Chapter 2 - THE MAID'S SECRET
Adrian had survived three wars without being betrayed from inside his own home.
By sunrise, he no longer believed that statement.
He gathered the household staff in the dining room.
Twenty-one people.
Chefs.
Housekeepers.
Security personnel.
Drivers.
Gardeners.
Maintenance workers.
He looked at every face.
No one moved.
No one spoke.
“Someone has been entering the staff wing.”
Silence.
“Someone has been drugging one of my employees.”
No one reacted.
“Someone has threatened a child.”
A few eyes flickered.
Adrian noticed every one.
He dismissed everyone except the senior staff.
Then he turned to Marcus.
“Search the house.”
“For what?”
“Anything out of place.”
Marcus nodded.
They found cameras.
Three hidden cameras.
Two recording devices.
A small access card.
And a key.
The key opened the basement.
Adrian stared at it.
“That area is restricted.”
Marcus nodded.
“Exactly.”
They descended.
The basement had not been used in years.
Boxes.
Old furniture.
Wine bottles.
Records.
Adrian's father had stored everything he didn't want people to see there.
They found an old trunk.
Inside were letters.
Photographs.
A journal.
The journal belonged to Grace Moretti.
Adrian opened it.
The first pages described her marriage.
Her children.
Her concerns about Adrian's father.
Then the entries changed.
Someone had been stealing from the family.
Not money.
Documents.
Art.
Medical research.
Private contracts.
She suspected someone inside the organization.
Then she wrote one sentence.
Sarah Carter knows who.
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Sarah wasn't just a maid.”
“No.”
“She worked for my grandmother.”
Marcus nodded.
“She was a researcher.”
Adrian frowned.
“Researcher in what?”
“Medicine.”
Marcus turned another page.
A photograph.
Sarah Carter.
Young.
Standing beside Grace.
Adrian stared.
Behind them was a laboratory.
“What were they working on?”
Marcus found the answer in an old report.
A treatment for nerve degeneration.
Adrian thought about Emma's bruises.
Her mother's collapse.
Her exhaustion.
Then he realized something else.
Emma had been working at the estate for seven years.
She wasn't just a maid.
She had been placed there.
Or protected there.
They found a letter addressed to Grace.
My daughter has been threatened.
They know about the research.
I will hide the final formula.
Adrian read further.
The formula is not the dangerous part.
The child is.
He stopped.
“The child.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Emma?”
“Maybe.”
They returned upstairs.
Emma was awake.
Lily sat beside her.
Adrian entered.
“Your mother worked with my grandmother.”
Emma nodded.
“Yes.”
“On a medical project.”
“Yes.”
“Did you know?”
“My mother told me some things.”
“What kind?”
“She said she had to keep me safe.”
“From whom?”
“I don't know.”
“Why were you at my house?”
Emma's face tightened.
“She asked your grandmother to hide us.”
Adrian froze.
“When?”
“Before I was born.”
“So she knew my family.”
“Yes.”
“Why did she become a maid?”
“To stay close to the house.”
“For protection?”
Emma nodded.
“From who?”
Emma whispered,
“The people looking for the medicine.”
Adrian sat.
“What medicine?”
“The kind that can heal people.”
He stared.
“That sounds too simple.”
“It isn't.”
She reached beneath her mattress.
Pulled out a tiny metal box.
Inside was a note.
My dear Emma,
If you ever have to trust someone from the Moretti family, trust the man who protects Lily.
Adrian looked at the child.
“What does that mean?”
“My mother said there was another child.”
“What other child?”
Lily looked down.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“Wait.”
He turned to Emma.
“Where did Lily come from?”
Emma's eyes filled.
“She isn't my daughter.”
“I know.”
“She isn't related to me.”
“Then who is she?”
Emma whispered,
“Sarah was protecting her too.”
Adrian stared.
“From whom?”
“The same people.”
Lily hugged Bunny.
“She said I was important.”
“Why?”
Emma shook her head.
“She never told me.”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
“Get every record on Lily Bell.”
Marcus nodded.
“And call the pediatric specialist.”
Emma immediately protested.
“No.”
“Why?”
“They'll find her.”
“Who?”
Emma looked terrified.
“The doctors.”
That answer made Adrian even more suspicious.
He crouched beside Lily.
“What happened to your parents?”
She shook her head.
“My mommy is Emma.”
Adrian looked up.
Emma smiled sadly.
“She thinks I'm her mother.”
Adrian looked at the two girls.
The situation was more complicated than he thought.
Later, the specialist arrived.
Lily underwent a basic examination.
No major injuries.
But blood tests showed unusual markers.
The doctor looked confused.
“This is rare.”
“How rare?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian looked at Emma.
She knew something.
“What?”
“My mother said Lily's blood was why people were hunting us.”
“Why?”
“She has something they need.”
The doctor looked at the results again.
“Her immune response is unusual.”
Adrian remembered the old research.
Nerve degeneration.
Genetic markers.
Experimental treatment.
He realized what was happening.
Lily wasn't being protected because she was a witness.
She was being protected because she was the key to the research.
Someone had spent years trying to find her.
And now they knew where she was.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Careful.
Adrian stood.
“Everyone stay here.”
He opened the door.
No one.
Then the hallway lights flickered.
A shadow disappeared around the corner.
Adrian followed.
The corridor ended at the east staircase.
A man stood at the bottom.
Adrian recognized him.
One of his own security officers.
“Daniel.”
The man froze.
“Boss.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Checking the cameras.”
“Which cameras?”
“The east wing.”
Adrian looked at him.
“There are no cameras in the east wing.”
Daniel's face changed.
He reached for his weapon.
Adrian was faster.
He disarmed him.
Marcus arrived.
“Boss?”
“Search him.”
They found a second access key.
And a photograph.
Lily.
Taken two days earlier.
On the back was one sentence.
She's the final subject.
Adrian's face went cold.
This wasn't a threat anymore.
May you like
It was an operation.
And it had already begun.
