Chapter 7 — The Night Everything Changed
1166 Words
Chapter 7 — The Night Everything Changed
Marcus Hale's words seemed to freeze the entire room.
Lena stared at him.
“My mother disappeared?”
Marcus looked away.
Adrian stepped forward. “You said she disappeared. What exactly happened?”
Marcus swallowed hard.
“It was twenty-two years ago.”
Lena's heart pounded.
“That can't be right.”
“You were very young,” Marcus said quietly. “Your mother had been preparing to leave town. She had discovered something she wasn't supposed to know.”
“What?”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Your father's secret.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Lena shook her head. “My mother never told me anything about Adrian's father.”
“She was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Marcus hesitated.
“From people who wanted the truth to remain buried.”
Adrian walked toward him.
“You worked for my father. You knew what happened. Why didn't you tell anyone?”
Marcus lowered his eyes.
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of whom?”
Marcus didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “Your father's business partner.”
Adrian's face changed.
“Richard?”
Marcus nodded.
Lena had heard the name before.
Richard Vale.
Adrian's father's former business partner.
“What did he do?” she asked.
Marcus looked at her.
“He knew about your mother and Adrian's father.”
Lena's hands tightened around the photograph.
“Were they together?”
Marcus remained silent.
That silence was answer enough.
Lena's eyes filled with confusion.
“My mother loved someone before she met my father?”
“She did,” Marcus said.
“And that person was Adrian's father?”
Marcus nodded slowly.
Adrian stepped away from the window.
“This changes everything.”
Lena looked at him.
“No. It changes nothing.”
“Lena—”
“My mother spent my entire childhood telling me that my father abandoned us.”
Her voice trembled.
“If she loved your father, why did she hide it?”
Marcus sighed.
“Because she believed telling the truth would put you in danger.”
Lena looked down at the photograph.
“Then why did she disappear?”
Marcus's expression became troubled.
“She didn't simply disappear.”
Lena looked up.
“What do you mean?”
“She was taken.”
The room fell silent.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“By Richard?”
Marcus didn't answer.
Lena stepped toward him.
“You know what happened.”
“I know part of it.”
“Then tell me.”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“I can't.”
Adrian's voice became firm.
“You can.”
Marcus shook his head.
“If Richard discovers I'm talking to you, both of you could be in danger.”
Lena felt a chill run through her.
“Why would he care about me after all these years?”
Marcus looked directly at her.
“Because you may have inherited something your mother left behind.”
“What?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't good enough.”
Marcus reached into his jacket and pulled out a small silver key.
He placed it on Adrian's desk.
“Your mother gave me this.”
Lena stared at it.
“She did?”
“The night she disappeared.”
Adrian picked up the key.
“What's it for?”
Marcus looked at Lena.
“She told me that one day, when you were old enough, I should give it to you.”
Lena's breath caught.
“To me?”
Marcus nodded.
“She said you would know where it belonged.”
Lena stared at the key.
Something about its shape looked familiar.
Then she remembered.
Her childhood bedroom.
There had been an old wooden box beneath her mother's bed.
Lena suddenly remembered seeing it as a little girl.
“Wait.”
She turned toward Adrian.
“I know where that key goes.”
Adrian immediately followed her.
“Where?”
“My old house.”
Marcus looked alarmed.
“No.”
Lena stopped.
“Why?”
“Because that's exactly where Richard will expect you to go.”
Adrian stepped between them.
“Then we won't go there alone.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You don't understand. Someone has already been searching that house.”
Lena's heart sank.
“What?”
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Someone broke into it three nights ago.”
Adrian looked at Lena.
“Did they take anything?”
Marcus nodded.
“Only one thing.”
“What?”
“A box.”
Lena's face went pale.
“The wooden box?”
Marcus nodded.
“The same one your mother hid.”
Lena felt as though the floor had disappeared beneath her.
“Then the key is useless.”
“Not necessarily,” Marcus said.
Adrian looked at him.
“What aren't you telling us?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then he reached into his pocket again and produced a folded piece of paper.
“I found this inside the box years ago.”
He handed it to Lena.
Her hands trembled as she unfolded it.
There was only one sentence written on the page.
When Lena meets Adrian again, give them the truth.
Lena stared at the words.
“How could my mother know we'd meet again?”
Marcus looked at Adrian.
“Because she believed your paths were connected.”
Adrian slowly turned toward Lena.
Neither of them spoke.
The silence between them felt heavier than before.
Then Lena noticed something written at the bottom of the page.
A date.
The exact date she had first met Adrian as a child.
Her eyes widened.
“She knew.”
Adrian looked at the paper.
“Knew what?”
“That we'd meet.”
Suddenly, Adrian's phone rang.
He answered.
“Hello?”
His expression changed.
“Where?”
Lena watched him carefully.
Adrian ended the call.
“What happened?”
He looked at her.
“The police found something.”
“What?”
“A car.”
Lena's heart raced.
“Whose?”
Adrian's voice was quiet.
“Your mother's.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
Adrian continued.
“They found it near the old Vale property.”
Lena stared at him.
“That property was abandoned years ago.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would her car be there?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he looked at the silver key in his hand.
Then at Lena.
“We're going there.”
Marcus immediately stepped forward.
“No.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“We've spent twenty-two years living with half the story.”
He handed the key to Lena.
“Tonight, we find the rest.”
Lena closed her fingers around it.
For the first time, she wasn't afraid of the truth.
She was ready for it.
But neither of them noticed the figure standing across the street from Vale Enterprises.
Watching.
Waiting.
And holding an old photograph of Lena's mother.
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