Chapter 3 - ELENA’S SECOND BETRAYAL
Adrian had trusted Marco Bellandi since they were boys.
That was exactly why he did not warn him before entering Marco’s office.
The restaurant photograph landed on Marco’s desk.
“Explain.”
Marco studied it without flinching.
“Elena needed help.”
“She came to you before she came to me?”
“Yes.”
“And you never mentioned it?”
“She asked me not to.”
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Apparently everyone has decided secrecy is the family business.”
Marco leaned back.
“She said her brother Theo had been taken.”
“By whom?”
“She didn’t know.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Where is she now?”
Elena stood in the doorway.
“Right here.”
She had followed him.
Marco’s expression changed slightly.
That was enough.
Adrian saw it.
“So,” he said softly, “let’s stop pretending.”
Elena stepped inside.
“Theo was taken three weeks ago.”
“Who has him?”
“I thought Russo people did.”
“You thought?”
Her eyes moved toward Marco.
“I was wrong.”
Marco stood.
“This is absurd.”
Elena ignored him.
“The men who contacted me knew things about your estate. Security rotations. Codes. Which rooms you use.”
Adrian’s eyes went cold.
“They told me to come here.”
“Why?”
“To get access to your study.”
Silence.
Marco said, “She’s lying.”
Adrian never looked away from Elena.
“What were you supposed to take?”
“A black access token.”
Adrian knew exactly which one.
A small encrypted key stored behind a false panel in his desk.
His father had given it to him fifteen years earlier with one instruction:
Never use this unless Claire is beside you.
He had never understood why.
“Did you take it?”
Elena looked down.
“Yes.”
Adrian crossed the room.
Marco moved first.
Adrian stopped him with one glance.
“Where is it?”
Elena reached into her coat.
The token lay in her palm.
“I never delivered it.”
Adrian stared.
“Then why did you kiss me?”
Marco looked interested now.
Elena’s voice broke.
“That wasn’t part of the plan.”
Adrian said nothing.
“I was frightened. You were telling me Theo would be found. You touched my shoulder. For one second I remembered who we used to be.”
“And I kissed you back.”
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
He could have denied it.
He didn’t.
“For one second.”
“Yes.”
“One second was enough to destroy my wife.”
Marco sighed.
“Can we return to the actual crisis?”
Adrian turned on him.
“The actual crisis is that somebody knew Elena would be here, knew Claire would see something, shut down a camera, replaced a bakery driver, and waited for my wife outside my gate.”
Marco’s face hardened.
“You’re accusing me?”
“I’m asking why your restaurant meeting happened two days before all of it.”
Elena suddenly spoke.
“Because Marco gave me the estate floor plans.”
Every head turned.
Marco’s face changed.
Elena reached into her purse and produced folded pages.
Security routes.
Service entrances.
Eastern gate timing.
Adrian looked at Marco.
Marco did not speak.
His phone rang.
Nobody moved.
Finally Adrian answered it.
Nicholas Dane’s voice came through.
“We found something in the east-gate override records.”
“What?”
“The camera wasn’t shut down from your account.”
Adrian waited.
“It was made to look that way.”
“Who created the duplicate credentials?”
Nicholas hesitated.
“Marco’s administrative terminal.”
Adrian slowly looked across the desk.
Marco Bellandi smiled.
Not warmly.
Not nervously.
Almost sadly.
May you like
“You always were slow when family was involved.”
Then the office lights went out.
