Chapter 3 - The Name Adrian Wasn't Supposed to Know
“Elena.”
The voice came again.
Titan moved first.
Emergency lights flickered on.
The hallway was empty.
Dante ran toward the staircase while two guards secured the study.
Nobody was there.
But a side door stood open.
Adrian looked at Elena.
“Someone wanted us to hear that.”
Elena held the key from the envelope.
“What does this open?”
Nobody knew.
For the next hour, Dante searched the mansion.
One camera had gone offline ninety seconds before the blackout.
Only one.
The camera outside Adrian’s private archive.
Adrian led Elena there.
The key fit.
Inside were years of documents.
And one locked metal box.
The same key opened that too.
Inside lay Gabriel’s wallet.
Elena sat down.
She recognized the worn leather immediately.
His driver’s license remained inside.
So did an old photograph of Elena.
“You had this?” she asked Adrian.
“No.”
Dante looked equally disturbed.
Someone had accessed the archive.
Someone with extraordinary knowledge of the mansion.
At the bottom of the box was a handwritten letter.
Gabriel had written it.
Elena recognized every stroke.
He explained that he had discovered someone close to Adrian manipulating accounts and using Adrian’s name for things Adrian knew nothing about.
Gabriel had tried to warn him.
Then came the car crash.
Gabriel believed it had not been an accident.
The final paragraph was different.
If Elena ever reads this, tell her I left because staying would put her in danger.
Elena covered her mouth.
For five years she had believed Sophia’s father had abandoned them.
Now that certainty shattered.
Adrian turned away, giving her privacy.
But Elena wasn’t finished.
“There’s another page missing.”
The numbering jumped from two to four.
Dante searched the box.
Nothing.
Titan entered.
He sniffed the box.
Then walked directly toward Dante.
The dog stared at him.
Dante frowned.
“What?”
Titan sniffed Dante’s jacket.
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Empty your pockets.”
Dante stared at him.
“You're serious?”
“Now.”
Dante removed his phone, keys and wallet.
Then a folded piece of paper fell onto the floor.
Everyone froze.
Dante looked genuinely stunned.
“I've never seen that.”
Adrian picked it up.
Page three.
Gabriel’s missing page.
Someone had planted it on Dante.
The message on the page was short:
THE PERSON RESPONSIBLE WORKS INSIDE ADRIAN'S HOUSE.
Then came a name.
Adrian read it.
His expression changed.
Elena stepped closer.
“What name?”
Before Adrian could answer, a gunshot-like crack echoed from downstairs.
It was only glass breaking.
But Titan bolted.
They followed.
The front window had shattered.
A stone lay on the floor wrapped in paper.
Dante unfolded the note.
STOP DIGGING INTO THE PAST.
Adrian turned toward the household staff gathered nearby.
Someone was missing.
Mrs. Bellini.
They found her apron in the kitchen.
Her phone lay on the counter.
And the back door was open.
Sophia appeared at the staircase.
“Mommy?”
Elena rushed to her.
Sophia pointed toward the garden.
“The nice man told Mrs. Bellini to go outside.”
Every adult stopped.
“What nice man?” Adrian asked.
Sophia looked toward him.
“The man from my picture.”
Elena’s heart slammed.
“What picture?”
Sophia pointed at Gabriel’s photograph.
“Him.”
Elena couldn't breathe.
“Sophia, when did you see him?”
The little girl answered softly.
“Just now.”
Titan suddenly barked toward the garden.
A shadow moved beyond the glass doors.
Elena ran forward.
A man stood beneath the trees.
He turned.
May you like
For one impossible second, Elena saw his face.
Gabriel.
