Chapter 2 - The Man Felix Feared
"Your brother didn't betray you for money, Olivia."
The woman standing in the clinic doorway held up the photograph.
"He betrayed you because someone convinced him your mother was murdered."
Olivia stared at her.
"What did you just say?"
The woman stepped forward, revealing a narrow silver necklace and a small scar beneath her left eye.
"My name is Evelyn Cross. I worked with your mother."
Olivia's fingers tightened around her phone.
Her mother had died eleven years earlier.
A car accident.
That was what the police report said. That was what the insurance company said. That was what Olivia had spent more than a decade forcing herself to believe.
Now a stranger was standing in front of her with a photograph from the funeral.
"Get out," Olivia whispered.
Evelyn didn't move.
"Please. Your mother left something behind."
"I said get out!"
Marcus stepped between them.
"Evelyn, this isn't the time."
The woman turned toward him.
"Then when? After Felix finds her again?"
Olivia's phone crackled.
Ryan was still connected.
"Olivia? Who's there?"
She raised the phone.
"There's a woman named Evelyn Cross."
Ryan stopped speaking.
"Ryan?"
"Don't tell her anything."
Olivia's stomach dropped.
"Why?"
"Because she's supposed to be dead."
Across Chicago, Adrian Vale was reviewing a security recording when Marcus called.
He answered immediately.
"Is Olivia safe?"
"Physically, yes."
Adrian noticed the hesitation.
"What happened?"
"Evelyn Cross showed up."
The name hit him like a physical blow.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he stood.
"Where is she?"
"At the clinic."
"Don't let her leave."
Marcus lowered his voice.
"She has a photograph from the Marshall funeral."
Adrian closed his eyes.
Eleven years.
He had spent eleven years trying to forget that funeral.
And now the past was standing in a private clinic, speaking to the daughter of the woman he had once promised to protect.
"Adrian?"
"I'm coming."
He ended the call.
For the first time in years, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk.
Inside was a small black velvet box.
He lifted the lid.
A silver bracelet rested against the fabric.
Engraved on the inside were three words.
For my girls.
Adrian stared at the inscription.
Then he closed the box and slipped it into his pocket.
Olivia refused to sit down.
Evelyn remained near the door, clutching the photograph.
"Your mother and I worked together at a private accounting firm," she explained.
"My mother was a bookkeeper."
"She was much more than that."
Olivia shook her head.
"No. I'm not doing this. I'm not listening to another stranger tell me everything I know about my life is wrong."
Evelyn's expression softened.
"Your mother discovered that someone was stealing millions through a network of property companies."
Olivia felt sick.
"What does that have to do with Felix?"
"His father was involved."
The room seemed to tilt.
Felix had always been strangely interested in her mother's belongings.
He had asked about old documents, family photographs, and the storage unit Olivia had inherited.
She remembered him becoming furious when she donated several boxes of paperwork.
At the time, she had assumed he was simply being controlling.
Now she wasn't so certain.
"Why didn't you tell the police?" she demanded.
"I tried."
"And?"
"Two days later, my apartment was broken into. Someone left a photograph of my daughter on the kitchen table."
Evelyn looked away.
"I disappeared."
Olivia glanced toward Marcus.
"Is any of this true?"
He hesitated.
"I know Evelyn worked with your mother. I don't know whether everything she's saying is accurate."
It was the first answer Olivia had received all night that didn't pretend certainty.
She appreciated it more than she expected.
Her phone vibrated.
A text message from Ryan appeared.
Don't let her show you the second photograph.
Olivia looked up.
"What second photograph?"
Evelyn went pale.
"How do you know about that?"
Olivia held up the phone.
"My brother."
Evelyn took a step backward.
"Oh, God."
"What?"
"Ryan wasn't supposed to remember."
Forty minutes later, Adrian entered the clinic.
Olivia recognized him immediately.
Silver hair.
Sharp blue-gray eyes.
Black tailored suit.
Dark tattoos climbing above his open collar.
He looked exactly like the man whose photograph had appeared on the cover of a business magazine Felix kept on his office bookshelf.
Except the photograph hadn't prepared her for his presence.
Adrian stopped several feet away.
"Olivia."
She folded her arms.
"So you're the stranger."
"Apparently."
"Do you always answer wrong numbers?"
"Only the interesting ones."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then she remembered her brother's warning.
"Why did you help me?"
Adrian glanced at Evelyn.
"Because Felix Kesler has been looking for something that doesn't belong to him."
"Me?"
"No."
The answer surprised her.
"Then what?"
Adrian reached into his pocket.
He removed the velvet box and placed it on the table.
Olivia stared at it.
"Open it."
She hesitated before lifting the lid.
The silver bracelet caught the light.
Her breath stopped.
She knew that bracelet.
Her mother had worn it every day.
Olivia remembered sitting on her mother's lap, tracing the tiny engraved flowers with her fingers.
She remembered asking whether she could wear it when she grew up.
And she remembered the police telling her the bracelet had been lost in the accident.
"Where did you get this?"
Her voice was barely audible.
Adrian's expression changed.
"Your mother gave it to me."
Olivia looked up.
"When?"
"Three days before she died."
The room fell silent.
"Why?"
Adrian looked toward Evelyn.
Then back at Olivia.
"Because she knew someone was planning to kill her."
Olivia stumbled backward.
Marcus reached toward her, but she raised a hand.
