Chapter 2 - The Name Buried in Blood
Chloe woke to the smell of coffee and rain.
For one confused second, she forgot where she was.
Then the memory came rushing back.
The alley.
The chase.
The black Audi.
The man in the mirror.
Adrian Vale.
She sat up too quickly.
Pain shot through her cheek.
“Easy.”
She turned.
A woman in her fifties stood near the window holding a tray.
She had silver hair pinned into a neat bun and wore a dark navy dress.
“My name is Mrs. Bennett,” she said. “Adrian’s housekeeper.”
Chloe looked around.
She was in a guest bedroom larger than the apartment she had shared with Tommy.
“I need to leave.”
Mrs. Bennett placed the tray down.
“You need breakfast first.”
“I can’t stay.”
“You have nowhere safe to go.”
Chloe went quiet.
Mrs. Bennett studied her.
“Mr. Vale has instructed security to remain outside the building until he determines what is happening.”
“Does he always kidnap frightened women?”
Mrs. Bennett almost smiled.
“No. Usually frightened men.”
Despite herself, Chloe let out a tiny laugh.
It disappeared immediately.
“Why is everyone so afraid of him?”
“Because they have good reason.”
The bedroom door opened.
Adrian walked in.
He had changed into a white shirt and black trousers. No tie. Sleeves rolled to his forearms.
He looked less like a crime lord and more like a man who had not slept.
“Leave us,” he said.
Mrs. Bennett nodded.
Adrian waited until the door closed.
“How much do you remember?”
“Everything.”
“Good.”
He placed a folder on the bed.
Chloe did not touch it.
“What is that?”
“Your life.”
“That’s impossible.”
“Open it.”
Inside were photographs.
Chloe at twenty-two.
Chloe at eighteen.
Her mother.
Her old apartment.
Tommy.
And then photographs Chloe had never seen.
A young woman standing beside an elegant man outside a mansion.
Marianne.
Chloe stared.
“That’s my mother.”
Adrian nodded.
“Before she disappeared.”
“My mother didn’t disappear. She died.”
“According to who?”
“The hospital.”
“Which hospital?”
Chloe gave the name.
Adrian opened another folder.
“Your mother never checked into that hospital under her legal name.”
Chloe stared at him.
“What?”
“The death certificate was fabricated.”
Her hands began to shake.
“No.”
“I had someone verify it.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“My mother died in front of me.”
Adrian's expression softened.
“I believe that you believe it.”
She looked up sharply.
“What does that mean?”
“It means someone may have made you witness something that was not what it seemed.”
Chloe remembered the night.
She had been seventeen.
Her mother had collapsed in their kitchen.
There had been blood.
An ambulance.
A doctor who barely looked at her.
Then the funeral.
A closed coffin.
No viewing.
She had spent years assuming grief had distorted her memory.
Now Adrian was telling her the entire thing had been staged.
“Why would anyone fake my mother’s death?”
Adrian opened a photograph.
A man stood beside Marianne.
Chloe’s breath stopped.
She knew him.
Not personally.
But she had seen his face.
“Daniel.”
“My father?”
Adrian nodded.
“Daniel Bell.”
Chloe stared.
The room seemed to tilt.
“You told me my father was dead.”
“He is.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I watched him die.”
The words landed like a gunshot.
Adrian continued.
“Fifteen years ago, Daniel Bell and my father were partners.”
“In what?”
“Everything.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Money. Shipping. Real estate. Protection.”
“And then?”
“A shipment disappeared.”
“Was it drugs?”
“No.”
“Money?”
“No.”
“What was it?”
Adrian stared at her.
“Names.”
She frowned.
“Names?”
“A ledger containing the identities of judges, police officers, politicians, businessmen, and organized crime figures who had accepted money from the network.”
Chloe felt cold.
“A black book.”
“Yes.”
“Was my father holding it?”
“He was supposed to be.”
“What happened?”
“My father was murdered.”
“And mine?”
“Also murdered.”
She stared at him.
“But you said you watched him die.”
“I watched the building explode.”
Chloe covered her mouth.
Adrian continued.
“I was twenty-two. My father had arranged to meet Daniel at a warehouse.”
“What happened?”
“Someone planted explosives.”
“And everyone thought the Bell family died.”
“They did.”
“Except me.”
Adrian nodded.
“You were hidden.”
“By my mother.”
“Most likely.”
Chloe looked down at the pendant.
“What is this?”
“The Bell mark.”
“Why do you have one like it?”
Adrian reached under his shirt and pulled out a thin chain.
A matching pendant hung from it.
Chloe stared.
