Chapter 4 - The Room Beneath the West Wing
The room had always bothered me.
Not because it was locked.
Because Adrian had never explained why.
The old west-wing library was part of the original structure of the estate. It had been sealed long before we married. Adrian told me the foundation was unstable and renovations were too expensive.
I believed him.
Now Daniel was telling me the room was the center of Project Echo.
“There’s an underground entrance,” he said.
“Where?”
“Under the chapel.”
I almost laughed.
“Our estate doesn’t have a chapel.”
Elena looked at me.
“It used to.”
That sentence carried me back seventeen years.
My father’s funeral.
The Bellandi family had been there.
Adrian had stood six feet away from me, silent.
I remembered him taking my hand when everyone else had gone.
I remembered crying into his suit.
I remembered him saying, “You’re not alone.”
At the time, I had thought it was sympathy.
Maybe it had been a promise.
We returned toward Chicago in a different vehicle.
Daniel drove.
Elena sat in front.
I stayed in the back, watching the skyline approach.
I should have been thinking about Adrian.
Instead, I kept thinking about my father.
What kind of man hides a weapon inside the home of the family he suspects of killing him?
And why would he make me the key?
When we reached the estate, the security perimeter had doubled.
Police vehicles were visible beyond the gates.
Adrian had apparently called authorities.
That surprised me.
He avoided them whenever possible.
That meant he was desperate.
Daniel parked near a wooded service road.
“We go in from the rear.”
Elena touched my arm.
“Claire.”
I looked at her.
“I need you to understand something.”
“What?”
“Adrian did not kiss me because he wanted me.”
I said nothing.
“He kissed me because the man watching us believed I still had power over him.”
I looked away.
“Maybe.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“You know Adrian. You know his eyes. You know when he lies.”
I remembered the kiss.
The arm around her waist.
The way his shoulders had remained rigid.
The look in his eyes.
Not desire.
Fear.
I hated myself for remembering that.
We entered through an old tunnel beneath the greenhouse.
The tunnel led beneath the estate.
At the end was a wall.
Daniel touched the stonework.
A hidden mechanism clicked.
The wall opened.
Beyond it was a staircase.
We descended.
The air became colder.
At the bottom was a steel door.
Daniel entered a code.
Wrong.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Elena whispered:
“Claire.”
I stepped forward.
“What?”
“Touch it.”
I stared.
“You said it was DNA.”
She nodded.
I placed my hand against the scanner.
A red light appeared.
Then green.
The door unlocked.
My heart pounded.
Inside was a room filled with shelves.
Documents.
Hard drives.
Photographs.
Boxes.
And on the center table, an old cassette recorder.
My father’s handwriting covered the label.
FOR CLAIRE.
I pressed play.
His voice filled the room.
“Claire, if you are hearing this, then I failed to tell you the truth.”
I stopped breathing.
“I did not trust the police. I did not trust the Bellandis. I did not trust my own associates. The only person I trusted was Adrian.”
I looked at Elena.
She covered her mouth.
My father continued.
“Adrian is not innocent. He was raised by men who taught him power was more important than love. But he is not his father.”
My eyes filled.
“He will lie to you. He will hide things. He will make decisions you hate. But if the day comes when he tells you to run, run.”
The tape crackled.
“Because if Adrian Bellandi tells you to leave him, it means the enemy has reached him.”
The recording ended.
I stood frozen.
“He knew,” I whispered.
Daniel nodded.
“About what?”
“About the possibility that Adrian would one day have to betray her to save her.”
Elena’s eyes filled with tears.
“There’s more.”
She pointed toward a locked drawer.
Inside we found a file.
The first page showed names.
Adrian Bellandi.
Elena Russo.
Claire Bellandi.
Marcus Bellandi.
Then one name that made everyone silent.
Vincent Hale.
Alive.
I stared.
“He survived.”
Daniel nodded.
“And he is the person controlling the operation now.”
A sudden sound came from above.
Footsteps.
We turned.
The hidden door slammed shut.
Someone had found us.
Daniel reached for his weapon.
Elena grabbed my hand.
Then a voice echoed through the tunnel.
“Claire.”
I knew that voice.
My husband.
Adrian.
He had found us.
“Claire, listen to me.”
I walked toward the door.
He spoke again.
“Do not open it.”
I stopped.
“What?”
“Because he is with you.”
A silence followed.
Then the door behind us opened.
Not from Adrian’s side.
From inside the room.
A man stepped through another hidden passage.
Dark coat.
Scarred face.
Vincent Hale.
He smiled.
“Good.”
He looked directly at me.
“You finally found the room.”
I backed away.
Adrian shouted from outside.
“CLAIRE, GET DOWN!”
Gunfire erupted.
The bullet struck the steel door.
Daniel pulled me to the floor.
Elena screamed.
And in the chaos, Vincent grabbed the old cassette recorder.
“You should have stayed in the dark,” he said.
Then he ran through the second passage.
Daniel chased him.
I followed.
Behind us, Adrian broke through the outer door.
He saw me.
For one second, neither of us moved.
I could feel everything between us.
Fifteen years.
One kiss.
One ring.
A thousand lies.
He stepped toward me.
“Claire.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t.”
His face tightened.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I thought you chose her.”
“I chose you.”
“Then why did you kiss her?”
“Because she asked me to.”
“Why?”
He looked at the blood on the floor.
“Because Vincent wanted me to.”
I stared.
Adrian took another step.
“Now you know why I lied.”
I wanted to believe him.
More than anything.
But somewhere in the darkness, Vincent Hale was carrying the last piece of my father’s secret.
May you like
And the danger was no longer approaching us.
It was already inside our marriage.
