Chapter 5 - The Dinner Where Damian Finally Stopped SmilingThe invitation went out the following morning.
Family dinner.
Seven o’clock.
Mandatory.
No explanation.
Adrien had hosted hundreds of dinners at the Valente estate.
Business dinners.
Holiday dinners.
Political dinners.
Celebrations where champagne cost more than some people’s monthly rent.
This dinner was different.
There were no flowers on the table.
No hired musicians.
No photographers.
Only family.
Thomas.
Vivian.
And two people Damian did not expect to see.
Evelyn and Lily.
When Damian entered the dining room at 7:06 p.m., he stopped.
His eyes went directly to Evelyn.
Then Lily.
Then the white rabbit in Lily’s arms.
For half a second, fear appeared on his face.
Adrien saw it.
So did Evelyn.
Damian recovered quickly.
“Well.”
He removed his coat.
“This is unexpected.”
Lily whispered to Evelyn, “That man doesn’t smile with his eyes.”
The room was quiet enough for everyone to hear.
Damian’s smile tightened.
Adrien almost admired Lily’s instincts.
Family members filled the long table.
Adrien’s aunt Bianca.
Two older cousins.
Several senior relatives.
People who had known Damian since childhood.
Andrew Mercer was absent.
Officially, he was handling an unrelated security matter.
In reality, independent investigators were watching him.
Damian took his usual seat.
“What’s this about?”
Adrien remained standing.
“Serena.”
The room changed.
Bianca lowered her wineglass.
Damian leaned back.
“What about her?”
“I discovered yesterday that Serena amended her will before she died.”
Damian’s face remained neutral.
“She did?”
“Yes.”
Adrien placed a copy on the table.
Damian did not touch it.
“She left the Lake Geneva property to Evelyn.”
Several relatives looked surprised.
“And a trust to Lily.”
Damian finally looked at the child.
Lily hugged Snow.
Adrien continued.
“Someone forged Serena’s revocation.”
Damian shrugged.
“You’re discussing legal paperwork from three years ago. Why am I here?”
“Because the forged document came through your office.”
“That doesn’t mean I created it.”
“No.”
Adrien reached into another folder.
“This does.”
He placed an internal access record on the table.
Damian glanced at it.
His jaw tightened.
Adrien continued.
“The same administrative credentials were used to process Evelyn’s termination.”
He added another sheet.
“And several fraudulent property transfers.”
Another.
“And withdrawals from Lily’s trust.”
Bianca whispered, “Damian?”
He ignored her.
Instead, he looked at Adrien.
“Be careful.”
Adrien’s expression barely changed.
“Why does everyone keep telling me that?”
“Because grief is making you irrational.”
Across the table, Evelyn flinched.
Adrien heard Serena’s recording in his mind.
If anyone claims I was confused, depressed, reckless, or paranoid, don’t believe them.
Damian had apparently rehearsed the same weapon for everyone.
Adrien sat.
“Where were you on January seventeenth three years ago?”
Damian laughed.
“You’re interrogating me now?”
“I asked a question.”
“I don’t remember.”
“Serena died January eighteenth.”
The laughter stopped.
Adrien placed a photograph on the table.
It showed Damian meeting Andrew Mercer the previous evening.
Damian stared.
Adrien added the financial record showing the five-hundred-thousand-dollar payment.
Then the payment to the evidence technician.
Several people at the table began speaking at once.
Damian raised his voice.
“This proves nothing.”
“No,” Thomas said from the far end of the table.
Everyone looked at him.
“But Marcus Hale’s statement does.”
Damian’s face changed.
“Marcus?”
Thomas continued.
“He has provided a sworn statement describing the fabrication of the theft allegation against Evelyn.”
Damian looked toward her.
For the first time, the polished mask fell.
“You.”
Evelyn did not move.
“You should have taken the deal.”
Adrien’s chair moved back.
Evelyn stopped him with one look.
No.
She faced Damian herself.
“You threatened my child.”
Damian laughed bitterly.
“I gave you an opportunity to walk away.”
“You stole from Lily.”
“She was a baby.”
“She was Serena’s family.”
“She was the maid’s daughter.”
Silence.
It was the wrong thing to say.
Not because Adrien reacted.
Because Bianca did.
She stood.
“Serena loved that child.”
Damian turned.
“You didn’t know Serena as well as you pretend.”
“She was my niece.”
“And she was naive.”
The words came out before Damian could stop them.
Adrien watched him.
“There it is.”
Damian realized his mistake.
Adrien leaned forward.
“You hated that she questioned you.”
“She had no idea how this family operates.”
“She understood enough to catch you stealing.”
Damian’s face hardened.
“I kept this family profitable.”
“You stole from it.”
“I moved money.”
“You stole from a four-year-old.”
“Stop pretending this is about the child!”
His fist struck the table.