"No."
Adrian remained still.
"Your mother came to me because she believed my companies were being used without my knowledge."
"Used for what?"
"Moving stolen money."
Olivia stared at him.
"Felix's father?"
"Among others."
"And you expect me to believe you knew nothing?"
"No. I expect you to ask questions until you're satisfied with the answers."
His response unsettled her.
Felix would have shouted.
Felix would have accused her of being ungrateful.
Adrian simply waited.
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"I did."
"What happened?"
"The evidence disappeared."
Evelyn lowered her head.
Adrian continued.
"Three days later, your mother died."
Olivia felt tears gathering.
She hated them.
She hated that strangers were watching her discover that the most painful event of her childhood might have been something entirely different from what she had believed.
"And my brother?"
Adrian looked genuinely confused.
"What about him?"
"He gave Felix my address."
Something dangerous flickered across Adrian's face.
"He told you that?"
"Yes."
Adrian turned toward Marcus.
"Find Ryan Marshall."
Olivia stepped forward.
"You're not hurting my brother."
Adrian looked at her.
"I wasn't planning to."
"Then what are you planning?"
"To find out who's been using your family to get what they want."
Ryan Marshall sat alone in a motel room outside Chicago.
His hands were shaking.
On the bed lay an envelope containing twenty thousand dollars.
He hadn't touched the money.
Not since Felix had given it to him.
Ryan had believed he was making a deal to protect his sister.
Felix had promised that if Ryan revealed Olivia's location, he would leave her alone after recovering the documents she had supposedly taken.
It had been a lie.
Ryan understood that now.
He opened his laptop.
An encrypted folder appeared on the screen.
His mother had left him the files shortly before her death.
He had never understood why she had insisted that he hide them.
Until six months earlier, when Felix contacted him.
Ryan clicked on the first document.
A scanned financial statement appeared.
At the bottom were three signatures.
One belonged to Felix's father.
Another belonged to a man Ryan had never met.
The third belonged to Adrian Vale.
Ryan stared at it.
Something was wrong.
He enlarged the signature.
Then he opened another document.
The handwriting didn't match.
Someone had forged Adrian's name.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
Ryan answered.
"Hello?"
A familiar voice spoke.
"Did you find the files?"
Ryan went cold.
"Felix."
"You made a mistake, Ryan."
Ryan looked toward the motel window.
A black sedan had stopped outside.
"Where's my sister?"
Felix laughed quietly.
"That's what I was going to ask you."
The motel room door handle began to turn.
Ryan grabbed the laptop.
And the door opened.
Back at the clinic, Olivia had finally stopped trembling.
Adrian sat across from her.
Evelyn had gone into another room with Marcus to review the documents she had brought.
For the first time, Olivia and Adrian were alone.
"Why does Felix fear you?" she asked.
Adrian considered the question.
"Because I know what his family has done."
"Are you going to tell me?"
"Yes."
"Everything?"
He hesitated.
"Everything I can prove."
Olivia studied him.
"That's a very careful answer."
"I've learned to be careful."
She glanced at his tattooed hands.
"People say you're dangerous."
"Some people have good reasons to dislike me."
"That's not what I asked."
He met her eyes.
"No. It isn't."
She waited.
Adrian leaned forward.
"I've made decisions I'm not proud of. I've worked with people I shouldn't have trusted. But I'm not asking you to ignore that."
Olivia looked down at her mother's bracelet.
"Felix used to say things like that."
Adrian's expression tightened.
"Then don't believe me because I said them."
He stood.
"Believe what you can verify."
He walked toward the door.
"Where are you going?"
"To find your brother."
Olivia stood immediately.
"I'm coming."
"No."
Her expression changed.
Adrian caught himself.
He had made a mistake.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That wasn't my decision to make."
Olivia stared at him.
Nobody had apologized to her that quickly in years.
She picked up her coat.
"I'm coming."
Adrian nodded.
"Then we leave together."
They were halfway to the elevator when Marcus appeared.
His expression stopped Adrian in his tracks.
"What happened?"
"We found Ryan's motel."
"And?"
Marcus looked at Olivia.
"His room was empty."
Her heart sank.
"Where is he?"
"We don't know."
Adrian took the phone Marcus offered him.
A security photograph appeared.
A motel parking lot.
A black sedan.
Two men entering Ryan's room.
Then another image.
Ryan being escorted toward the vehicle.
Olivia covered her mouth.
"Felix."
Marcus shook his head.
"There's something else."
He swiped to the next photograph.
A woman stood beside the black sedan.
Her face was partially hidden beneath a dark coat.
But Olivia recognized the silver necklace.
The small scar beneath her left eye.
Evelyn Cross.
Olivia stared at the screen.
"She's here. She's at the clinic."
Marcus looked toward the hallway.
"Not anymore."
Adrian's phone vibrated.
An incoming video message.
He opened it.
Ryan appeared on the screen, sitting in a dimly lit room.
His face was pale.
Someone stood behind him.
Then a woman's voice spoke.
"Hello, Adrian."
Adrian's expression went completely blank.
Olivia looked at him.
"Who is that?"
He didn't answer.
The woman stepped into the camera's view.
And Olivia heard Adrian whisper a name he had apparently spent eleven years trying to forget.
"Margaret?"
Olivia stopped breathing.
May you like
Because Margaret Marshall was her mother.
And the woman standing behind Ryan had her face.