“Why?”
“My father gave it to me.”
“When?”
“An hour before he died.”
He turned the pendant over.
There was an engraved number.
Chloe touched hers.
There was a number too.
Adrian’s expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“It was always there.”
“Your mother never explained?”
“No.”
He looked at the numbers.
“Seven and thirteen.”
“What do they mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You seem to know a lot.”
“Not enough.”
A knock came.
Luca entered.
“Boss, Mercer’s lawyer is downstairs.”
Adrian frowned.
“Why?”
“He claims he has a warrant.”
“From whom?”
“Judge Harrison.”
Adrian laughed once.
It was not amusement.
It was disbelief.
“Harrison owes Mercer money.”
Luca nodded.
“I know.”
Adrian looked at Chloe.
“He knows where you are.”
She went pale.
“We need to move.”
“Move where?”
“My private estate.”
“No.”
Chloe stood.
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
Adrian walked closer.
“You already did.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You still don’t.”
She slapped him.
The room went silent.
Luca took one involuntary step forward.
Adrian raised a hand.
“Leave.”
Luca hesitated.
“Now.”
He left.
Chloe’s breathing was fast.
Adrian touched his cheek.
“You hit hard.”
“I hate being ordered around.”
“So does every woman I have ever met.”
“Maybe stop ordering people around.”
He almost smiled.
“Maybe.”
Then every light in the penthouse went out.
Luca's voice shouted from the hall.
“Security breach!”
Glass shattered somewhere below.
Chloe screamed.
Adrian grabbed her and pulled her behind the stone wall.
Gunfire erupted.
He drew a pistol.
Chloe stared.
“You carry that everywhere?”
“Yes.”
“Of course you do.”
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Chloe.”
“I said no.”
He looked at her.
She was terrified, but something inside her had changed.
She was tired of hiding.
A bullet struck the wall.
Adrian pulled her lower.
“Someone came for you,” he said.
“I know.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
A second round of gunfire rang out.
Then silence.
Luca appeared.
“Clear.”
Adrian stood.
“Report.”
“Three intruders down. One escaped.”
“Any injuries?”
“Two guards.”
Luca looked at Chloe.
“She was the target.”
Adrian nodded.
“Take her downstairs.”
“No.”
Chloe stepped forward.
Adrian frowned.
“I’m done running without answers.”
He studied her.
Then nodded.
“All right.”
Downstairs, the evidence room was hidden behind a steel door.
Adrian opened it.
Inside were files.
Photos.
Maps.
Bank records.
And a huge wall covered in names.
At the center was one name circled in red.
Daniel Bell.
Below it was another.
Marianne Bell.
And beneath both was one word.
ALIVE?
Chloe stepped closer.
“There’s something written here.”
Adrian turned.
She pointed.
“Subject 13.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“Where?”
She traced a line beneath her mother’s name.
“It says, ‘Subject 13 remains unaware.’”
Adrian went still.
“What?”
Chloe looked at him.
“I think they were talking about me.”
Before either could react, the steel door slammed shut.
Luca shouted from outside.
“Boss!”
Then an explosion rocked the building.
Shelves crashed.
Glass shattered.
Adrian pulled Chloe into his arms and covered her with his body.
Smoke filled the room.
When the dust settled, a hidden panel had opened behind the wall.
Inside was a small safe.
Adrian stared at it.
Chloe whispered, “It was waiting for me.”
He nodded.
The safe required two numbers.
Adrian entered 7.
Nothing.
Chloe entered 13.
The lock clicked open.
Inside was an old cassette recorder.
And a photograph.
A teenage Chloe stood beside her mother.
On the back of the photograph were four words.
When she remembers, run.
Adrian pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Marianne’s voice whispered:
“Chloe, if you are hearing this, it means they failed to keep you asleep.”
Chloe stopped breathing.
Her mother continued.
“Do not trust Tommy Mercer.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Your mother knew him.”
“No.”
“She knew him.”
The recording crackled.
“And whatever happens, do not let Adrian Vale find the ledger.”
Chloe slowly turned toward him.
Adrian's expression was unreadable.
Marianne’s voice continued.
“Because Adrian’s family is not the enemy you think it is.”
A pause.
Then the final sentence.
“The man who betrayed us is the man Adrian calls his uncle.”
The recording stopped.
Neither spoke.
Luca entered through the smoke.
“Boss.”
Adrian looked up.
“What?”
“We have another problem.”
“What now?”
Luca swallowed.
“Your Uncle Vincent just called.”
May you like
Adrian’s face went cold.
“He says he has Chloe’s mother.”