Lily jumped.
Evelyn immediately pulled her close.
Adrien stood.
His voice became quiet.
“Lower your voice.”
Every person at the table knew that tone.
Damian did too.
For a moment, the old fear returned.
Then Damian laughed.
“You think you’re different from me?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve done worse things than moving numbers on paper.”
Adrien did not deny the darkness of his own life.
But he answered.
“Maybe.”
Damian blinked.
Adrien continued.
“But Serena wasn’t killed because of something I’m hiding.”
The room went silent.
Damian’s face emptied.
Adrien watched.
“That’s what you’re afraid of.”
“You’ve lost your mind.”
“Did Andrew alter Serena’s car?”
Damian pushed back from the table.
“I’m leaving.”
Two men appeared in the doorway.
Not Valente security.
Investigators.
Damian looked at Thomas.
“You brought police into this house?”
Thomas replied calmly.
“I brought people whose salaries you don’t control.”
Damian turned toward Adrien.
“You would hand your own blood over to them?”
Adrien looked at Evelyn.
Then Lily.
Then Serena’s photograph on the sideboard.
“Blood didn’t protect Serena.”
Damian stared at him.
Adrien’s voice hardened.
“Truth will.”
One investigator approached.
“Damian Valente, we need you to come with us.”
“For what?”
“Financial fraud, witness intimidation, and conspiracy-related offenses. Additional charges may follow.”
Damian laughed.
But his face was pale.
He looked at Evelyn as officers moved closer.
“You think this is over?”
Evelyn said nothing.
Damian leaned toward her.
“You still don’t know why Serena was on that road.”
Adrien froze.
“What does that mean?”
Damian smiled.
Even while the officers took his arms.
“She wasn’t going home.”
“Where was she going?”
Damian looked at Adrien.
“To meet you.”
Adrien’s face changed.
“That’s a lie.”
“Check her phone.”
“She never called me.”
“I didn’t say she called.”
Damian was escorted from the room.
The front doors closed behind him.
Nobody spoke.
Adrien remained standing.
Evelyn looked at Thomas.
“What did he mean?”
Thomas shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Vivian’s phone buzzed.
She checked it.
Her face changed.
“Adrien.”
“What?”
“The digital team recovered another audio file from Serena’s cloud account.”
Everyone looked at her.
“It was deleted the night she died.”
Adrien’s stomach turned.
“Play it.”
Vivian hesitated.
“Now.”
She placed the phone on the table.
Serena’s voice filled the room.
“Adrien, I got your message. I’m leaving now.”
Adrien stopped breathing.
Serena continued.
“I know you said not to call because it isn’t safe. I’ll meet you at the old marina in twenty minutes.”
The recording ended.
Adrien stared at Vivian.
“I never sent that message.”
“I know.”
“Find the message.”
“They’re working on it.”
Evelyn whispered, “Someone pretended to be you.”
Adrien looked toward the door through which Damian had disappeared.
Serena had driven onto that icy road because she believed her brother needed her.
Someone had used Adrien’s identity to lure her out.
It was not simply murder.
They had turned Serena’s trust in him into the weapon.
Vivian’s phone rang again.
She answered.
Listened.
Then went white.
“What?”
She looked at Adrien.
“The message came from a device registered through the Valente security department.”
“Andrew?”
“We don’t know.”
“Where is Andrew now?”
Vivian did not answer immediately.
Adrien understood.
“You lost him.”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“We know exactly where he is.”
“Where?”
Vivian looked at Evelyn.
“Outside Thomas’s townhouse.”
Evelyn stood so quickly her chair crashed backward.
“Lily’s things are there.”
Lily looked frightened.
Adrien grabbed his coat.
Then Vivian finished.
“He isn’t alone.”
“How many?”
“Three men.”
Adrien’s expression became cold.
“Why?”
Vivian swallowed.
“Because somebody told him Evelyn was still inside.”
They had deliberately left the townhouse lights on.
A decoy.
Andrew believed Evelyn and Lily were there.
Which meant one thing.
Whatever Serena had hidden, Andrew still thought Evelyn possessed something important enough to risk everything to retrieve.
Adrien looked at the rabbit in Lily’s arms.
And suddenly he remembered.
There had been two objects in Snow.
A key.
A note.
But Serena’s recording had said she had copied the evidence.
Not evidence.
Copies.
Plural.
Adrien looked at Evelyn.
“Did Serena give you anything else?”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
Lily tugged her mother’s hand.
“Mommy?”
Evelyn looked down.
Lily pointed to Snow.
“There’s another hard thing in his ear.”
Every adult in the room froze.
Adrien slowly crouched.
“What hard thing?”
Lily squeezed the repaired ear.
“This.”
May you like
Inside Serena’s childhood rabbit was another secret.
And Andrew Mercer had just risked his freedom trying to find it.
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