Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT ADRIAN COULDN’T REMEMBER
Adrian didn’t deny it.
That frightened me most.
We stood beneath the abandoned station while the truth shifted again.
“Where were you?” I asked.
His face was pale.
“I don’t know.”
I stared at him.
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Adrian told us that on the night Daniel died, he had attended a private dinner arranged by Victor.
He remembered drinking whiskey.
Arguing about Daniel.
Then waking the next afternoon in a guest room at Victor’s townhouse.
“You blacked out?”
“I assumed I did.”
Marcus frowned.
“You barely drank back then.”
“I know.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You picked me up.”
“Yes.”
“What did Victor tell you?”
“That you’d been sick.”
Adrian gave a humorless laugh.
For twenty years, Marcus had protected him.
Victor had known exactly how to use that loyalty.
The answer was becoming obvious.
Adrian had been drugged.
His car had been taken.
His name had been placed beside Daniel’s death.
Victor hadn’t merely wanted Daniel gone.
He had wanted evidence capable of destroying Adrian if Daniel’s records ever surfaced.
But one question remained.
Why?
We returned to the mansion.
Victor was still there.
Adrian had ordered him held overnight in a guest suite, not a cell.
That surprised me until I understood.
Adrian didn’t want revenge before truth.
Victor was sitting by the window when we entered.
His eyes went immediately to the rosary in Adrian’s hand.
There.
Fear.
“You found it.”
Adrian closed the door.
“You drugged me the night Daniel died.”
Victor didn’t answer.
“You used my car.”
Silence.
“You made Marcus believe I’d been drunk.”
Victor stood.
“Adrian—”
“Did you kill my brother?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
I stepped forward.
“Then who did?”
Victor looked at me.
“I tried to save him.”
I almost laughed.
“Stop saying that.”
“It’s true.”
“Then tell the truth.”
Victor’s shoulders dropped.
And for the first time, the polished older man disappeared.
What remained looked tired.
“I stole from your father,” he told Adrian. “That part is true.”
Adrian said nothing.
“Your father was expanding too quickly. Men were dying. Families were being threatened. I moved money because I intended to leave.”
“With our money.”
“Yes.”
Victor didn’t excuse it.
“When your father discovered what I’d done, he threatened to kill me.”
“So you betrayed him.”
“I did.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“But after he died, I stayed because you and Daniel were children pretending not to be terrified.”
“You manipulated us.”
“Yes.”
“You lied to us.”
“Yes.”
“Did you kill Daniel?”
“No.”
Victor walked to the window.
“Daniel discovered something I hadn’t.”
The room became quiet.
“Your father’s organization never truly belonged to one man. There were five senior partners. When Adrian inherited control, two accepted him.”
“And the others?” I asked.
Victor looked at me.
“They wanted him controllable.”
Daniel had found evidence those men were using Victor’s stolen-money network for their own operations.
Victor had hidden his theft.
They had turned that secrecy into leverage.
“They ordered me to bring Daniel in,” Victor said.
“Why?”
“He had the records.”
“And you did.”
Victor nodded.
“I arranged the car crash to make Daniel disappear.”
I stared.
“You caused the crash?”
“I caused a crash designed to look fatal. Daniel was supposed to survive.”
Adrian looked disgusted.
“You let Emma mourn him.”
“I was trying to get him out of New York.”
“You could have told me.”
“I didn’t trust you.”
That landed hard.
Victor looked ashamed.
“I thought you were becoming your father.”
Adrian absorbed the words.
“And Daniel?”
“He told me I was wrong.”
That explained the photograph.
Daniel had changed his mind about Adrian.
TRUST ADRIAN. NOT VICTOR.
“What happened eleven days later?” I asked.
Victor’s voice cracked slightly.
“Daniel escaped the safe house.”
“Why?”
“Someone sent him a hospital bracelet.”
The bait.
“He thought Emma had given birth,” Victor continued. “He stole my car and went to find her.”
“But he got into Adrian’s car.”
Victor nodded.
“The men waiting for him used it.”
“Who?”
Victor looked at Adrian.
“Two are dead.”
“And the third?”
Victor didn’t answer.
Adrian stepped closer.
“Who?”
Victor’s gaze moved toward the hallway.
Marcus.
No.
Not Marcus himself.
Toward the family portraits hanging beyond the door.
One portrait showed Adrian’s father with his business partners.
Three men.
One was Victor.
One I didn’t recognize.
The third man had visited the mansion twice during my employment.
A quiet, elegant man everyone called Mr. Vale.
Adrian followed my stare.
“Thomas Vale.”
Victor nodded.
“He ordered Daniel killed.”
Adrian’s face became stone.
Thomas Vale was not some enemy outside the gates.
He was Adrian’s most respected business adviser.
And according to Victor, he had spent twenty years close enough to guide every important decision Adrian made.
Then my stomach dropped.
“Where’s Mia?”
Adrian turned.
Mrs. Alvarez appeared at the end of the hallway.
Alone.
Her face was white.
“Mr. Kane…”
Adrian was already moving.
“Where is she?”
“Mr. Vale came for breakfast. He said you sent him upstairs.”
My blood turned to ice.
We ran to Mia’s room.
The bed was empty.
Her shoes were gone.
But her stuffed elephant sat in the middle of the floor.
Under it was the constellation book.
Mia had drawn a crooked arrow across one page in purple crayon.
May you like
Beside it were four words.
I LEFT STARS, MOMMY.
