expression changed by less than an inch.
That was enough.
“What do you mean, gone?”
“She left the ballroom.”
“Every door was locked.”
“She didn’t use a door.”
Marcus grabbed Tyler’s shoulder.
“Explain.”
Tyler pointed toward the hallway.
“There’s a service elevator behind the catering corridor. Someone opened it remotely.”
Marcus swore.
Adrian looked at the laptop.
The video call had disconnected.
The black screen now showed only one sentence.
FIND THE BLUE LEDGER BEFORE VICTORIA DOES.
Daniela stared at it.
“Was that there before?”
“No,” Marcus said.
Adrian picked up the laptop.
“Then somebody still has access to this machine.”
Tyler backed toward the wall.
“I need to tell you something.”
Marcus turned.
Tyler swallowed.
“I lied downstairs.”
Daniela felt anger rise through her fear.
“You said I entered the booth alone.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside me.”
“I know.”
“You made everyone think I was crazy.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
Tyler looked at Adrian.
“Because someone paid me.”
The room became very quiet.
Adrian asked, “Who?”
“I never saw the person.”
“Wrong answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
Adrian stepped closer.
Tyler’s voice shook.
“Three weeks ago I got an envelope at my apartment. Ten thousand dollars cash. Instructions said I was supposed to replace one microphone before tonight’s event and deny seeing Daniela if anything went wrong.”
Daniela stared at him.
“Why me?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew my name.”
“It was written in the instructions.”
That frightened her more.
Someone had predicted she might interfere.
Someone knew where she would be.
Someone had planned not only Adrian’s toast but Daniela’s reaction.
Adrian asked, “Where are the instructions?”
Tyler reached slowly into his pocket and removed a folded piece of paper.
Marcus took it first.
He opened it.
His face tightened.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Marcus handed it over.
Daniela stepped close enough to read.
Three typed lines.
REPLACE MICROPHONE 4.
IF DANIELA PRICE ENTERS THE BOOTH, DENY SHE WAS WITH YOU.
DO NOT LET ADRIAN DELUCA REACH THIRTY SECONDS.
Daniela whispered, “They expected me.”
Adrian looked toward the old desk.
“No. They expected you to do exactly what you did.”
He turned toward Tyler.
“What was the transmitter for?”
“I swear I don’t know.”
Marcus took the microphone information from his radio team.
“A triggering device, maybe. It sent a short encrypted signal when Adrian began speaking.”
“To where?” Daniela asked.
“We don’t know yet.”
Adrian’s eyes returned to the laptop.
“Blue ledger.”
Daniela frowned.
“My mother used to have a blue notebook.”
Adrian turned immediately.
“What kind?”
“Nothing special. Cloth cover. She carried it everywhere when I was little.”
“What was inside?”
“I never knew. She wouldn’t let me touch it.”
“How long before she died?”
Daniela nearly corrected him.
Before she supposedly died.
“Years.”
A memory moved through her.
Her mother sitting at their kitchen table late at night.
Blue cloth beneath her hand.
Numbers.
Names.
Her mother shutting the book the moment Daniela entered.
Then another memory.
The week before the funeral.
Her mother kneeling in front of seventeen-year-old Daniela.
Holding a small brass key.
“Daniela.”
She grabbed Adrian’s wrist without thinking.
“I had a key.”
Everyone looked at her.
“What key?” he asked.
“My mother gave me one before she died.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened.
“What do you mean?”
“She told me to take it somewhere.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Daniela closed her eyes.
It had been thirteen years.
She had buried the memory because everything around that week hurt.
Her mother had been nervous.
Constantly looking through windows.
Checking locks.
Then one afternoon, she handed Daniela an envelope and told her to deliver it to a man at a church in South Philadelphia.
Daniela had followed the instructions.
“What man?” Adrian asked.
“I didn’t know his name.”
“What did he look like?”
“Older. Gray coat. He had a scar beside his thumb.”
Adrian’s face went still.
Marcus looked at him.
“You know him?”
Adrian nodded.
“My father.”
Daniela stopped breathing.
“No.”
“You delivered something to Carlo DeLuca thirteen years ago.”
“I didn’t know who he was.”
“What was inside?”
“I never opened it.”
“And the key?”
“I think it was in the envelope.”
A terrible understanding filled Adrian’s face.
“My father died forty-eight hours later.”
Daniela stepped back.
“I didn’t know.”
“I know.”
But his voice was different now.
More distant.
She hated that distance.
“I was seventeen.”
“I said I know.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
Before Adrian could answer, Marcus’s radio crackled.
“Boss.”
Adrian took it.
“What?”
“We found Miss Hale.”
Everyone froze.
“Where?”
A pause.
Then:
“She never left the estate.”
Marcus frowned.
“Then where is she?”
“The wine cellar.”
Adrian turned toward the door.
The guard continued.
“And she’s not alone.”
“With who?”
Another pause.
“With Mrs. DeLuca.”
Adrian stopped.
Daniela felt cold spread through her arms.
Adrian spoke very slowly.
“My mother is dead.”
The guard sounded confused.
“Sir... I know.”
“What woman are you looking at?”
“We don’t know.”
Then a female voice came faintly through the radio.
Old.
Calm.
Clear enough for everyone in the office to hear.
“Tell Adrian if he wants to know who killed his father, he needs to bring Daniela Price downstairs.”
Adrian’s face emptied of expression.
The voice continued.
“And tell Daniela to bring the key her mother gave her.”
Daniela whispered, “I don’t have it.”
The woman on the radio answered as if she could hear her.
“Yes, you do.”
Everyone stared at the radio.
May you like
Then she said the five words that made Daniela’s knees weaken.
“It’s inside your father’s grave.”
