Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE OLD PHOTOGRAPH
Adrian didn't sleep.
Neither did Mara.
The baby slept peacefully between them in the hidden guest room while Adrian studied the photograph for the hundredth time.
Luca.
Elena.
Vincent.
Three people standing beside a marina eleven years earlier.
But there was something Adrian hadn't noticed before.
A fourth figure reflected in the window behind them.
A woman.
He enlarged the image.
His heart stopped.
His mother.
Adrian's mother had told him she had never met Elena.
She had lied.
He called the family archivist.
“Bring me everything concerning Luca's death.”
“Mr. Moretti, those records were sealed.”
“Then break the seal.”
Twenty minutes later, an encrypted file appeared.
The official report said Luca died at 11:40 p.m.
But a hospital record listed a patient under an unidentified name at 2:17 a.m.
Adrian stared at the timestamp.
Three hours after Luca was supposedly dead.
The patient had suffered multiple injuries.
The record was later deleted.
But someone had forgotten one thing.
A billing code.
Adrian's mother had paid the hospital bill.
His hands went cold.
He called her old attorney.
The attorney answered on the second ring.
“Adrian, I was wondering when you'd find it.”
“Find what?”
“The truth.”
The line went silent for several seconds.
Then the attorney said:
“Your mother believed Luca had been betrayed by your father. She tried to protect him.”
“From Vincent?”
“No.”
Adrian waited.
“From your father himself.”
The revelation struck like a blow.
His father had not been the architect of the empire.
He had been its prisoner.
Vincent had manipulated everyone.
“Where is my mother now?”
“She left instructions before she died.”
“What instructions?”
“To give you a key.”
The attorney sent an image.
An old brass key.
On its tag was written:
ROOM 17.
Adrian recognized the location.
The abandoned Moretti marina.
The same place Luca had asked him to come.
He immediately understood.
The message had not been a trap created by strangers.
Someone wanted Adrian to discover the truth.
But why?
When Adrian returned to the guest room, Mara was gone.
The baby was still there.
A note lay on the pillow.
I am sorry. They found me.
Adrian's blood turned cold.
He looked toward the security monitor.
Mara appeared on camera walking through the service corridor.
Behind her stood a man.
Adrian recognized him.
May you like
Vincent.
And Vincent was holding a gun.
