Chapter 5 - The Woman Named Jess
Jess appeared at the estate the next morning.
She arrived alone.
No guards.
No disguise.
She walked through the front gate holding an envelope.
“I want to see Madison.”
Adrien stepped outside.
“You're Jess.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because Connor won't tell her the truth.”
Madison came to the doorway.
“Let her in.”
Adrien hesitated.
Then stepped aside.
Jess entered.
Up close, she looked less like the glamorous woman Madison had imagined from Connor's messages.
She looked exhausted.
Afraid.
“How long?”
Madison asked.
Jess stared.
“What?”
“How long were you with Connor?”
“Four months.”
Madison laughed softly.
“Four months.”
Jess lowered her eyes.
“I didn't know about you.”
Madison’s anger flared.
“He told me you were his fiancée.”
Jess shook her head.
“He told me you were his ex.”
Silence.
Madison stared.
“He said you were dangerous.”
“Dangerous?”
“He said you had access to documents.”
Madison's stomach twisted.
“And you believed him.”
“Yes.”
Jess handed her the envelope.
Inside were photographs of Connor meeting Hale.
Bank transfers.
Messages.
And one photograph of Connor watching Madison's apartment from a parked car.
Madison's hands trembled.
“When was this?”
“Three months ago.”
“He was already spying on me.”
“Yes.”
“Why bring this to me?”
“Because I found out what he was really doing.”
Jess sat down.
“I tried to leave.”
“Hale threatened my brother.”
Madison looked at her.
“He has a talent for making people obey.”
Adrien asked:
“Where is Connor?”
Jess looked toward him.
“Missing.”
“He disappeared last night.”
“Did Hale take him?”
“I think so.”
That changed everything.
Adrien immediately ordered a search.
Madison asked Jess:
“Why help me now?”
Jess looked ashamed.
“Because I'm pregnant too.”
The room went silent.
Madison stared.
“You and Connor?”
“Yes.”
Jess placed a hand over her stomach.
“I'm ten weeks.”
Madison's face softened despite herself.
“What did he say?”
“That he would leave you.”
Madison looked away.
Jess continued.
“Then when I found out about your pregnancy, he told me you were lying.”
“He told you I wasn't pregnant?”
“He told me you'd stolen money from him.”
Madison almost laughed.
“Of course he did.”
Adrien's phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“We found the car.”
“Where?”
“Thirty miles east.”
Adrien looked at Madison.
“Connor's vehicle.”
They drove.
The vehicle was abandoned beside an old warehouse.
Inside they found Connor's phone.
Blood on the driver's seat.
No body.
But there was a piece of paper taped to the dashboard.
Madison.
Adrien pulled it free.
Three words.
Bring her alone.
Madison shook her head.
“No.”
Adrien folded the note.
“Correct.”
“You aren't taking me anywhere.”
“I wasn't planning to.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because Hale knows your weakness.”
“What weakness?”
Adrien answered:
“Your instinct to save everyone.”
Madison stared at him.
“You think I'll go.”
“I think you'd risk yourself to save Connor.”
“No.”
“Even after everything?”
Madison hesitated.
“I wouldn't save him.”
“Then what?”
“I'd save anyone else he trapped.”
Adrien studied her.
Something changed in his eyes.
Respect.
That afternoon, he brought her into his private office.
On the desk sat another object.
A small silver watch.
Madison froze.
“Where did you get that?”
“It belonged to Robert Hale.”
“Then he's the man my mother warned me about.”
Adrien nodded.
“There’s something else.”
He opened the watch.
A tiny photograph was hidden inside.
Madison recognized the handwriting.
Her mother's.
She read the message:
The ledger is not in a box.
It is in blood.
Madison looked confused.
“What does that mean?”
Adrien stared at her.
Then at the pregnancy.
Madison’s heart dropped.
“No.”
“We don't know.”
“My baby isn't a hiding place.”
“No.”
“Tell me.”
Adrien's voice stayed calm.
“We need a geneticist.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother may have encoded something into the only thing she knew Hale could never force you to surrender.”
Madison's face went pale.
“You mean my child.”
“I mean your blood.”
The next morning, DNA testing began.
The results shocked everyone.
The child was genetically connected to a family member Hale had spent years searching for.
Not Hale.
Not Connor.
But another man.
Adrien.
The room went silent.
Madison stared at the report.
“No.”
Adrien did not move.
“That can't be possible.”
He looked at the doctor.
“Run it again.”
It was run twice.
Same result.
The child was biologically connected to Adrien's family.
Madison's voice broke.
“Connor wasn't the father.”
Everyone understood.
Connor's accusation had been more than an insult.
It had been a cover.
Someone had known the truth.
But if Connor wasn't the father, then who was?
May you like
Madison looked at Adrien.
And realized there was one impossible answer.
