Chapter 2 - Silas Called Me a Liar the Next Morning, So Lorenzo Put the Gala Footage on a Wall-Sized ScreenThe next morning, I woke in a room I didn't recognize.
For several seconds, I panicked.
Then I remembered.
Lorenzo.
The gala.
The hospital.
I sat up.
My ribs protested.
A woman entered carrying breakfast.
“Good morning.”
“Where am I?”
“Mr. Moretti's guest residence.”
I stared at her.
“You're safe.”
The word made me uncomfortable.
Safe.
It was something I hadn't trusted in years.
She set the tray down.
“Eat.”
“I don't have money.”
She smiled.
“Breakfast isn't charged separately.”
Despite everything, I laughed.
It sounded strange.
Rusty.
Like I hadn't used the muscles in years.
The door opened.
Lorenzo walked in.
Black shirt.
No jacket.
No tie.
He looked less like a king and more like a man.
Except for the eyes.
Those were the same.
“Morning.”
“Morning.”
“Your doctor cleared you to leave the clinic.”
I frowned.
“I have to work.”
“No.”
“I need the money.”
“No.”
“You can't tell me I can't work.”
He looked at me.
“I can tell you you need to heal.”
“You're not my husband.”
“No.”
“Then don't order me around.”
He smiled.
“Fair.”
That surprised me.
He pulled up a chair.
“Then let me ask.”
“Okay.”
“Will you stay here until you're medically stable?”
I hesitated.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
He slid a phone across the table.
“Your old one is compromised.”
“What?”
“Your fiancé had access.”
My stomach tightened.
“He tracked me.”
“He tried.”
“Did you find a tracker?”
“Three.”
I stared.
Three.
Lorenzo continued.
“One in your purse.”
“One in your car.”
“One inside your motel room.”
I felt nauseous.
“He knew where I was.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't the police help?”
Lorenzo looked at me.
“Because you never reported him.”
I swallowed.
“I thought no one would believe me.”
He studied me.
“Did he threaten you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hit you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever use the badge to scare you?”
“Yes.”
“Did he ever make you believe you would be arrested if you left?”
I nodded.
Lorenzo didn't react.
That somehow felt worse.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“You're angry.”
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“At him?”
“Yes.”
He leaned back.
“I have spent a long time around men who think fear is ownership.”
I looked at him.
“What happens to those men?”
“They eventually meet someone who isn't afraid.”
I didn't ask what happened after that.
I didn't need to.
My phone began ringing.
The new one.
Silas.
I stared at the screen.
Lorenzo didn't tell me what to do.
He simply asked:
“Do you want to answer?”
“No.”
“Then don't.”
The call stopped.
Two minutes later, another.
Then another.
Then a message.
COME HOME.
I deleted it.
Then came another.
YOU BELONG TO ME.
My hand shook.
Lorenzo saw the screen.
“Block him.”
I did.
That afternoon, Daniel Reed, Lorenzo's attorney, arrived.
He had a gray suit and the calm expression of a man who had spent his career walking into rooms full of angry people.
“We have the gala footage.”
I stared.
“All of it?”
“Multiple angles.”
Lorenzo nodded.
Daniel connected a laptop.
The screen showed the ballroom.
My collapse.
Lorenzo catching me.
Silas approaching.
Every word.
Every movement.
Every witness.
Then Daniel showed another angle.
A camera from the hallway.
Silas before he entered the ballroom.
He was talking to another detective.
“I need her humiliated.”
The detective laughed.
“She'll go back.”
Silas answered:
“She always does.”
I felt cold.
Then the conversation continued.
“If she doesn't?”
Silas smiled.
“Then we make sure nobody believes her.”
Daniel paused the video.
I looked at Lorenzo.
“Who was the other detective?”
He didn't answer.
Daniel did.
“Captain Raymond Vane.”
My stomach dropped.
“Silas's father.”
“Yes.”
“The police commissioner?”
“Yes.”
I stared at the screen.
Silas's family controlled half the department.
That explained everything.
The protection.
The fear.
The silence.
The reason complaints vanished.
Lorenzo continued.
“There is more.”
He played another clip.
Silas entering a private office with a judge.
The audio was clear.
“Once the foundation signs, the property changes hands.”
The judge said:
“And the girl?”
Silas answered:
“She'll be out of the way.”
I froze.
“What foundation?”
Daniel looked at me.
“That is what we're investigating.”
Then another clip.
Silas speaking to a businessman.
“My fiancée owns the Mercer land.”
I looked at them.
“What Mercer land?”
Lorenzo turned toward me.
“Tell me about your father.”
I hesitated.
“My father died when I was fourteen.”
“How?”
“Car accident.”
Daniel exchanged a look with Lorenzo.
“What?”
Daniel leaned forward.
“Your father's accident wasn't random.”
I stared.
He slid a document across the table.
My father's death had been investigated twice.
Once by local police.
Once privately.
The second investigation had never been completed.
But one witness had disappeared.
“What does this have to do with Silas?”
Lorenzo answered.
“Everything.”
He showed me property records.
My father's land surrounded a planned development worth hundreds of millions.
The Vane family had been trying to acquire it for years.
My father refused.
He died.
The land passed into a trust.
A trust that would become active when I turned twenty-five.
I was twenty-five.
That was why Silas had pushed for marriage.
Not just because he wanted control over me.
Because he needed the property.
I stared at him.
“He didn't love me.”
Lorenzo's eyes softened.
“I don't think he knew how.”
The words hurt.
But strangely, they also freed me.
I had spent years wondering what was wrong with me.
Why I wasn't enough.
Why he needed to hurt me.
Now I knew.
It had never been about me.
It had been about what he wanted.
The door opened.
One of Lorenzo's men entered.
“Boss.”
Lorenzo looked up.
“We found the first witness.”
“Who?”
The man handed him a photograph.
A mechanic.
The mechanic who had inspected my father's car before the crash.
He was alive.
And he wanted to talk.
Lorenzo looked at me.
“Are you ready to find out what really happened?”
I looked at the photograph.
My father's face wasn't visible.
But I could almost hear his voice.
Run when you need to.
Don't stay where fear lives.
I nodded.
“Yes.”
May you like
Lorenzo stood.
“Then we're going to find the truth.”
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