Chapter 4 - THE WOMAN MY MOTHER NEVER MENTIONED
My mother had known Elena Cross.
She had never told me.
Not once.
We reached the old wine cellar as smoke alarms screamed above us.
The hidden staircase opened behind a rack of dusty bottles.
Adrian sank onto a wooden bench.
His fever was worsening.
I forced myself to focus on keeping him stable.
But the photograph sat inside my pocket like a burning secret.
When the smoke no longer seemed to be spreading into the cellar, I showed it to him again.
“Tell me.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I knew Diane.”
My throat tightened.
“You knew my mother?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She worked as a private nurse.”
I stared.
Before illness forced Mom to stop, she had indeed been a nurse.
But she'd always told me she'd worked mostly in home health.
Adrian continued.
“Elena hired her.”
“For what?”
His jaw tightened.
“After the first threat.”
I sat across from him.
“What threat?”
“Elena discovered financial records connected to my family. She wanted to turn them over to federal investigators.”
My stomach dropped.
“You were mafia.”
“I still am associated with that world.”
“At least you're honest.”
He gave a tired, bitter smile.
“Elena wanted me out.”
“And did you agree?”
“No.”
The answer came immediately.
Painfully.
I stared.
Adrian looked toward the floor.
“I told her she didn’t understand what leaving would cost.”
His voice cracked.
“She told me staying would cost more.”
Neither of us spoke.
Then he continued.
“Diane was hired because Elena became frightened. She was having panic attacks. Trouble sleeping. She thought someone was following her.”
I gripped the photograph.
“Did Mom know she was in danger?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she never tell me?”
Adrian’s expression softened.
“Because Elena asked her to keep you out of it.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone seems very comfortable deciding what I should know.”
“You’re right.”
I looked up.
Again, he didn't argue.
That made it harder to stay angry.
Adrian took a slow breath.
“The night Elena died, Diane was supposed to meet her here.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To take Elena somewhere safe.”
My stomach tightened.
“But she didn't?”
“She arrived late.”
His voice broke.
“By then Elena was gone.”
I stared.
“The kidnapping?”
Adrian nodded.
“Diane found something near the gate.”
“What?”
“A syringe.”
The puncture mark on Adrian’s leg flashed through my mind.
The unlabeled vial.
Marcus.
I swallowed.
“Was Elena injected too?”
Adrian looked toward the toxicology report I'd found.
“That’s what Diane believed.”
My hands went cold.
“What happened to the syringe?”
“She gave it to someone she trusted.”
“Who?”
Adrian hesitated.
Then whispered, “Marcus Vale.”
I stood so quickly the chair scraped across the stone.
“Your security chief?”
“Yes.”
“He had evidence in Elena's death?”
“Yes.”
“And you still kept him beside you for twelve years?”
Adrian’s face twisted.
“Because he told me the syringe showed nothing useful.”
I stared.
“You believed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His eyes lifted to mine.
“Because Marcus was Elena's brother.”
My breath stopped.
The man who had poisoned Adrian.
The man who mentioned my mother.
The man who had protected the estate for fifteen years.
Elena Cross’s brother.
Then Adrian reached for the envelope from the hidden drawer.
“Open it.”
My hands shook as I broke the seal.
Inside was a letter in Elena’s handwriting.
The first line read:
Adrian, if Marcus tells you I betrayed you, he is lying.
I looked up.
Adrian had stopped breathing.
May you like
Then I read the next sentence.
My brother is working with yours.
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