Chapter 2 - THE DEAD WIFE'S MESSAGE
I learned that night that Adrian Vale had once been married.
I also learned that his wife’s death had destroyed something inside him.
Her name was Evelyn.
She died three years earlier when her car went through a guardrail outside Lake Forest.
The official report called it an accident.
Adrian had believed that until the silver mask appeared.
“I didn’t write that,” I said.
Adrian stared at the photograph.
“I know.”
“How?”
“You look too terrified to lie well.”
“That’s insulting.”
“It’s accurate.”
The bodyguard returned with Marcus.
Marcus looked pale.
“Boss.”
Adrian held up the mask.
“Where did this come from?”
Marcus swallowed.
“The entertainment closet.”
“Who put it there?”
“I don’t know.”
“Find out.”
“I will.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“Tonight.”
Marcus left quickly.
I stood.
“So are we done?”
“No.”
“I think we are.”
“You’re connected to this.”
“I’ve been here forty minutes.”
“Exactly.”
“That makes no sense.”
“No one knew I would be here tonight except twelve people.”
My stomach tightened.
“So?”
“Someone arranged for that mask to reach the stage.”
“And somehow knew I’d wear it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Adrian looked at me.
“That’s the part I don’t like.”
I laughed nervously.
“I don’t like any of this.”
The bodyguard approached.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“We checked the security feed.”
“And?”
“There’s a gap.”
“How long?”
“Fourteen minutes.”
“When?”
“Right before Ms. Hart changed.”
I felt cold.
Someone had been backstage.
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Who has access?”
“Staff. Security. Management.”
“Find the breach.”
The bodyguard nodded.
I crossed my arms.
“Can I go home?”
Adrian looked at me.
“Where do you live?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It became my business when someone used you to send me a message.”
“No. It became your problem.”
He almost smiled again.
“Lila.”
“No.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Do you always argue like this?”
“Only when strange men start taking over my evening.”
“You walked into my nightclub.”
“For five hundred dollars.”
His gaze sharpened.
“Why do you need five hundred dollars?”
I looked away.
“I’m not discussing my finances with a mafia boss.”
One eyebrow lifted.
“So you do know what I am.”
“Everyone suddenly became very educational.”
Adrian studied me.
Then he reached into his jacket.
I tensed.
He removed an envelope.
Cash.
He placed it on the table.
“Five thousand.”
I stared.
“What?”
“Go home. Lock your door. Stay there tomorrow.”
“I’m not taking that.”
“It isn’t charity.”
“What is it?”
“Payment for inconvenience.”
“You’re extremely inconvenient.”
“Keep talking and I’ll make it ten.”
I almost laughed.
Then my phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A message appeared.
DON’T TAKE HIS MONEY.
My blood ran cold.
Another message followed.
EVELYN DID.
I looked up.
Adrian saw my face.
“What?”
I handed him the phone.
He read it.
Then a photograph arrived.
My apartment building.
Taken from across the street.
Tonight.
Below it:
YOUR ROOMMATE DIDN’T STEAL THE RENT.
I stopped breathing.
Adrian looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
I shook my head.
“I don’t know.”
Then another message appeared.
KENZIE TOOK IT BECAUSE SOMEONE PAID HER.
A final photograph loaded.
Kenzie.
My missing roommate.
May you like
Standing beside a man outside a hotel.
The man was Adrian’s bodyguard.
