chapter 4: The missing hour
1337 Words
For a moment, no one spoke.
The article on Ethan's phone seemed to suck all the air out of Adrian's office.
Isabella stared at the screen, her heart pounding painfully against her ribs.
The photograph was unmistakable.
She and Adrian were walking side by side beneath the entrance canopy of the Grand Aurora Hotel. Adrian's hand rested lightly against the small of her back as though he was helping her keep her balance.
She remembered none of it.
"What..." Isabella whispered. "What is happening?"
Ethan refreshed the page.
"It's spreading."
Within seconds, dozens of news outlets had copied the story.
Another headline appeared.
BILLIONAIRE CEO'S SECRET LOVER REPORTS TO HIS OFFICE.
Then another.
WHO IS ISABELLA HART?
Victoria folded her arms, satisfaction flickering in her eyes before she quickly masked it with concern.
"What a shame," she said softly. "The media can be so cruel."
Adrian looked at her.
"You seem surprisingly calm."
She shrugged.
"I've dealt with the press for years."
"But this..." She glanced at Isabella. "...is new."
Isabella lowered her gaze.
She could already imagine people reading those headlines.
Her neighbors.
Mrs. Collins.
Tessa.
Every employer who had ever rejected her.
Her entire life was being turned into entertainment.
"I'm sorry," she murmured.
Adrian frowned.
"For what?"
"This scandal."
"If I hadn't come here today—"
"It would've happened anyway."
His voice was firm enough to stop her.
"This has nothing to do with your interview."
He looked at Ethan.
"Close the door."
Ethan obeyed immediately.
The heavy wooden doors clicked shut, sealing the room from the outside world.
Adrian turned back to Isabella.
"I need to ask you something."
She nodded.
"Do you remember anything after leaving the ballroom?"
She closed her eyes.
Fragments flashed through her mind.
Music.
The sparkle of crystal chandeliers.
Someone laughing.
A hand reaching toward her.
She frowned.
"I remember feeling dizzy."
"So do I."
"I remember someone saying I looked pale."
"I remember someone offering me another drink."
She opened her eyes.
"After that..."
"Nothing."
Adrian exchanged a meaningful look with Ethan.
It was exactly the same gap.
Exactly the same missing memories.
---
Victoria watched the silent exchange with growing suspicion.
"What aren't you telling me?"
Neither man answered.
She stepped closer.
"Adrian."
He met her eyes.
"This doesn't concern you."
"It concerns me if another woman is making headlines with the man everyone believes I'm going to marry."
"I've never announced an engagement."
"You've never denied one either."
Adrian sighed.
"Victoria."
"We've known each other since childhood."
"Our families have business ties."
"That doesn't mean we're engaged."
The words hit her like a slap.
For years she had believed time would eventually convince Adrian.
Instead...
He was rejecting the idea completely.
Before she could respond, Ethan interrupted.
"Sir."
"What is it?"
"I've located the hotel's backup server."
Adrian's attention shifted instantly.
"And?"
"The missing footage wasn't deleted."
Hope flashed across Adrian's face.
"It was copied."
"Copied?"
Ethan nodded.
"Someone accessed the system remotely."
"They removed exactly one hour of footage..."
"...and transferred it onto an external storage device."
"So the footage still exists."
"Somewhere."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"Find it."
---
After Victoria left the office, Isabella finally found the courage to speak.
"I think I should withdraw my application."
Adrian looked at her.
"Why?"
"I'm already causing problems."
"You aren't."
"I've only been here thirty minutes."
"And the entire country thinks I'm your..." She couldn't finish the sentence.
He understood anyway.
"They think what they want."
"But your company—"
"My company can survive gossip."
She shook her head.
"My reputation can't."
Adrian was silent.
For the first time since becoming CEO, he wasn't thinking like a businessman.
He was thinking about the frightened young woman sitting across from him.
She wasn't worried about herself alone.
She was worried about the people around her.
That told him everything he needed to know about her character.
---
Ethan's phone rang again.
