Chapter 4 - Adrien Opened His Mother’s Piano and Found a Message She Had Hidden for Eleven YearsThe old Vale house sat outside Evanston, buried beneath trees and memories.
Adrien had not entered it in years.
His mother had lived there until her death.
His father had refused to sell it.
Then Richard had died.
Adrien had inherited everything.
Except the house.
He had never understood why.
Tonight, he finally did.
The front door opened with the silver key.
Elena followed him inside.
The house smelled like dust and cedar.
Adrien switched on the lights.
Nothing.
No electricity.
Only moonlight.
The piano stood in the drawing room.
Black lacquer.
Old ivory keys.
Elena approached it slowly.
“My mother loved this piano.”
“Your mother?”
“Yes.”
“You never told me her name.”
“Isabella Moretti.”
Adrien froze.
“Isabella?”
Elena nodded.
“My father met her through music.”
Adrien looked at the piano.
Then at Elena.
“You said she died six years ago.”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Cancer.”
He said nothing.
She sat at the piano.
Her fingers touched one key.
A single note filled the room.
Then she pressed three keys in succession.
Something clicked beneath the instrument.
Adrien's eyes widened.
“What did you just do?”
“My mother taught me that melody when I was a child.”
She played it again.
A panel beneath the keyboard opened.
Inside was a metal box.
Elena stared.
“I've never seen this.”
Adrien crouched beside it.
There was no lock.
Only a fingerprint scanner.
He tried his.
Nothing.
Elena tried hers.
Nothing.
Then Adrien noticed a tiny engraving.
Blood remembers what men forget.
He looked at her.
“What does your mother have to do with my father?”
Elena whispered,
“Maybe everything.”
She placed her hand on the scanner.
The box opened.
Inside was a cassette recorder.
A photograph.
And a letter.
The photograph showed four people standing beside a shipping warehouse.
Richard Vale.
Marco Moretti.
Isabella Moretti.
And Thomas Reed.
Adrien stared at it.
Thomas was smiling.
His father was looking toward Isabella.
Marco had his hand on Richard's shoulder.
Elena picked up the letter.
The envelope was addressed:
To Elena, when the truth becomes dangerous.
She broke the seal.
The letter was written in Isabella's handwriting.
“My dearest Elena,
If you are reading this, then either Daniel has failed to protect you, or the people who destroyed your father have finally found you.
I am sorry.
Your father was never the thief.
Richard was never the mastermind.
Thomas was.”
Elena's hands began to shake.
Adrien continued reading over her shoulder.
“Thomas found the original international accounts.
He used them to control both families.
He threatened Richard with prison.
He threatened Marco with Elena's life.
And when Marco refused to obey him, Thomas destroyed him.”
Adrien stopped.
“Why didn't my mother tell me?”
“She tried,” Elena said.
The cassette recorder suddenly clicked.
A voice filled the room.
Richard Vale.
Adrien's father.
“Adrien, if you are listening to this, I am probably dead.”
Adrien's breath caught.
“I need you to understand one thing. Your mother begged me to protect Marco. I failed.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
“I believed Thomas was loyal.
I was wrong.”
The recording continued.
“He has spent years building a second empire underneath ours.
If he realizes the ledger survived, he will destroy everything.”
The tape crackled.
Then another voice appeared.
Isabella.
“He will use our children against each other.”
Elena started crying.
Her mother continued.
“Adrien and Elena must never meet unless the ledger is found.”
Adrien looked at Elena.
Their eyes met.
The room seemed to disappear.
“Why us?” he whispered.
The recording answered.
“Because they were born to inherit the evidence.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Suddenly there was a noise outside.
A car door slammed.
Then another.
Adrien stood.
“How many?”
Elena looked through the curtains.
“Six.”
He nodded.
“Back door.”
They ran.
A gunshot smashed the window.
Adrien grabbed Elena around the waist and pulled her behind the piano.
She screamed.
“Down!”
He fired toward the doorway.
Someone shouted.
They ran through the kitchen.
Adrien kicked open the back door.
Cold rain hit them.
They crossed the garden.
Behind them, men entered the house.
Elena slipped.
Adrien caught her.
“Go!”
“I’m trying.”
He lifted her.
“What are you doing?”
“Saving twelve thousand dollars.”
She almost laughed.
Even then.
Even terrified.
And Adrien realized something that frightened him more than the gunshots.
He liked hearing her laugh.
They reached the car.
Adrien shoved Elena inside.
Then paused.
A bullet struck the windshield.
He grabbed the steering wheel and drove.
For ten minutes neither spoke.
Then Elena whispered,
“Adrien.”
“Yes?”
“Your father wasn't the only one being manipulated.”
He glanced at her.
“What do you mean?”
She held up the photograph.
“There were four people in that picture.”
“Yes.”
“But there should have been five.”
Adrien frowned.
“Who?”
She turned the photograph around.
On the back was written:
The fifth person is the one who inherited everything.
Adrien stared.
“No.”
Elena looked at him.
“You know who it is.”
He did.
Because there was only one person who had inherited the entire Vale empire after Richard's death.
Adrien Vale.
His own name was written beneath the message.
Then Elena noticed something else.
The handwriting had changed.
A second sentence had been added recently.
And she is already sleeping beside him.
Elena looked at Adrien.
“Someone has been inside your house.”
Adrien's face became expressionless.
“Someone on my staff.”
“Or someone you trust.”
He thought of the mansion.
Henry.
The chef.
Security.
His private assistant.
And one woman.
Sabrina Cross.
His fiancée.
The woman he had planned to marry in three months.
Adrien whispered,
“No.”
Elena heard the fear in his voice.
“You love her?”
May you like
Adrien stared at the road.
“I thought I did.”
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