Chapter 5 - Someone Inside His House
Adrian moved toward the door.
Charlotte caught his wrist.
“Wait.”
He looked at her.
“That sounded like my sister.”
“I know.”
“She is dead.”
“Exactly.”
The door opened.
A woman stood outside.
For one impossible second, Charlotte understood why Adrian had believed.
Dark hair.
Similar eyes.
Similar face.
But older.
The woman looked at him sadly.
“I'm not Elena.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“I can see that.”
“My name is Sofia.”
“Who are you?”
“Elena's daughter.”
Silence swallowed the room.
Adrian stared at her.
“My sister didn't have a daughter.”
“She did.”
Sofia held out a photograph.
Elena sat in a hospital bed holding a newborn.
A younger Ruth stood beside her.
Adrian took it.
His hand trembled.
Charlotte had never seen that before.
“Why didn't she tell me?”
“Because my father was Victor's son.”
Adrian looked up sharply.
Sofia explained.
Years earlier, Elena had secretly been involved with Victor's estranged son, Gabriel.
Gabriel wanted nothing to do with his father.
When Elena became pregnant, she feared Victor would use the child to gain leverage over Adrian.
Sofia was raised elsewhere.
Gabriel died in an accident when Sofia was young.
Elena visited secretly.
“Why come back now?” Adrian asked.
“Because someone found me.”
“Victor?”
“No.”
That answer changed everything.
“Who?”
Sofia looked toward Marco.
Charlotte noticed.
So did Adrian.
Marco's expression remained steady.
Sofia swallowed.
“I don't know his real name. Elena called him the Steward.”
Adrian's brow furrowed.
“The Steward?”
“He handled everything your father didn't want to handle personally.”
Marco said quietly, “Thomas Vale.”
Adrian turned.
“Vale died twelve years ago.”
Marco shook his head.
“We were told he died.”
Charlotte felt the pieces shifting again.
“Was he the man in the car?”
Marco enlarged the alley footage.
The driver's face remained mostly shadowed.
But Adrian studied it.
“Could be.”
Sofia nodded.
“He contacted me three months ago. Said he knew who I was.”
“What did he want?”
“The evidence Elena left behind.”
Adrian looked at the corrupted memory card.
“And you followed us here?”
“I knew you'd eventually come.”
“How?”
“Because Elena told me about the chess piece.”
Adrian looked wounded by that.
His sister had entrusted secrets to a daughter he never knew existed.
Charlotte touched his arm.
Sofia noticed.
“You're Charlotte.”
Charlotte stiffened.
“How does everybody know me?”
“Elena wrote about your family.”
Sofia opened her bag.
Inside were several letters.
One addressed to Charlotte.
She opened it.
Elena thanked Charlotte's father for helping her.
Then came a line Charlotte read twice.
If anything happens to me, tell Charlotte that her father chose integrity when powerful people offered him every reason not to.
Charlotte's eyes burned.
Her father had never told her.
Maybe because he wanted her safe.
Adrian stood beside her.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”
She folded the letter carefully.
“But I will be.”
Their eyes met.
Something had changed between them.
It wasn't the kiss.
It wasn't attraction.
It was trust.
Fragile.
Unexpected.
Real.
Marco interrupted.
“We need to leave.”
Adrian nodded.
They returned to his estate with Sofia.
Security doubled.
That evening Charlotte found Adrian alone on the terrace.
“You have a niece.”
“So I've been told.”
“You don't sound happy.”
“I don't know how to feel.”
“That's allowed.”
“In my world, uncertainty is expensive.”
Charlotte leaned against the railing.
“Maybe that's your problem.”
“What?”
“You treat emotions like business decisions.”
Adrian looked at her.
“And you kiss strangers.”
“That happened once.”
“So far.”
Charlotte laughed.
He smiled.
Then became serious.
“Why did you really do it?”
“What?”
“The alley.”
“I told you.”
“No. You gave me the easy answer.”
Charlotte looked away.
Years earlier, she'd watched a man collapse outside a grocery store.
People had walked around him.
Someone eventually helped.
But Charlotte never forgot the minutes everyone had spent assuming someone else would act.
“I promised myself I wouldn't become someone who walked away.”
Adrian listened.
“That could get you hurt.”
“It could.”
“Doesn't that scare you?”
“Of course.”
“You didn't look scared.”
“I was terrified.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“That's different.”
“From what?”
“Not feeling fear isn't courage.”
His voice softened.
“Walking forward while feeling it is.”
Charlotte looked at him.
“You almost sound nice.”
“Don't spread it around.”
They smiled.
For the first time, Adrian lifted his hand toward her face.
Then stopped.
Charlotte noticed.
“You can.”
His fingers gently brushed a loose strand of hair away.
No urgency.
No performance.
Nothing like the alley.
He leaned closer.
Charlotte didn't move away.
A phone rang.
Marco appeared at the terrace door.
Adrian closed his eyes briefly.
Charlotte laughed.
“You have terrible timing, Marco.”
“So I've been told.”
But Marco wasn't smiling.
He held out the phone.
“We found Thomas Vale.”
Adrian took it.
“Where?”
Marco answered.
“Here.”
Adrian looked around.
“What do you mean?”
“He entered the estate twenty minutes ago.”
Charlotte's smile disappeared.
“How?”
Marco looked toward the security cameras.
“Someone disabled the west wing.”
Adrian immediately turned toward the house.
Sofia was inside.
They ran.
Her bedroom was empty.
The window stood open.
On the bed lay Elena's letters.
And one fresh note.
Adrian picked it up.
YOU HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO ME. I HAVE SOMETHING THAT BELONGS TO YOU.
Charlotte heard a sound behind them.
Marco's phone.
A security alert.
He opened the camera feed.
A figure stood inside Adrian's private office.
Not Thomas Vale.
Someone they all knew.
Adrian stared at the screen.
May you like
Then slowly looked at Marco.
“Why,” he asked, “is your brother inside my office?”
