Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Inside the Valente House
Elena survived.
The bullet had grazed her shoulder.
The doctor removed it before sunrise.
Adrien never left the hospital room.
Neither did Amelia.
She sat in the hallway while guards occupied every entrance.
At dawn, Victor Valente arrived.
He walked into the hospital with an expression of concern.
"Adrien."
Adrien stood.
"You shouldn't be here."
Victor looked offended.
"I heard Elena was alive."
"You knew."
Victor blinked.
"Knew what?"
"That she survived."
"I don't know what you're accusing me of."
Adrien stepped closer.
"I am accusing you of lying to me for five years."
Victor's face hardened.
"You have lost your mind."
"No."
Adrien's voice was calm.
"I've finally found it."
Victor stared at him.
Then at Amelia.
"She is dangerous."
Adrien's eyes darkened.
"Explain."
"Your father trusted too easily."
"And you think I do?"
Victor smiled.
"Look at the woman standing behind you."
Adrien turned.
Amelia stood motionless.
Victor continued.
"Ask her why her mother disappeared."
Amelia's heart stopped.
Adrien looked at her.
"What?"
"My mother?"
Victor smiled.
"Ask her what happened eleven years ago."
Amelia felt sick.
Her mother had disappeared when Amelia was eighteen.
She had been told her mother died in a car accident abroad.
But there had never been a body.
Never a funeral.
Only silence.
Victor walked away.
Adrien followed.
"You don't walk out."
Victor stopped.
"Not yet."
He looked back.
"I suggest you ask Amelia where she thinks her mother really is."
Then he left.
Amelia barely breathed.
Adrien returned to her.
"Tell me."
"I don't know."
"You believe your mother is dead?"
"I was told she was."
"By whom?"
"My father."
"Is he alive?"
"No."
Adrien studied her.
"We're going to find out."
Hours later, old records revealed something horrifying.
Amelia's mother had worked for the Valente Foundation.
Not as an employee.
As a financial auditor.
Eleven years earlier, she had discovered irregularities in accounts connected to Victor.
Then she disappeared.
The official report described it as voluntary relocation.
But no passport record existed.
No bank activity.
No international travel.
Nothing.
She had vanished.
That evening, Elena woke.
Adrien entered the room.
Amelia followed.
Elena looked at her.
"Your mother is alive."
Amelia stopped.
"What?"
Elena nodded weakly.
"Her name is Claire Carter."
Amelia's eyes filled.
"You know where she is?"
"I knew."
"Past tense?"
Elena swallowed.
"Victor moved her."
"Where?"
"Somewhere nobody would connect to him."
Adrien's voice was cold.
"Tell me."
Elena shook her head.
"I don't know the location."
"Then who does?"
Elena looked at Amelia.
"Your mother left a message for you."
"What message?"
"I never saw it."
"Where is it?"
"In the ledger."
Adrien went still.
"The ledger."
Elena nodded.
"It doesn't just contain names. It contains instructions."
The hunt began.
For three days, Adrien and Amelia worked through the archive.
The attraction between them grew despite both trying to ignore it.
He brought her coffee before she asked.
She fixed his tie without thinking.
He touched her wrist when she was nervous.
She started noticing the small things.
The way he softened around elderly staff.
The way he hated hospitals.
The way he always stood between her and an open doorway.
On the fourth night, Amelia found an envelope.
Her name was written across it.
Her hands shook.
Adrien stood behind her.
"Open it."
She did.
Inside was a photograph.
Her mother.
Alive.
Older.
Standing beside a man Amelia didn't recognize.
On the back was one sentence.
"He is the reason I disappeared."
Adrien looked at the photograph.
His face turned cold.
Because he recognized the man.
It was Victor's former lawyer.
A man believed dead for nine years.
"Who is he?" Amelia whispered.
May you like
Adrien answered.
"Your father."
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