Chapter 2 - The Eyes He Couldn’t Deny
Adrien stared at the label until the letters blurred.
Luca Moretti.
His surname.
His son.
A name no one should have known.
“Elena,” he said.
“Don’t.”
She was exhausted, pale, and holding the newborn against her chest as though the entire world had suddenly become something she needed to protect him from.
Adrien backed away.
That movement mattered.
Six months earlier, he would have demanded answers.
Tonight, he waited.
The security officer cleared his throat.
“There’s another issue.”
Adrien looked over.
“The package wasn’t entered through receiving. There’s no hospital scan. No courier signature.”
“Then how did it get upstairs?” Elena asked.
“We don’t know.”
Adrien’s eyes hardened.
Elena saw it happen.
The instinct to control.
The need to lock the building down and put armed men at every door.
She knew him too well.
“No.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to.”
“I was thinking.”
“You think loudly.”
The security officer wisely pretended not to hear.
Adrien dragged a hand across his jaw.
“What do you want?”
“Move Luca and me to a secure room. Hospital security handles the floor. Your people can watch entrances from outside.”
“And the box?”
“Police.”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
“Elena.”
“No disappearing evidence.”
“I wasn’t suggesting—”
“You were.”
His silence admitted it.
She softened slightly.
“I called you because I trust you enough to try again. Don’t make me wrong.”
Something in his face broke.
“Okay.”
The package was removed.
The delivery man had vanished.
That should have been impossible.
Hospital security had detained him near the elevators.
Yet when an officer went to retrieve him, the room was empty.
No broken lock.
No forced exit.
Someone with access had released him.
By dawn, Elena had been transferred to a private recovery room.
Luca slept beside her in a clear hospital bassinet.
Adrien sat near the window.
He had been awake all night.
Elena watched him staring at the baby.
“You can hold him.”
Adrien looked at her sharply.
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
He stood.
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Adrien Moretti looked uncertain about where to put his hands.
Elena almost laughed.
“Support his head.”
“I know.”
“You’re holding him like unexploded ammunition.”
“That feels appropriate.”
She smiled despite herself.
Adrien lowered himself into the chair.
Luca opened his eyes.
Father and son stared at each other.
Gray-blue meeting gray-blue.
Adrien swallowed.
“He’s mine.”
It was not a question.
Elena’s smile vanished.
“Yes.”
Adrien closed his eyes.
The silence stretched.
“You knew?”
“Since week nine.”
“And you left.”
“Yes.”
His eyes opened.
There was pain there.
But no accusation.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because when I discovered I was pregnant, there were already two men following me everywhere.”
“They were protection.”
“They were surveillance.”
“I thought someone was targeting you.”
“And instead of telling me, you put trackers on my car and phone.”
Adrien looked down.
“Yes.”
“I was carrying your child. I knew what would happen if I told you.”
“What?”
“You would build a fortress around me and call it love.”
He flinched.
Elena hated seeing it.
But she would not withdraw the truth.
“I needed to know whether you could love me without owning my choices.”
“And leaving was the test?”
“No. Leaving was survival.”
Adrien looked at Luca.
“I stopped searching.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“That’s why I called you tonight.”
For the first time, understanding entered his expression.
“You waited to see if I would respect your boundary.”
“Yes.”
“And I finally did.”
“Yes.”
Luca made a tiny sound.
Adrien instinctively brought him closer.
The gesture was so gentle Elena’s throat tightened.
“I missed everything,” he whispered.
“Not everything.”
His gaze lifted.
She nodded toward Luca.
“You’re here now.”
A knock interrupted them.
Detective Nora Bell entered with hospital security.
She placed photographs on the bedside table.
“The pharmaceutical carton was empty.”
Adrien frowned.
“Then why bring it here?”
“To send a message.”
Bell pointed to the barcode.
“We traced the legitimate number. It belonged to a Moretti Logistics shipment from eleven years ago.”
Adrien’s expression changed.
“What shipment?”
Bell slid over another page.
“Medical supplies.”
“Destination?”
“St. Catherine’s Clinic.”
Adrien stood too quickly.
Luca stirred.
He immediately sat again.
Elena noticed.
“Why does that matter?” she asked.
Adrien did not answer.
“Adrien.”
“My mother died at St. Catherine’s.”
Elena stared at him.
He rarely spoke about his mother.
“She was sick?”
“No.”
His voice became strangely flat.
“She was supposed to be there for a routine procedure.”
“What happened?”
“She never came home.”
Detective Bell studied him.
“The shipment arrived the night before she died.”
Adrien’s face had gone pale.
Bell produced one final photograph.
“We also recovered security footage of the delivery man.”
The image was grainy.
Elena leaned closer.
Adrien stopped breathing.
“You know him?” Bell asked.
Adrien did not answer.
Elena looked at the photograph.
The man wore a cap, but part of his face was visible.
A scar ran from his ear toward his jaw.
Adrien whispered a name.
“Gabriel.”
“Who is Gabriel?”
Adrien’s gaze remained fixed on the photograph.
“My mother’s driver.”
Elena frowned.
“That was eleven years ago.”
Adrien finally looked at her.
“He died the same night she did.”
A phone vibrated.
Not Elena’s.
Not Adrien’s.
The sound came from inside Luca’s bassinet.
They both turned.
A tiny black phone had been taped beneath the mattress.
Its screen illuminated.
ONE NEW MESSAGE.
Adrien reached toward it.
Elena caught his hand.
Together, they looked at the screen.
May you like
The message contained only five words.
ASK ADRIEN WHO KILLED HIS MOTHER.
