Chapter 2 - What Was Under the Desk
Elena stared at the tiny phone hidden inside her daughter’s teddy bear.
“Don't touch it,” Dante said.
She looked at him.
“You don't get to tell me that anymore.”
Sophia stood beside her, confused.
“Mommy, is Teddy broken?”
“No, sweetheart.”
Elena forced her voice to remain steady.
“Go sit with Mrs. Bellini.”
“I want to stay with you.”
“I know.”
Mrs. Bellini appeared in the hallway, pale and shaken. Elena reluctantly let her take Sophia several yards away.
Only then did Dante remove the phone.
It was an inexpensive prepaid model.
One unread message glowed on the screen.
SHE FOUND THE DOG. NOW HE'LL FIND HER.
Elena felt cold.
Adrian read it over Dante’s shoulder.
“What does that mean?”
Nobody answered.
Titan stood beside Sophia.
Not Adrian.
That fact seemed to disturb Dante most.
“Where did she get the bear?” Adrian asked.
Elena thought.
“I bought it at a church fundraiser.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Which church?”
“Saint Matthew’s.”
Dante immediately told a guard to check security footage and fundraiser records.
Adrian should have been resting.
Instead, he sat behind his desk while Dr. Reynolds protested.
“You were unconscious ten minutes ago.”
“And someone put an unidentified substance in my study.”
“That is exactly why you should be in a hospital.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Can you tell me what happened?”
“Not without tests.”
“Then arrange them here.”
Reynolds exhaled.
“You remain the worst patient I have.”
“I pay you enough to survive it.”
Under other circumstances Elena might have smiled.
She didn’t.
Her attention remained on the phone.
Gabriel.
The name had reopened a room inside her memory that she had kept locked for years.
After Sophia left with Mrs. Bellini, Elena faced Adrian.
“Tell me about Gabriel.”
Dante moved toward the door.
Adrian stopped him.
“Stay.”
Elena folded her arms.
“What happened February seventh?”
Adrian studied her.
“Twelve years ago, someone tried to kill me.”
The bluntness of it shocked her.
Adrian continued.
“My car went off an icy road outside Worcester. Gabriel was driving behind us. He pulled me out before the engine caught fire.”
Elena’s throat tightened.
“Why was he behind you?”
“That is the question I never answered.”
“You knew him?”
“Barely.”
“He never mentioned you.”
“I wouldn't expect him to.”
Adrian turned the bracelet over.
“Three days later, Gabriel disappeared.”
Elena stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“And you never came to me?”
“I didn't know you existed.”
That hurt in a different way.
Adrian opened a drawer and removed an old photograph.
He slid it across the desk.
Elena stopped breathing.
Gabriel stood beside a younger Adrian.
Gabriel was smiling.
Same crooked smile.
Same dark eyes Sophia had inherited.
On the back, in Gabriel’s handwriting, were five words.
IF I DISAPPEAR, PROTECT ELENA.
Elena’s knees weakened.
“You had this?”
“It arrived anonymously after Gabriel vanished.”
“And you did nothing?”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“I spent years trying to find him.”
“Not hard enough.”
“No,” he said quietly. “Apparently not.”
That answer took some of the fight out of her.
Dante entered with information.
The fundraiser records showed the teddy bear had been donated anonymously.
No donor name.
No receipt.
But security footage showed someone placing it on the table.
A man in a baseball cap.
The image was blurry.
Elena stared at it.
Something about the man’s posture felt familiar.
Then Sophia returned.
Titan beside her.
“Mommy, he wants us to follow him.”
Titan walked toward the study.
Then stopped beside Adrian’s desk.
He scratched once at the carpet.
Dante lifted the rug.
Beneath it was a small brass ring.
Adrian stared.
“I didn't put that there.”
Dante pulled.
A narrow floor compartment opened.
Inside sat a sealed envelope.
Written across it was one name.
ELENA.
Her breath caught.
She opened it.
Inside was a key and a photograph of Sophia taken only three days earlier.
On the back:
ASK ADRIAN WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO GABRIEL.
Elena looked up.
Adrian was staring at the photograph.
Then the lights went out.
A lock clicked somewhere behind them.
May you like
Titan growled.
And from the dark hallway, a man whispered Elena’s name.
