Chapter 4 - The Safe House
Adrian took Lena to a house on the northern coast.
It wasn't a mansion.
That surprised her.
It was a quiet stone house facing the ocean.
No gates.
No giant driveway.
Just tall windows and a wooden porch.
"Safe house?" she asked.
"Yes."
"It looks normal."
"That's the idea."
She stepped inside.
There were bookshelves.
A kitchen.
A fireplace.
A guest room.
It felt warm.
Almost peaceful.
Adrian walked toward the hallway.
"You'll stay here tonight."
"You?"
"Nearby."
She looked at him.
"You're not staying?"
He shook his head.
"You should have privacy."
Lena stared.
She hadn't expected that.
"Thank you."
He nodded.
"There's a security system. Marco knows the code. Nobody gets inside without my approval."
She hesitated.
"What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Why are you doing all this?"
Adrian's expression became distant.
"Because your father once saved my life."
Lena blinked.
"What?"
"Thirteen years ago."
He sat in a chair near the fireplace.
"I was twenty-seven. I was reckless. My father was sick. My uncle was already maneuvering to control the company."
He paused.
"I was investigating financial records. Someone tried to kill me."
"Your father?"
"My uncle."
Lena sat across from him.
"What happened?"
"Your father warned me."
"How?"
"He called my father and told him I had discovered something I wasn't supposed to."
Adrian looked into the fire.
"They were going to bury me in a shipping yard and call it an accident."
Lena shivered.
"My father stopped them."
"Yes."
"And he died later."
"Yes."
She whispered:
"So you think his death wasn't an accident."
"I think it deserves another investigation."
That night they ate in silence.
Lena noticed Adrian didn't ask her personal questions.
Eventually she said, "I used to think I was stupid."
He looked at her.
"Ethan told me I was."
"You're not."
"You don't know me."
"I know enough."
She smiled faintly.
"You always answer like that?"
"When I mean it."
She looked down.
"I stayed with him because I thought if I was patient enough, he'd become the man he was before."
Adrian said nothing.
"I kept thinking the bad version was temporary."
She swallowed.
"Then one day I realized the bad version was the real one."
Adrian's hand tightened slightly.
"You don't have to explain him to me."
"I know."
"He's responsible for what he did."
Lena looked at him.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For saying that."
Later that night she woke from a nightmare.
The bedroom door opened slightly.
Adrian stood in the hallway.
He had heard her cry out.
"I heard you."
"I'm fine."
"No."
She stared at him.
"You don't have to be."
She wiped her face.
He didn't enter.
He waited.
"I used to hate sleeping."
"Because of him."
"Yes."
Adrian nodded.
Then he said:
"You can lock the door."
She stared.
"What?"
"From the inside."
Her throat tightened.
"You'll be outside?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"So you know someone is on the other side."
He closed the door.
Lena locked it.
For the first time in years, she slept without checking the room twice.
But at 3:40 a.m., Adrian received a call.
"Sir."
Marco's voice.
"We found something."
"What?"
"The ledger isn't complete."
Adrian sat upright.
"Explain."
"Page numbers jump from 114 to 129."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Where are the missing pages?"
"We don't know."
Adrian looked toward Lena's room.
Then his phone buzzed again.
A message.
A photograph.
Lena standing outside her elementary school.
Another photograph followed.
Ethan standing across the street.
Then a third.
Lena asleep in the safe house.
Adrian's blood went cold.
Someone had taken the photograph from outside the bedroom window.
He stood.
"Lock everything down."
Marco's voice changed.
"Sir, there's one more thing."
"What?"
"The photographer used an encrypted account registered to a company owned by Victor Moretti."
Adrian closed his eyes.
His uncle was still alive.
May you like
And he had found Lena.
The safe house had been compromised.
