Chapter 3 - The Photograph Hidden in the Safe
The answer came two days later.
The roads finally reopened.
But Adrien did not let Madison leave.
“You need another medical check before traveling.”
“I can go to a hospital.”
“You can.”
“Then let me.”
“No.”
Madison crossed her arms.
“You don’t get to decide everything.”
Adrien stared at her.
“Not everything.”
“Just where I sleep, when I leave, who I see, and whether I’m allowed to enter my own car?”
His expression almost softened.
“You’re angry.”
“Of course I’m angry.”
“Good.”
She blinked.
“Good?”
“You should be.”
Madison did not understand him.
Then he placed a folder on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Connor.
Jess.
Daniel Vance.
And one final photograph.
A younger Adrien.
Beside him stood Daniel Vance.
Madison picked it up.
“Where was this taken?”
“Chicago.”
“When?”
“Ten years ago.”
She stared.
“Connor was there?”
“No.”
“Then why show me?”
Adrien tapped another photograph.
Connor standing outside a restaurant.
Beside him was Vivienne.
Madison’s blood ran cold.
“She knows him.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“We don't know yet.”
Adrien opened a second folder.
This one contained bank records.
Connor had received payments.
Small at first.
Then larger.
From shell companies.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Vance Holdings.
Madison sat down.
“I feel stupid.”
“You were deceived.”
“I lived with him.”
“You trusted him.”
“That sounds like the same thing.”
“No.”
Adrien’s voice became quieter.
“Trust is not stupidity.”
Madison looked at him.
For the first time, the walls around him seemed slightly thinner.
She noticed exhaustion beneath his eyes.
He had not slept much.
Neither had she.
“What happened to your scar?”
Adrien touched his chin absentmindedly.
“Someone tried to kill me.”
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
“Who?”
“Someone I trusted.”
Madison looked at him.
“Does that happen often?”
“With my family?”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
That evening, Madison wandered into the library.
She was looking for something to read when she noticed a locked cabinet.
A small brass key sat on a nearby desk.
She should have walked away.
Instead, she opened it.
Inside was a stack of old photographs.
The first showed Adrien and Lucia as children.
The second showed their parents.
The third stopped her breathing.
A woman stood beside Adrien’s mother.
Madison knew the woman.
Her own mother.
She dropped the photograph.
The sound echoed across the library.
Adrien entered seconds later.
“What happened?”
Madison picked up the photograph.
“What is my mother doing here?”
Adrien froze.
He took the photograph.
For the first time since Madison had met him, fear appeared openly on his face.
“I was afraid of this.”
“What does that mean?”
He sat down.
“Your mother and mine were friends.”
“For how long?”
“Since college.”
“My mother never mentioned your family.”
“Neither did mine.”
“Why?”
“Because they had a secret.”
Madison’s heartbeat accelerated.
“What secret?”
Adrien looked at the photograph.
“Years ago, before either family became what they are now, your mother discovered evidence of financial crimes involving several families.”
“Mine?”
“No.”
“Ours?”
“Connected to ours.”
Madison stared.
“She helped your mother hide it.”
Adrien nodded.
“She believed the evidence would be used to destroy innocent people.”
“So why was it hidden?”
“Because the people involved were powerful.”
Madison whispered:
“Were they responsible for my parents’ deaths?”
Adrien did not answer.
She knew immediately.
“You know.”
“We suspect.”
“You never told me.”
“We only discovered your identity recently.”
“My identity?”
Adrien leaned forward.
“Your mother was not just a schoolteacher, Madison.”
“What?”
“She worked as an investigator.”
“No.”
“She specialized in financial fraud.”
Madison shook her head.
“My father was an engineer.”
“He was.”
“But after hours, he worked with her.”
“On what?”
“The same investigation.”
Madison covered her mouth.
Her entire childhood felt like a story someone else had written.
“What happened?”
“They disappeared.”
“My parents died in a car accident.”
Adrien’s face hardened.
“That accident may not have been an accident.”
Madison stood too quickly.
The room spun.
Adrien caught her.
She pulled away.
“Don’t.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
“You keep telling me I’m not.”
He released her immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
Madison stared at him.
Then another memory surfaced.
Her mother.
A red metal box.
A sentence she used to repeat.
If anything happens to me, never trust the man with the silver watch.
Madison whispered:
“The silver watch.”
Adrien looked up.
“What?”
“My mother said something when I was young.”
“About what?”
“A man with a silver watch.”
Adrien went still.
“Who wore a silver watch?”
“I don’t know.”
He reached for his phone.
“Franco.”
The call connected.
“Check every current and former Mancini associate over fifty.”
“Anyone known for wearing a silver watch.”
Madison almost laughed from disbelief.
“You’re actually doing that?”
Adrien looked at her.
“Your mother may have left you a clue.”
Hours later, Franco returned.
“There’s one man.”
“Name?”
“Robert Hale.”
Madison gasped.
She knew that name.
Hale had been her father’s business partner.
The man who attended her parents’ funeral.
The man who had hugged her and promised she would never be alone.
Madison sat down.
“He was my godfather.”
Adrien’s expression became grim.
“Then we have a problem.”
Before anyone could say more, the estate alarms began screaming.
Gunfire cracked through the night.
Adrien grabbed Madison and pulled her behind the stone wall.
Lucia shouted orders.
Guards ran through the halls.
Another burst of gunfire.
Glass shattered.
Madison screamed.
Adrien shielded her with his body.
“Stay down.”
“Who are they?”
“People who want the case.”
A guard rushed inside.
“Boss!”
“What?”
“They’re at the south gate.”
Adrien reached for his weapon.
Then looked at Madison.
“Lock this door.”
“What?”
“Do it.”
“No.”
“Madison.”
“I’m not hiding while everyone else risks their lives.”
Adrien stared at her.
She expected an argument.
Instead he said quietly:
“That’s why I’m worried about you.”
He disappeared.
Madison looked at the locked cabinet.
Then at the photograph of her mother.
Something was wrong.
The attack felt too precise.
Too coordinated.
Someone knew where they were.
Someone knew Madison was there.
Someone had told the attackers where to find the case.
Her mind raced.
And then she remembered the one thing she had overlooked.
Connor knew she was alive.
And Connor knew where her car had crashed.
She pulled out her phone.
Twenty-three unread messages.
The latest had arrived three minutes ago.
I know where you are.
Madison’s blood froze.
Then another appeared.
May you like
I’m sorry about the baby.
I never meant for this to happen.
