Chapter 3 - The Name Everyone Knew
Charlotte nearly dropped the phone.
Adrian caught it.
“What happened?”
“My mother.”
He saw her face.
“What did they say?”
Charlotte repeated the words.
Every trace of warmth vanished from Adrian.
“Marco.”
Already moving, Marco pulled out his phone.
Charlotte grabbed Adrian.
“You said someone was watching her.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did they get her?”
“We don't know that they did.”
“You heard them!”
“We heard a voice.”
“My mother didn't answer!”
Adrian held her shoulders.
“Charlotte. Look at me.”
She did.
“Panic helps them.”
“I don't care about them!”
“I know.”
His voice softened.
“But we verify first.”
Marco returned.
“Mrs. Hayes is safe.”
Charlotte stared.
“What?”
“Our man is outside her building. He can see her apartment window. She's there.”
Charlotte grabbed the phone and called again.
Her mother answered.
“Charlotte?”
Charlotte nearly cried.
“Mom.”
“Sweetheart, why are you calling at three-thirty?”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“Just checking on you.”
“At three-thirty?”
“Long shift.”
Her mother sighed.
“You work too much.”
Charlotte laughed shakily.
“I know.”
After hanging up, relief became anger.
“They wanted to scare me.”
Adrian nodded.
“And they succeeded.”
She looked at him.
“Who is your uncle?”
“Victor DeLuca.”
“Why does that name sound familiar?”
Marco and Adrian exchanged a look.
Charlotte pulled out her phone and searched.
Results appeared immediately.
DeLuca Holdings.
Hotels.
Shipping.
Real estate.
Charitable foundations.
Then articles discussing Adrian.
Photographs.
Headlines.
Rumors.
Influence.
Investigations that had never produced charges.
A family surrounded by whispers.
Charlotte looked up.
“You're that DeLuca.”
Adrian's expression didn't change.
“Apparently.”
“You own half the waterfront.”
“Not half.”
“That is your correction?”
“Accuracy matters.”
Charlotte stared at him.
“You're unbelievable.”
“I've heard that.”
She kept scrolling.
Some articles used words like feared, secretive, powerful.
Others discussed legitimate companies worth hundreds of millions.
The more she read, the less she understood.
“Are you a criminal?”
Marco abruptly found something fascinating across the room.
Adrian didn't look away.
“I run businesses.”
“That isn't what I asked.”
“No.”
Charlotte waited.
Adrian's voice remained calm.
“My family has a complicated history. I inherited both legitimate companies and enemies created long before I controlled anything. I've spent years separating one from the other.”
“That's a very polished answer.”
“It's also true.”
“Were those men trying to kill you?”
“I don't think so.”
“Why?”
“Because if Victor wanted me dead, the alley would have ended differently.”
Charlotte didn't like how casually he said it.
“Then what did he want?”
“To remind me he could reach me.”
“Why?”
Adrian walked to the fireplace.
“My father built DeLuca Holdings with his brother. When my father died, control passed to me.”
“Victor wanted it.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't he get it?”
“Because my father didn't trust him.”
Charlotte remembered the photograph.
“And your sister?”
Adrian went silent.
“Did Victor have something to do with her death?”
“I don't know.”
The answer was quieter.
“For five years, I've suspected someone close to the family betrayed Elena. I never proved who.”
Charlotte sat down.
“So tonight wasn't random.”
“No.”
“And me?”
“Was.”
“Great.”
Adrian turned toward her.
“That's why this bothers me.”
“Because I'm random?”
“Because you weren't part of this.”
The way he said it made her look up.
“You walked into an alley for someone you'd never met,” he continued. “Now Victor knows your face.”
Charlotte swallowed.
“I'll go home.”
“No.”
“You can't keep me here.”
“No.”
“Then stop saying no like you're my father.”
Something flashed in his expression.
“I haven't been compared to someone's father during an argument before.”
“Enjoy the experience.”
He stepped closer.
“Stay tonight.”
It sounded different this time.
Not an order.
A request.
“Tomorrow we'll arrange protection for your mother. Then you decide what you want.”
Charlotte considered him.
“Fine.”
“Fine?”
“One night.”
Adrian nodded.
“One night.”
She was shown to a guest bedroom larger than her apartment.
Charlotte couldn't sleep.
At five in the morning, she found Adrian in the kitchen making coffee.
“You have staff,” she said.
“They're asleep.”
“You know how to use a coffee machine?”
He glanced at her.
“Your expectations of wealthy men are disturbing.”
She sat at the island.
He placed a cup before her.
Exactly how she liked it.
Charlotte frowned.
“How did you know?”
“You put four creamers in your coffee at the diner.”
“You noticed that?”
“I notice things.”
She took a sip.
“So do I.”
“That worries me.”
It was the closest thing to flirting either had acknowledged.
For a moment, the strange night disappeared.
Then Marco entered carrying a sealed envelope.
“This was delivered at the gate.”
Adrian didn't touch it.
“From?”
“No return address.”
Marco opened it carefully.
Inside was a photograph.
Adrian's sister Elena.
Charlotte leaned closer.
Elena stood beside a car.
A date was printed at the bottom.
Five years earlier.
The night she died.
There was writing on the back.
Adrian read it.
His face changed.
“What?”
Charlotte asked.
He handed her the photograph.
Four words.
SHE KNEW ABOUT CHARLOTTE.
Charlotte stared at them.
“That isn't possible.”
Adrian looked at her.
“You never met Elena?”
“No.”
“You're certain?”
“Yes.”
Charlotte flipped the photograph again.
Something in the background caught her attention.
A diner sign.
Bellamy's.
Her diner.
Charlotte's pulse quickened.
“That was taken behind my workplace.”
Adrian took the photograph.
Then Charlotte noticed another detail.
A woman was reflected in the car window.
Older.
Wearing a diner uniform.
Charlotte knew that face.
She had seen it every day of her childhood.
“My mother.”
Adrian looked sharply at her.
Charlotte pointed at the reflection.
“That woman is my mother.”
Neither moved.
Then Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Adrian demanded.
Marco slowly lowered the phone.
“Someone just entered Mrs. Hayes's apartment.”
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Charlotte was already running for the door when Marco added:
“And according to our man outside, that person is Elena DeLuca.”
