Chapter 4 - The Name Hidden Behind Eight Languages
Mave did not sleep.
She sat by the penthouse window while snow drifted over the city.
Eight languages had once been her greatest skill.
Now they felt like eight locked rooms inside her mind.
Every sentence she had ever heard from her mother was being reconsidered.
Every memory became suspicious.
At dawn, Dominic found her still awake.
“You should sleep.”
“I spent half my life cleaning other people's messes.”
She looked at him.
“I didn't realize one day I'd discover my entire childhood was one.”
He handed her coffee.
“Black.”
She took it.
“How did you know?”
“You've had three already.”
Mave stared at him.
He noticed everything.
She hadn't decided whether that was comforting or terrifying.
“We need to identify the man in the recording.”
Dominic nodded.
“My grandfather's old files are being brought here.”
Hours later, boxes covered the library floor.
Corporate records.
Family photographs.
Shipping manifests.
Old letters.
Mave worked through them methodically.
Language was pattern.
Patterns left fingerprints.
She found one letter written in French.
Then another in Italian.
Then a handwritten note in Arabic.
The same phrase appeared in three different documents:
THE KINGDOM FALLS WHEN THE SERVANTS LEARN THE LANGUAGE OF THE KING.
Mave felt a chill.
“This is a cipher.”
Dominic looked over her shoulder.
“Can you read it?”
“Yes.”
She pointed to each line.
“French version contains an extra word. Italian contains a missing phrase. Arabic changes the order.”
“Meaning?”
“They're instructions.”
“Can you decode them?”
Mave smiled faintly.
“That's why they hired twelve interpreters.”
She spent six hours comparing the documents.
The message eventually emerged.
THE LEDGER IS NOT A BOOK.
IT IS A PERSON.
Dominic stared.
“A person?”
Mave nodded.
“Someone memorized everything.”
“Who?”
She looked at the photograph of the unidentified man.
“Him.”
Adrian Rossi.
Dominic stepped back.
“My uncle was the ledger.”
Mave shook her head.
“Not exactly.”
She translated another hidden phrase.
“His brain held the information.”
Dominic's face hardened.
“That means whoever captured him has been looking for a living database.”
Mave nodded.
“And if he's alive…”
“He could still be carrying the information.”
A second clue led them to Montreal.
There, an old translator had worked with Adrian under an alias.
Mave traveled with Dominic.
They spent two nights in a small hotel under false names.
The trip changed something between them.
Dominic, usually cold and distant, became unexpectedly protective.
He checked doors twice.
He left lights on.
He made sure Mave ate.
On the second evening, she said,
“You don't have to guard me every second.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Why?”
“Because I failed to protect someone once.”
“Who?”
“My younger sister.”
Mave had never heard about her.
“What happened?”
“She disappeared when she was nineteen.”
“Was it related to your family?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever find her?”
“No.”
Mave looked at him.
“Maybe you understand what it feels like not to have answers.”
Dominic smiled without humor.
“More than you know.”
They found the translator in a retirement home.
He was ninety-two.
His name was Elias Moreau.
He recognized Mave's father immediately.
“You have his eyes.”
Mave sat beside him.
“Did my father work with Adrian Rossi?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
Elias looked toward the window.
“Your father was protecting Adrian.”
“From whom?”
“The Rossi family.”
Dominic frowned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Elias looked at Dominic.
“Your father believed Adrian had betrayed him.”
“He hadn't.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Elias's expression became fearful.
“Your father's wife.”
Dominic froze.
“My mother?”
Elias nodded.
“Helena Rossi.”
Mave felt the pieces rearrange.
Helena.
Dominic's mother.
The woman he rarely spoke about.
A woman who died when Dominic was sixteen.
Elias continued.
“She manipulated the family. She had debts. Enemies. Secrets. She used Adrian as a scapegoat.”
Dominic's face became unreadable.
“How do you know?”
“Because Adrian told me.”
“Where is he?”
Elias pointed toward a locked cabinet.
Inside was an old photograph.
Adrian standing beside a little girl.
Mave stared.
The girl was twelve.
She had Mave's face.
Mave's hands shook.
“That's me.”
Elias nodded.
“Your father knew you were Adrian's daughter.”
The room went silent.
Dominic looked at Mave.
“Your biological father was Adrian Rossi.”
Mave felt the world disappear beneath her.
Lucien had raised her.
Adrian was her biological father.
Her mother had hidden the truth.
And the Rossi family had no idea.
Elias handed her one final note.
Your mother was protecting you.
Not from me.
From Helena.
Mave's eyes filled with tears.
Dominic was staring at the wall.
“My mother lied to my father.”
“She lied to everyone.”
“Why was Mave hidden?”
Elias answered.
“Because Helena discovered Adrian had a child.”
Mave whispered,
“What would she have done?”
Elias looked at her.
“What powerful people often do when they fear inheritance.”
Mave understood.
“She would have killed me.”
Elias nodded.
Dominic's fist clenched.
“I spent my entire life believing my mother died a victim.”
Elias shook his head.
“She was the architect.”
Dominic's phone rang.
Marco spoke rapidly.
They had found another document.
A property in Maine.
Registered to a man using the name Adrian Ross.
Dominic looked at Mave.
“Tomorrow, we find your father.”
Mave shook her head.
“What if he's dead?”
“Then we find the truth.”
“What if he isn't?”
May you like
Dominic's eyes met hers.
“Then we find out why he never came for you.”
Related Stories
