Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN BEHIND THE LOCKED DOOR
Evelyn's blood ran cold.
Move her mother?
Celeste Belandi had supposedly disappeared two years earlier with twelve million dollars.
Adrien had spent millions searching for her.
Now someone inside the restaurant was talking as though she were still alive.
Evelyn turned toward him.
“Mr. Belandi, I need to tell you something.”
Before she could finish, Victor emerged from the kitchen.
“Miss Hart, you're needed downstairs.”
His smile was polite.
His eyes were not.
Evelyn stood slowly.
“My shift is almost over.”
“Then consider this your final assignment.”
Adrien stepped forward.
“She stays.”
Victor hesitated.
“Sir, the kitchen—”
“I said she stays.”
The manager's expression hardened.
Adrien lowered his voice.
“What are you hiding beneath this restaurant?”
Victor laughed nervously.
“Nothing.”
From behind Evelyn came a tiny voice.
“Bad man.”
Everyone froze.
Lily was pointing at Victor.
His face drained of color.
Evelyn immediately turned toward the child.
“You don't have to explain anything right now.”
But Lily continued staring at Victor.
Then Noah spoke.
“Blue door.”
Adrien grabbed the edge of the table.
His son's first words in two years.
Oliver reached for his brother's hand.
“Downstairs,” he whispered.
Three children.
Three voices.
And suddenly the secret everyone had buried was beginning to surface.
Victor backed toward the kitchen.
Adrien's security chief stepped in front of him.
“Don't move.”
Victor reached into his pocket.
The bodyguards reacted immediately.
But he wasn't holding a gun.
It was a small remote control.
He pressed a button.
Deep beneath the restaurant, a mechanical alarm began to sound.
Evelyn heard heavy locks clicking somewhere below the floor.
Victor smiled bitterly.
“You have no idea what you've just done.”
Adrien seized his wrist.
“Where is my wife?”
Victor said nothing.
Then Evelyn's phone vibrated.
An unknown number had sent her a photograph.
It showed a woman lying on a narrow bed inside a windowless room.
Her face was pale.
Her dark hair hung loosely around her shoulders.
Evelyn recognized her instantly from the photographs.
Celeste Belandi.
Beneath the picture was a message.
If you want her alive, get the children away from their father.
May you like
Then a second message appeared.
And don't tell Adrien what his brother did.
