Chapter 11 - MARISSA HAD NEVER BEEN ON ADRIEN’S SIDE
Marissa arrived at Bellamy Holdings at 3:12 Friday morning.
Alone.
No makeup.
No tears.
Elsie barely recognized her.
For the first time in twenty-four years, Marissa Parker looked like a woman who had stopped performing.
Roman searched her bag.
Marissa did not complain.
Then she placed Diane’s ring on the conference table.
Elsie stared at it.
“Why?”
Marissa sat across from her.
“Because Adrien was going to kill you after the wedding.”
Silence.
Elsie’s pulse pounded.
“He was never planning to stay married to you.”
“I know about the land.”
“That was part of it.”
“What was the rest?”
Marissa looked toward Roman.
“He wanted access to Bellamy.”
Roman’s face did not move.
Marissa explained.
For eleven months, Adrien ordered her to guide Elsie’s conversations.
Questions.
Schedules.
Names.
She obeyed because Adrien knew the truth about Teresa.
Marissa believed her biological mother was alive.
Adrien claimed he knew where she was.
“He lied,” Marissa whispered.
Elsie did not comfort her.
Not yet.
“The kiss?”
“My idea.”
That surprised everyone.
“I needed you to leave.”
“You could have told me.”
“He monitored my phone.”
“You could have written something.”
“He searched my room.”
“You could have trusted me.”
Marissa finally cried.
Real tears this time.
They came late.
After the words.
That was how Elsie knew.
“I spent my whole life watching Mom protect me from something nobody would explain,” Marissa said. “Then she died. Adrien found me at the funeral. He told me Teresa was alive and Diane had hidden her.”
“So you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
Elsie’s anger did not disappear.
But it changed shape.
“Why kiss him?”
“Because I knew you.”
That hurt.
“You knew if you betrayed me publicly, I would run instead of asking questions.”
“Yes.”
“And the ring mark?”
“Cheap copy. I wore it for a month.”
“Why?”
“So eventually you would notice.”
“You were leaving clues.”
“I was trying to do two things at once. Make Adrien believe I was helping him while pushing you toward Mom’s evidence.”
Roman leaned forward.
“Why not come to me?”
Marissa laughed bitterly.
“You’re Roman Bellamy.”
He seemed genuinely confused by this answer.
Elsie almost smiled despite herself.
Then Marissa removed a tiny black object from the lining of her purse.
The thing Adrien had placed in her palm outside the bridal suite.
A flash drive.
“I stole this from him.”
Roman’s expression changed.
“When?”
“Wedding morning.”
“What’s on it?”
“I don’t know. He almost caught me copying it, so I staged the kiss five minutes early.”
That explained why Adrien had looked so calm.
He thought the performance remained his plan.
Marissa handed the drive to Elsie.
“I’m sorry.”
Elsie did not say she forgave her.
Some wounds deserved more than one sentence.
Norah opened the drive on an isolated machine.
One folder.
FRIDAY.
Inside were diagrams of the tunnel.
Explosive placements.
Security rotations.
Then a video scheduled to upload automatically after the attack.
Adrien speaking directly to camera.
He accused Roman Bellamy of ordering the destruction of federal evidence.
Roman watched without expression.
Then Norah opened the final file.
A list titled ACCEPTABLE LOSSES.
Ninety-three names.
Dockworkers.
Agents.
Walter Parker.
Marissa Parker.
And Elsie Parker.
Adrien planned to kill every person who could connect him to the truth.
May you like
But Roman Bellamy’s name was not on the list.
Because Adrien had something much worse planned for him.
