Chapter Three — The Enemy at the Table
718 Words
Three days later, Adrian entered the Black Rose Club.
It was neutral ground.
At least, that was what everyone claimed.
The club belonged to no single family. Politicians, businessmen, criminals, and people who preferred not to be categorized all passed through its doors.
Adrian had been invited to a private meeting.
The invitation came from Damian Cross.
Mara warned him not to go.
Leon warned him even more strongly.
Adrian went anyway.
The private room was almost empty.
Damian sat beside the window.
He was younger than Adrian expected.
Calm.
Well-dressed.
Almost polite.
“Adrian Voss.”
“Damian Cross.”
Damian smiled.
“I was beginning to wonder whether you would come.”
“I was beginning to wonder whether you'd survive long enough to meet me.”
Damian laughed softly.
“Your father would have appreciated that answer.”
Adrian sat opposite him.
“You know where he is.”
“No.”
“Then why am I here?”
“Because your father and I made an agreement.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What agreement?”
Damian placed an old key on the table.
“He asked me to protect something.”
Adrian stared at it.
“What?”
“That's what you're supposed to discover.”
Adrian didn't touch the key.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
Damian leaned back.
“I expect you to understand that sometimes enemies are easier to trust than friends.”
The words reminded Adrian of the message in the envelope.
Don't trust the hand that catches the crown.
He stood.
“I don't make deals with people who speak in riddles.”
Damian's smile disappeared.
“Then you're going to have a difficult life.”
Adrian turned toward the door.
“I'm already having one.”
Before he left, Damian spoke again.
“Your uncle isn't who you think he is.”
Adrian stopped.
He didn't turn around.
“Everyone keeps telling me that.”
“Because it's true.”
Adrian finally looked back.
Damian's expression had become serious.
“Your father's disappearance wasn't arranged by me.”
“Who arranged it?”
Damian looked toward the window.
“Someone who wants both our families destroyed.”
That night, Adrian returned to the estate.
He found Mara in the library.
“You were right,” he said.
She looked up from a book.
“About?”
“Damian.”
Mara closed the book.
“You met him.”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
Adrian placed the key on the table.
“He said my father gave him this.”
Mara studied it.
Then her expression changed.
“Where did you get that?”
“Damian.”
She picked it up carefully.
“This belongs to the old Voss warehouse.”
Adrian frowned.
“We don't have an old warehouse.”
“We do.”
Mara looked at him.
“Your father erased it from the organization's records years ago.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Both turned.
The door slowly opened.
Leon stood there.
“What are you two doing?”
Adrian looked at him.
“Talking.”
Leon smiled.
“About what?”
Adrian held up the key.
Leon froze.
Only for a second.
But Adrian saw it.
The slightest change in his expression.
Fear.
Recognition.
Then it disappeared.
Leon turned away.
“You shouldn't have that.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“How do you know what it is?”
Leon stopped.
Silence filled the room.
Then he said:
“Because I was there when your father hid it.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where?”
Leon looked back at him.
“The place your father never wanted you to find.”
Later that night, Adrian stood outside the mansion.
Mara joined him.
“Do you trust him?”
Adrian watched the rain fall.
“No.”
“Good.”
“But I don't trust Damian either.”
“Better.”
Adrian looked at the key in his hand.
“For the first time, I think I understand my father's message.”
Mara waited.
Adrian closed his fingers around the key.
“The person who catches the crown might be the person who put it on the floor.”
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD