Chapter 2 - The Woman Everyone Ignored Had Just Become the Most Dangerous Person in the MansionFor one horrifying second, nobody moved.
The darkness swallowed the dining room.
Someone screamed.
A chair scraped backward.
Glass shattered.
Adrien was already moving.
He seized Elena by the wrist and pulled her down just as another shot cracked against the far wall.
“Stay down.”
The command was so calm that she obeyed before thinking.
Adrien shoved Bellini beneath the table with one hand.
“Henry!”
“Yes, sir!”
“Lock the east doors.”
“Already doing it.”
Security moved through the darkness.
Adrien reached beneath his jacket.
Elena heard the unmistakable click of a weapon being drawn.
Her heart pounded.
“Adrien.”
He turned toward her.
“How many?”
“What?”
“People who know about your brother.”
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
“No.”
“You looked at Bellini before the lights went out.”
“He was asking about my father.”
“That wasn’t why you looked at him.”
She stared at him.
Then she whispered,
“Because he was the last person my brother called before he disappeared.”
Adrien went still.
“What?”
“My brother called me yesterday.”
“You told me he was in danger.”
“He said someone was following him.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did he say?”
Elena closed her eyes.
She remembered the voice.
Terrified.
Breathing fast.
“Danny said, ‘Tell Adrien Vale the violin is not about the violin.’”
Adrien’s expression changed.
That sentence meant something to him.
“You heard this?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I thought you had something to do with it.”
Adrien stared at her.
“That is an interesting accusation.”
“My father worked for people connected to your family.”
Adrien’s jaw tightened.
“My father wasn’t a fraud.”
“What?”
“He was a banker,” Elena whispered.
Adrien said nothing.
“Your company acquired the Calder yard from his creditors. You inherited the records. I thought maybe—”
“You thought I was covering something up.”
“Yes.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
Everyone looked around.
The shooter had vanished.
Security rushed through the corridor.
Nobody was injured.
Except Elena.
A small cut on her cheek had begun to bleed.
Adrien noticed immediately.
“You're hurt.”
“I’m fine.”
“You're bleeding.”
“So are three people in the kitchen.”
He stared at her.
“You always argue?”
“When people are being unreasonable.”
Henry approached.
“Sir, one window was broken in the east corridor. We found no shooter.”
Adrien nodded.
“Lock down the property.”
Henry hesitated.
“And the guests?”
“No one leaves.”
Bellini protested.
“You cannot imprison us.”
Adrien looked at him.
“Someone just fired a gun inside my home.”
Bellini shut up.
Adrien turned toward Elena.
“Come with me.”
“I have work.”
He stared.
“You nearly got shot.”
“I still have to finish the—”
“Enough.”
His voice was not loud.
It was worse than loud.
Elena followed him.
He led her into the library and closed the doors.
“Tell me everything.”
She stood near the fireplace.
“I don’t know everything.”
“Tell me what you know.”
“My brother, Daniel, worked as an accountant.”
“For who?”
“Moretti Maritime.”
“That company has been dead for eleven years.”
“Not completely.”
Adrien stared.
“What does that mean?”
“My father hid accounts.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel did?”
“Yes.”
“What accounts?”
Elena reached into her pocket and pulled out an old silver key.
Adrien frowned.
“My father gave this to Daniel before he died.”
Adrien looked at the key.
It bore the initials M.M.
“Why do you have it?”
“Daniel mailed it to me three weeks ago.”
“Along with what?”
“A note.”
She handed it to him.
Adrien read it.
Three words.
TRUST THE VIOLIN.
He looked up.
“What the hell does this mean?”
“I don't know.”
“Did Daniel say anything else?”
“He told me someone was looking for a ledger.”
“What ledger?”
“I don't know.”
Adrien paced toward the desk.
Then stopped.
“The west music room.”
Elena frowned.
“What?”
“My father owned a private collection of instruments.”
Adrien stared at the key.
“One violin disappeared from the collection eleven years ago.”
Elena’s breathing stopped.
“What kind?”
Adrien looked at her.
“An Italian violin.”
“Maker?”
“Bartolomeo Cristofori.”
Her face changed.
“That's not possible.”
“What?”
“My father owned one.”
Adrien's eyes sharpened.
“Where is it?”
“I thought it was destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Because that is what the newspapers said.”
Adrien walked toward the door.
“Henry.”
The butler appeared almost instantly.
“Sir?”
“Bring me the inventory records for the Calder acquisition.”
Henry's expression tightened.
“Tonight?”
“Now.”
Henry disappeared.
Adrien looked back at Elena.
“How long have you been planning to confront me?”
“I haven't.”
“You walked into this house eleven months ago.”
“I needed a job.”
“You could have worked anywhere.”
“I couldn't.”
“Why?”
“Because my brother told me that if anything happened to him, I was supposed to get close to you.”
Adrien stared at her.
“You were sent here?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
“My brother believed you were the only person powerful enough to survive what was coming.”
Adrien almost laughed.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“You don't have to.”
She walked toward the door.
Adrien blocked it.
“Elena.”
She looked up.
“You are not leaving this house tonight.”
“I have to find Daniel.”
“I will help.”
“I don’t trust you.”
“I know.”
“Then why would you help me?”
Adrien looked at the key.
“Because somebody just shot at a room full of people to keep me from asking the same questions you have been asking for eleven months.”
Henry returned carrying a thick folder.
Adrien opened it.
The inventory of the Calder property contained 214 pages.
He flipped through them.
Then stopped.
Page 178.
A handwritten notation had been added beside an entry.
VIOLIN — TRANSFERRED PRIVATELY — M.M.
Adrien looked up.
“Elena.”
She moved closer.
The handwriting was unmistakable.
It was her father's.
“What does that say?”
She touched the page.
“He was moving it.”
“Where?”
She scanned the line below.
A location.
A warehouse near the Chicago River.
Adrien grabbed his phone.
“Send a team.”
Henry nodded.
Elena stopped him.
“Wait.”
Adrien turned.
“Why?”
“Because Daniel said not to go there.”
“Why?”
“Because that is where they are waiting.”
The room fell silent.
Adrien lowered the phone.
“Who?”
Elena looked at him.
“I don't know.”
She lifted the old key.
“But whoever they are, they already know you have it.”
At that exact moment, Adrien's phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Mr. Vale.”
“Who is this?”
“You're asking the wrong questions.”
Adrien’s face hardened.
“What do you want?”
“The girl.”
Adrien looked at Elena.
The voice continued.
“Give us Elena Moretti, and your dinner guests live.”
The call ended.
Adrien slowly lowered the phone.
Elena had heard enough.
“You’re going to hand me over.”
Adrien looked at her.
“No.”
“Adrien—”
“No.”
His voice was cold.
“You walked into my house eleven months ago hiding a secret.”
He stepped closer.
“And tonight somebody made the mistake of threatening me because you were standing beside me.”
Elena's heart slammed against her ribs.
Adrien picked up his jacket.
“We're going to find your brother.”
“Why?”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“Because nobody threatens something under my protection.”
She swallowed.
“You don't even know me.”
Adrien opened the door.
“I know enough.”
May you like
Outside, thunder rolled over Lake Forest.
And somewhere across Chicago, a man opened a locked violin case containing a ledger that could destroy Adrien Vale's empire.
Related Stories
