Chapter 6 - Adrian Voss Took Evelyn—And Made One Fatal Mistake By Leaving Luca With Nothing To Lose
The meeting was supposed to happen in an abandoned textile factory.
Evelyn entered alone.
Or so Adrian believed.
A hidden transmitter was sewn into the lining of her coat.
Luca monitored every breath.
“Are you there?” his voice whispered through her earpiece.
“Yes.”
“Keep moving.”
The factory smelled of dust and rust.
Evelyn walked through the empty hall.
“Adrian?”
A light flickered.
Then he appeared.
Older than she remembered.
Silver at his temples.
Calm.
Almost gentle.
“You look like your mother.”
“I've heard that.”
“She was always afraid.”
“I'm not.”
He smiled.
“Yes, you are.”
Evelyn stopped.
“Where is Noah?”
“Safe.”
“You have five seconds before Luca finds you.”
Adrian laughed.
“Luca already knows where I am.”
She froze.
“What?”
“He always finds people.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“But he doesn't know where Noah is.”
Her blood turned cold.
“What did you do?”
“I moved him.”
Evelyn's earpiece crackled.
Luca said one word.
“Don't.”
Then silence.
The signal died.
Evelyn realized the factory was shielded.
Adrian smiled.
“Now we can talk.”
“You're afraid of Luca.”
“Yes.”
“Then why do this?”
“Because fear doesn't matter when you've already lost everything.”
He showed her photographs.
Her father.
Her mother.
Luca's father.
Adrian himself.
Then another photograph.
A baby.
Noah.
Taken that morning.
Evelyn nearly collapsed.
“What do you want?”
“The archive.”
“I don't have it.”
“You do.”
“Inside my memories?”
He smiled.
“Exactly.”
He forced her to recite the sequence from the childhood paintings.
She refused.
He struck her.
Once.
Then again.
Evelyn stayed silent.
“You're stubborn.”
“My father taught me.”
Adrian leaned closer.
“Your father taught you the wrong lesson.”
“No.”
She stared at him.
“He taught me that monsters always believe they are the heroes of their own stories.”
Something in Adrian's face shifted.
“You sound like him.”
“Good.”
He raised his hand again.
But before he could touch her, the factory doors exploded.
Luca's men stormed inside.
Adrian ran.
Evelyn followed.
They raced through corridors.
Gunfire echoed.
Smoke filled the building.
Then a figure appeared behind Evelyn.
A man grabbed her.
She struggled.
Luca saw it.
Something inside him snapped.
“Let her go.”
The man held a gun to Evelyn's head.
Luca dropped his weapon.
“Take me.”
The man laughed.
Adrian emerged.
“You see?”
He looked at Evelyn.
“This is love.”
Luca stared at him.
“No.”
“It makes you weak.”
“No.”
Luca's voice became ice.
“It makes me willing.”
Then he moved.
A fight erupted.
Evelyn ducked.
A shot rang out.
Adrian fell.
The man holding her was tackled.
Luca reached Evelyn seconds later.
He grabbed her shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
She nodded.
He looked at her face.
A bruise was forming near her cheek.
His expression became murderous.
“Who touched you?”
She put a hand against his chest.
“I'm okay.”
He shook.
“I should have gotten there sooner.”
“You came.”
He pulled her against him.
For the first time, Evelyn felt Luca tremble.
Not from fear for himself.
From relief that she was alive.
Adrian was arrested.
But Noah was still missing.
The location on Adrian's phone led to a warehouse.
Empty.
A crib sat inside.
A blue rabbit lay on the floor.
Evelyn picked it up.
“No.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Then he heard something.
A recording.
Adrian's voice.
“You'll find the boy where your father hid the first ledger.”
Luca looked at Evelyn.
“Your childhood home.”
They drove through the night.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Evelyn entered her old bedroom.
She remembered a loose floorboard.
Luca removed it.
A metal box was underneath.
Inside was a handwritten letter from her father.
My little girl,
If they ever take Noah, don't follow the money.
Follow the lullaby.
Evelyn remembered.
The song her father used to sing.
Three verses.
Three locations.
The final location was an old church.
They found Noah there.
Asleep.
Safe.
Beside him sat Adrian's former partner.
He surrendered.
Evelyn lifted her son.
Noah woke.
“Mama.”
She cried.
Luca kissed his forehead.
And for one perfect moment, the war stopped.
But when they returned home, a new problem waited.
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The final pages of the archive were gone.
Someone inside Luca's organization had stolen them.
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