Chapter 3 - THE NOTEBOOK THAT SHOULD NOT EXIST
Martin recovered quickly.
Too quickly.
“Sorry,” he said, glancing at the fallen tray. “Didn't mean to interrupt.”
Adrian's eyes settled on the phone in Martin's hand.
“You're far from the dining room.”
“Looking for the restroom.”
“The restroom is in the opposite direction.”
Martin smiled.
“Wrong turn.”
Lena closed her father's notebook.
Martin looked at it.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Adrian caught the glance.
Recognition.
Not curiosity.
Recognition.
Adrian moved between Lena and Martin.
“Go back to Victor.”
Martin's smile disappeared.
“Of course.”
He walked away.
Adrian waited until the kitchen door closed.
Then he looked at Lena.
“He knows about that notebook.”
“You don't know that.”
“I know fear.”
“And you think everyone is afraid of you.”
“Most people are.”
“I'm not.”
“I noticed.”
Lena put the notebook deep inside her bag.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“That's why you're still standing here.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means Victor spent an entire dinner trying to make you feel small, and you never gave him what he wanted.”
Lena looked toward the door where Martin had disappeared.
“Why would he care about my father's notebook?”
“I intend to find out.”
“No.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“You don't get to investigate my father.”
“Someone already did.”
Lena's stomach tightened.
“What?”
Adrian pulled out his phone.
He made one call.
“Check Gabriel Ortiz. Everything from the last eight years. Hospital contracts, HaleBridge, financial records, medical history, visitors.”
Lena grabbed his wrist.
“Stop.”
Adrian looked at her hand.
Everyone else in Chicago would have released him immediately.
Lena didn't.
“He had a stroke,” she said. “He can't defend himself from whatever world you're dragging him into.”
Adrian ended the call.
“He may already be in it.”
“He was an interpreter.”
“So was the woman who translated negotiations that started three wars.”
“My father isn't part of your world.”
“Then why did he tell you never to trust my family?”
Lena had no answer.
Adrian glanced toward the dining room.
“Victor saw the notebook.”
“So?”
“So he came looking for it.”
“You don't know that.”
“Then let's find out.”
Before Lena could stop him, Adrian walked back toward the dining room.
She followed.
Victor was packing his tablet.
Martin stood beside him.
They stopped talking when Adrian entered.
Adrian looked at Victor.
“Dinner isn't over.”
Victor slowly smiled.
“I thought you said we'd finished.”
“I changed my mind.”
Everyone returned to their seats.
Lena remained near the wall.
Adrian sat.
“Tell me about Gabriel Ortiz.”
Victor's face barely moved.
Martin's did.
That was enough.
Victor poured himself wine.
“Who?”
Adrian looked at Lena.
Then back at Victor.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“You remembered the waitress's employment history, but not the interpreter who worked on your largest medical contracts for eleven years.”
Victor's fingers tightened around the wineglass.
“Gabriel was one of hundreds of contractors.”
“Was he?”
“Yes.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Then why did your company pay him $240,000 three weeks before my mother died?”
Victor stopped.
Lena looked at Adrian.
He hadn't known that five minutes ago.
Someone was already feeding information to his phone.
Victor recovered.
“A consulting contract.”
“For what?”
“I don't remember.”
Adrian's phone vibrated.
He glanced down.
Another message.
His expression became colder.
“What?” Victor asked.
Adrian looked up.
“Gabriel returned the money.”
Lena's heart began pounding.
Her father had never told her.
Adrian continued.
“Every dollar. Forty-eight hours later.”
Victor shrugged.
“Then perhaps the project was canceled.”
“And three days after that, Gabriel filed a sealed complaint with the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
Martin stood suddenly.
“This is ridiculous.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Sit down.”
Martin didn't move.
Adrian said nothing else.
Martin sat.
Lena stared at Victor.
“What complaint?”
Victor ignored her.
She stepped closer.
“What complaint did my father file?”
“Ask him.”
“He can't answer.”
Victor's eyes flickered.
Only briefly.
But Lena saw it.
Something inside her turned cold.
“You knew about his stroke.”
Victor looked at her.
“You mentioned it earlier.”
“No, I didn't.”
Silence.
Martin's face changed.
Victor realized the mistake.
Lena moved closer.
“How did you know?”
Victor stood.
“This meeting is over.”
Adrian remained seated.
“No.”
Victor turned toward him.
“We came here to discuss business, not conspiracy theories.”
“You came here to sell me a company built on stolen credentials.”
“That is defamatory.”
“So sue me.”
Victor's face reddened.
Adrian almost smiled.
“You won't.”
“Why?”
“Discovery.”
Victor went still.
The room seemed suddenly smaller.
Adrian stood.
“You don't want attorneys examining HaleBridge's internal records.”
“You have no idea what you're talking about.”
“Then prove me wrong.”
Victor collected his coat.
Martin followed.
As they reached the door, Lena spoke.
“My father kept copies.”
Victor stopped.
Adrian looked at her.
Lena didn't know whether it was true.
She was bluffing.
Victor turned slowly.
“Copies of what?”
There.
The mistake.
Lena felt Adrian watching her.
She continued.
“Everything.”
Victor's face became expressionless.
“Your father was confused long before his stroke.”
Lena's anger flared.
“He had no cognitive impairment.”
“You wouldn't know.”
“I lived with him.”
Victor smiled.
“Children rarely know their parents as well as they think.”
Then he left.
Martin followed.
Adrian immediately turned to Lena.
“That was a bluff.”
“Yes.”
“It worked.”
“Yes.”
“What did you learn?”
“He's afraid.”
“Of what?”
Lena touched her bag.
“This.”
Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
His security chief spoke for less than twenty seconds.
Adrian's expression changed.
“When?”
A pause.
“Lock it down.”
He ended the call.
Lena felt the blood drain from her face.
“What happened?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Someone broke into your apartment twelve minutes ago.”
Lena's keys slipped from her hand.
“My father.”
“He's at the rehabilitation center?”
“Yes.”
Adrian was already moving.
“Call them.”
Lena dialed.
No answer.
She called again.
Nothing.
Adrian's security team appeared in the hallway.
Lena tried a third time.
Finally someone answered.
“Lakeview Rehabilitation Center.”
“This is Lena Ortiz. Gabriel Ortiz's daughter. I need to speak to my father's nurse.”
Silence.
Then hurried voices.
“Ms. Ortiz…”
Lena's knees weakened.
“What?”
“Your father isn't in his room.”
“What do you mean?”
“We're checking the building.”
“You lost him?”
“Security footage shows someone in medical scrubs entering his room seventeen minutes ago.”
Adrian took the phone.
“Lock every exit. Nobody leaves.”
The nurse stammered.
“Who is this?”
“Adrian Moretti.”
The line went silent.
Adrian handed the phone back.
Lena stared at him.
“My father can't walk without assistance.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Then someone carried him.”
They rushed outside.
Adrian's SUV was waiting.
Lena climbed inside.
The vehicle accelerated through downtown Chicago.
She opened her father's notebook with trembling fingers.
Pages of medical terminology.
Patient initials.
Dates.
Codes.
Then something she had never noticed.
The back cover was thicker than the front.
Lena ran her fingernail along the edge.
A hidden flap opened.
Inside was a tiny memory card.
Adrian stared at it.
Lena pulled it free.
On the card, written in her father's handwriting, were three words.
FOR LENA ONLY.
And underneath them:
IF THEY TAKE ME, FIND ISABELLA MORETTI.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Lena looked at him.
“Who's Isabella?”
May you like
For the first time that night, fear appeared in Adrian Moretti's eyes.
“My mother.”
