Chapter 2 - The Night Elena Disappeared
Eight months earlier, Elena Cruz had believed losing Adrian would be the hardest thing she would ever survive.
She had been wrong.
The hardest thing was realizing that she might have to raise his child while teaching herself to hate him.
The morning she discovered she was pregnant had started like every other Tuesday.
Rain against the bookstore windows.
A broken heater.
Maya Torres complaining about inventory.
And Elena trying to make a delivery driver understand that Jefferson Elementary had not ordered four copies of a book they had already purchased.
At 11:43 a.m., Elena finally hung up.
Maya walked toward her with a paper cup.
“Coffee.”
Elena smiled.
“I love you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Elena took one sip.
Her stomach revolted.
She barely made it to the bathroom.
Maya found her ten minutes later sitting on the floor.
“Elena?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine.”
“I think the coffee went bad.”
Maya stared at the coffee.
“It’s from a new place.”
“Elena.”
“I’m fine.”
Maya folded her arms.
“Take a test.”
Elena stared at her.
“No.”
“You’re three weeks late.”
“I've been stressed.”
“You’ve been in love with Adrian Moretti for six months. You haven't been stressed. You’ve been glowing.”
Elena looked away.
The test was positive.
She took another.
Positive.
A third.
Positive.
She sat on the bathroom floor and cried.
Not because she was unhappy.
Because she had never been so happy.
She placed one hand over her stomach.
“Hi.”
A ridiculous word.
A beautiful one.
“Your dad is going to lose his mind.”
She smiled.
Then her phone rang.
Adrian.
She answered immediately.
“Hi.”
His silence was strange.
“What happened?”
“Where are you?”
“At the store.”
“Stay there.”
The fear in his voice erased her smile.
“Elena, lock the front door.”
“What?”
“Do it.”
She moved toward the entrance.
“Adrian, what’s happening?”
“Now.”
She locked the door.
Maya appeared behind her.
Adrian spoke again.
“Don’t leave with anyone. I’m sending Marcus.”
“Why?”
“I’ll explain when I get there.”
“You're scaring me.”
“I know.”
Twenty minutes later, Adrian arrived.
He looked different.
Not angry.
Not stressed.
Furious.
He walked into the bookstore and locked the door behind him.
Maya disappeared upstairs without being asked.
Elena walked toward him.
“I’m pregnant.”
Adrian froze.
Her heart broke a little because she had imagined this moment differently.
She had imagined him laughing.
Maybe lifting her off the ground.
Instead, he looked like he had been shot.
“What?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“How far?”
“About five weeks.”
He stared at her.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“What?”
A voice spoke.
Elena couldn’t hear the words.
But she saw Adrian’s expression change.
His face went pale.
He turned away from her.
“Who?”
A pause.
Then he whispered, “No.”
He hung up.
“Adrian?”
He looked at Elena.
For one terrible second, she thought he was going to tell her he was happy.
Instead he said, “You have to leave.”
Her smile disappeared.
“What?”
“Philadelphia.”
“Why?”
“Tonight.”
“Adrian, what is going on?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Then tell me something.”
“I can't.”
“You said you loved me.”
“I do.”
The words were almost violent.
“Then look at me and tell me why you're sending me away.”
Adrian did.
His eyes were full of something she couldn't identify.
Fear, perhaps.
Or shame.
“I need you gone,” he said.
Elena stepped back.
“Gone where?”
“Anywhere.”
“You’re serious.”
“Yes.”
“Because I’m pregnant?”
His face tightened.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“I can’t protect you here.”
“I didn’t ask you to protect me.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain!”
He couldn't.
Because the truth was that Dario Voss had spent six months quietly taking control of Moretti Logistics from inside.
He had bribed warehouse supervisors.
Redirected shipments.
Opened shell companies.
And arranged for two witnesses to disappear.
Adrian had discovered enough to know there was a mole.
But not enough to know the name.
The only thing he did know was that someone had started monitoring Elena.
A photograph of her entering the bookstore had been left on his desk.
Another showed her apartment.
A third showed Elena and Adrian holding hands.
On the back, someone had written:
Tell Moretti to choose what he can afford to lose.
Adrian had made the worst decision of his life.
He decided Elena would be safer if she hated him.
So he destroyed the one relationship he wanted to protect.
“You're leaving tonight,” he said.
Elena’s eyes filled.
“You don't get to decide that.”
“I just did.”
“Then we're done.”
Adrian flinched.
But he nodded.
“Yes.”
She stared at him.
“You’re not even going to fight for us?”
His throat moved.
“No.”
Elena slapped him.
The sound echoed through the empty bookstore.
Adrian didn't react.
She cried as she took off the silver chain he had given her and placed it on the counter.
“Keep it.”
He looked at it.
Then at her.
“I'll always love you.”
Elena laughed through her tears.
“You have a funny way of showing it.”
She left that night.
Adrian watched from a distance.
He sent Marcus after her.
He arranged for money to appear in an account she never opened.
He had guards quietly stationed around her new town.
But he never told her why.
Because by then, Dario had already found the first crack in his plan.
He knew Elena was pregnant.
Or suspected it.
And he knew exactly how to use that secret.
Months passed.
Elena gave birth plans without Adrian.
She chose a name.
Lucia.
She built a tiny nursery in a rented apartment above a bakery.
She started reading bedtime stories aloud.
And every time she heard a truck stop outside, she checked the window.
She hated that Adrian still lived inside her.
Then one morning, a package arrived at the bookstore.
No return address.
Inside was a ledger.
Elena recognized the Moretti Logistics code.
MLR-27B.
She should have called Adrian.
Instead, she opened it.
The first page showed dates.
The second showed shipments.
The third showed names.
And on the final page was a handwritten note.
You left him to protect yourself.
Soon he will discover you were never the one who needed protection.
Elena went cold.
She closed the book.
Then she realized the handwriting looked familiar.
Dario’s.
That was when she understood.
Adrian hadn't been the one sending the threats.
Someone had been using his name.
Someone inside his company.
Someone who knew exactly how to make Elena hate the man she still loved.
And eight months later, that same man had followed her to Mercy Ridge.
Now Elena was holding a newborn.
May you like
Adrian was standing in the hallway.
And the lies that had destroyed them were beginning to collapse.
