Chapter 5 - THE FIRST CALL AFTER I LEFT HIM
I did not call Adrian because I forgave him.
I called because somebody was hunting me.
There was a difference.
Mara bought a prepaid phone with cash.
I dialed the one number Adrian had kept unchanged for twenty years.
He answered instantly.
“Claire.”
My eyes closed.
Just hearing his voice hurt.
“Don’t trace this.”
“I won’t.”
I almost laughed.
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
At least he sounded honest.
“Somebody found my mother’s cottage.”
“I know.”
That stopped me.
“How?”
“Marco and Nicholas disappeared.”
My stomach tightened.
“Marco?”
“Yes.”
I looked at the restaurant photograph again.
“Elena met him.”
“I know that too.”
“And?”
“She was being blackmailed.”
I said nothing.
Adrian continued.
“Claire.”
“Don’t.”
There was a long silence.
Then:
“You saw us.”
It wasn’t a question.
“Yes.”
“Elena kissed me.”
“And you kissed her back.”
He could have said I misunderstood.
Could have blamed shock.
Could have told me it meant nothing.
Instead:
“Yes.”
My throat tightened.
“For one second,” he said. “And there is no version of that sentence that makes it acceptable.”
I stared out Mara’s window.
Rain slid down the glass.
“I trusted you for fifteen years.”
“I know.”
“She was in our house because I agreed to protect her.”
“I know.”
“I opened my home to a woman you once loved.”
“I know.”
“And you made me look stupid.”
His voice became rough.
“Yes.”
That single word hurt more than an argument.
I whispered, “Why?”
“I don’t have a reason good enough to give you.”
For the first time since leaving, I cried.
Silently.
I hated him for not defending himself.
I loved him for finally not trying.
Then he said:
“Claire, whatever happens to our marriage, you are in danger because of something my father left behind.”
“Continuity.”
He went silent.
“You know?”
“Carlo gave me an envelope.”
“Do you have it?”
“No. They took it.”
I heard Adrian curse softly.
“What is Continuity?”
“A sealed archive. I think Marco needs your voice to open it.”
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
A sound came from the hallway outside Mara’s condo.
A soft scrape.
Then another.
I stopped breathing.
Adrian heard the silence.
“What?”
I walked toward the door.
“Mara?”
She appeared from the bedroom.
Another sound.
The deadbolt shifted.
Someone had a key.
Adrian’s voice changed instantly.
“Claire, get away from the door.”
It opened.
A man entered wearing the black-and-gold pin used by Adrian’s private security.
Another came behind him.
“Mrs. Bellandi.”
I backed away.
The first man smiled.
“Marco says we only need your voice.”
I dropped the phone.
Then the lights went out.
But this time, darkness helped me.
Because I knew something Marco’s men did not.
Mara’s condo had a second exit through the laundry room.
We ran.
Behind me, one of the men shouted:
“Don’t hurt her!”
Then another voice answered:
May you like
“We can’t. The archive won’t open if she’s dead.”
For the first time, I knew exactly why they wanted me alive.
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