He answered quickly.
"Yes?"
His expression changed.
"When?"
He glanced at Adrian.
"I understand."
After ending the call, he looked unusually tense.
"Sir..."
"The hotel's head of security has been found."
"Good."
Ethan hesitated.
"He resigned this morning."
Adrian frowned.
"Resigned?"
"Without notice."
"His apartment is empty."
"He left the city two hours ago."
Adrian slowly stood.
"He ran."
"Yes."
"Or someone made him run."
---
An hour later...
Adrian escorted Isabella through a private hallway toward the underground parking garage.
The executive elevator opened directly into a secure area reserved for company executives.
Luxury vehicles lined the polished floor.
"I can leave from here," Isabella said quietly.
Adrian shook his head.
"The front entrance is surrounded by reporters."
"I'll take a taxi."
"You won't get ten meters before they surround you."
She sighed.
"What am I supposed to do?"
Before Adrian could answer, a black SUV drove into the garage.
Its windows were heavily tinted.
Ethan stepped out of the driver's seat.
"I've arranged another exit."
Adrian nodded.
"Good."
As Isabella approached the vehicle, something caught her attention.
A maintenance worker was sweeping near one of the concrete pillars.
Nothing unusual...
Except...
He wasn't sweeping.
His eyes never left her.
The moment she looked at him, he lowered his head and turned away.
A strange chill ran down her spine.
"Mr. Kingsley."
Adrian followed her gaze.
The man was gone.
Only the broom remained leaning against the pillar.
"What is it?"
"I thought..."
She frowned.
"Nothing."
Still, Adrian scanned the garage.
His instincts told him something wasn't right.
---
Across the city...
Inside an abandoned warehouse...
A man wearing black gloves sat before several computer monitors.
Each screen displayed a different security camera.
Kingsley Group.
The hotel.
Traffic cameras.
Even cameras overlooking Isabella's apartment building.
He watched the black SUV leave the underground garage.
Then smiled.
"They're moving faster than expected."
Another man entered the room.
"The hotel guard has disappeared."
"I know."
"What about the girl?"
The gloved man leaned back.
"She's remembering."
"Only fragments."
"But fragments become memories."
He reached into a drawer and removed an old photograph.
It showed two smiling men standing beside a grocery store.
One was Adrian's father.
The other...
Was Isabella's father.
The edges of the photograph were burned.
Almost as though someone had tried to destroy it years ago.
The man stared at it for a long moment.
"They have no idea," he whispered.
"No idea their fathers uncovered the same secret."
He dropped the photograph onto the desk.
"When they remember that missing hour..."
"...everything we've built will collapse."
---
Meanwhile...
As the SUV stopped outside Isabella's apartment building, Adrian noticed her hesitation.
"You'll have security outside tonight."
She immediately shook her head.
"I don't want bodyguards."
"This isn't a request."
She looked at him with tired eyes.
"You barely know me."
"No."
"I don't."
"But someone is watching you."
She felt her stomach tighten.
"How can you be so sure?"
Adrian looked toward the apartment building.
Across the street...
A parked white sedan slowly pulled away the moment it noticed the SUV.
"I've been followed before," he said quietly.
"And whoever is after me..."
He met her eyes.
"...has decided you're important too."
Isabella turned toward the departing car, but it had already disappeared into traffic.
Fear settled heavily in her chest.
The scandal was no longer just gossip.
Someone had erased evidence.
Someone had fled the city.
Someone had been watching her apartment.
And someone wanted Adrian and Isabella connected for a reason neither of them understood.
As she stepped out of the SUV, she slipped her hand into her handbag to retrieve her keys.
Instead, her fingers touched an envelope she had never seen before.
Confused, she pulled it out.
There was no stamp.
No address.
Only three words written in neat black ink.
Remember the necklace.
Isabella's face drained of color.
She had never seen the envelope before.
Which meant...
Someone had slipped it into her bag while she was inside Kingsley Group.
And whoever it was knew something about the missing hour that she and Adrian had forgotten.
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