Chapter 4 - The Sister Who Knew
Emma moved toward the stairs.
Adrian caught her wrist.
“Wait.”
“That’s my sister.”
“That’s exactly why you wait.”
She pulled free.
“Rachel knew where I lived. She helped me move.”
Adrian looked at her sharply.
“She knew?”
“Of course she knew.”
“Did she know about the clinic?”
“Yes.”
“The appointment time?”
Emma’s silence answered.
Marco swore under his breath.
Emma hated them for looking suspicious.
“She’s my sister.”
Adrian’s voice softened.
“I know.”
“You don’t know her.”
“No. But someone knew your address. Someone knew the clinic. Someone knew you were pregnant.”
“Victor could have followed me.”
“For eight months?”
“Yes.”
Adrian didn’t argue.
That frightened her more.
Rachel called again.
“Emma?”
Emma went downstairs.
Rachel stood in the foyer wearing jeans, a navy sweater, and the same worried expression she had worn throughout their childhood whenever Emma scraped a knee.
“Thank God.”
Rachel rushed forward.
Adrian stepped between them.
Rachel stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
Adrian’s gaze remained fixed on her.
“How did you know she was here?”
Rachel looked at Emma.
“I called her apartment. She didn’t answer.”
“That doesn’t tell you she came here.”
“I tracked her phone.”
Emma blinked.
“You what?”
Rachel looked embarrassed.
“After you told me about the black car last month, I turned on location sharing.”
“You never told me.”
“You would’ve turned it off.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“How did you get into the house?”
Rachel held up an old brass key.
“Emma gave it to me years ago.”
Emma remembered.
Before the divorce.
Before the pregnancy.
Before everything.
“Why did you come?”
“Because someone came to my apartment.”
Silence.
“Who?” Emma asked.
“I don’t know.”
Rachel opened her purse.
Removed a white envelope.
“He left this.”
Adrian took it before Emma could.
Inside was a photograph.
An ultrasound.
Emma gasped.
“That’s mine.”
It was Sophie’s twenty-week ultrasound.
The one Emma kept in a small box beside her bed.
Adrian turned the photograph over.
Three words were written in black ink.
HE KNOWS NOW.
Rachel looked sick.
“I went to your apartment. The door was unlocked.”
Emma’s knees weakened.
Adrian caught her elbow.
“Anything missing?”
“I didn’t stay long enough to check.”
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
“Police scanner. Possible break-in reported at Emma’s building.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Reported by whom?”
Marco checked.
“Anonymous caller.”
Adrian took out his phone.
Emma watched him.
“No.”
He looked at her.
“No police?”
“No Moretti army.”
“I wasn’t calling an army.”
“Marco just mentioned a police scanner. That means you have people monitoring police.”
“Yes.”
“That is exactly what I mean.”
His expression tightened.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I want you to stop behaving like every problem belongs to you.”
“Our daughter is being threatened.”
“Our daughter.”
She emphasized the first word.
“Not your heir. Not your family legacy. Not your territory.”
His face changed.
“You think that’s what this is to me?”
“I don’t know what anything is to you anymore.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“Emma.”
She turned.
Rachel’s eyes filled.
“You should tell him.”
Emma froze.
Adrian noticed.
“Tell me what?”
“Rachel.”
“You can’t keep doing this.”
“What is she talking about?”
Emma closed her eyes.
The secret she had protected most carefully was not the pregnancy.
It was why she had truly left.
“Emma?”
She faced him.
“The night I left, somebody came into our bedroom.”
Adrian went still.
“What?”
“You were downstairs.”
“No. I wasn’t home.”
“You were supposed to be downstairs.”
His face hardened.
“Who came in?”
“I never saw his face.”
“What did he do?”
“He put an envelope on the bed.”
Emma’s breathing grew shallow.
“There were photographs inside.”
“Of what?”
“You.”
Adrian frowned.
“With men I didn’t know. Guns. A warehouse. Blood on the floor.”
Rachel reached for Emma’s hand.
Emma continued.
“There was a note.”
“What did it say?”
“That if I ever had your child, the baby would grow up in the same world.”
Adrian stared.
“And you believed it.”
“I had no reason not to.”
“Why didn’t you show me?”
“Because there was another photograph.”
She swallowed.
“Of you standing beside Victor.”
Adrian’s face darkened.
“That doesn’t prove anything.”
“It had been taken that same afternoon.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I hadn’t seen Victor in almost two years.”
Emma stared.
Adrian turned to Marco.
“Find the photograph.”
Rachel opened her purse again.
“I already did.”
Everyone looked at her.
Rachel removed a plastic sleeve.
Inside was the image.
Adrian took it.
His expression changed immediately.
“This is fake.”
Emma almost laughed.
“You can tell from one look?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
He pointed.
“My watch.”
Emma stared.
“What about it?”
“That model was stolen from me three years before this picture was supposedly taken.”
Marco examined the photograph.
“He’s right.”
Emma felt the room tilt.
Eight months of fear.
Eight months of believing she had protected Sophie from Adrian.
What if someone had created that fear deliberately?
“What about the warehouse pictures?”
Rachel handed them over.
Adrian flipped through them.
His face became unreadable.
“These are real.”
Emma’s heart sank.
“But?”
“They’re twelve years old.”
“What happened?”
“A man named Daniel Russo was being held there.”
Emma waited.
“By you?”
“No. By people who wanted information from him.”
“What were you doing there?”
“Getting him out.”
Emma stared.
“You expect me to believe you were rescuing someone?”
“No.”
His voice was tired.
“I expect you to believe whatever the evidence proves.”
Rachel looked between them.
“Someone built a story out of real photographs and fake dates.”
Adrian nodded.
“They wanted Emma afraid of me.”
“And it worked,” Emma whispered.
His eyes met hers.
Neither said anything.
Then Marco’s phone rang again.
He stepped away.
Adrian looked at Emma.
“You should have come to me.”
“You should have given me a life where I could.”
The words struck cleanly.
He didn’t defend himself.
“I know.”
It was the first time he had ever said it.
No excuse.
No argument.
Just acceptance.
Emma’s anger faltered.
Marco returned.
“We have another problem.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“The medical-file access wasn’t random.”
“Whose credentials?”
“Mine.”
“You already said that.”
“No. I mean the login came from my actual phone.”
Marco held it up.
“It happened while the phone was in my pocket.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Cloned.”
“Looks that way.”
Rachel frowned.
“Can someone do that?”
“Yes.”
Marco looked at Adrian.
“But they’d need physical access first.”
“When?”
“That’s what I’m checking.”
Emma suddenly remembered something.
“The funeral.”
Everyone looked at her.
“Lucia’s funeral. Marco gave his jacket to an attendant when he carried the casket.”
Marco’s face changed.
“There were dozens of people.”
“One of them could have taken your phone.”
Adrian nodded.
“Get the attendee list.”
Rachel sat down.
Emma noticed her sister’s hands shaking.
“Rachel?”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not.”
Rachel looked toward Adrian.
“I need to tell you something else.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“What?”
Rachel’s eyes filled with tears.
“Three months ago, Victor contacted me.”
Adrian moved instantly.
“What did he want?”
Rachel looked at Emma.
“He said he knew about the baby.”
Emma stared.
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I thought I was protecting you.”
“From what?”
Rachel opened her mouth.
Before she could answer, the lights went out.
The mansion dropped into darkness.
Marco swore.
Adrian reached for Emma.
A second later, something slammed against the front door.
Once.
Twice.
May you like
Then the lock clicked.
Someone outside had a key.
