Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Buried Twice
"Grandpa."
The word stayed in Adrian's mind long after Lily said it.
He stared at the little girl.
She wasn't looking at Daniel.
She wasn't looking at the photograph.
She was looking past Adrian.
Toward the dark hospital hallway behind him.
Like someone else was standing there.
Adrian slowly turned around.
Nothing.
Only the red emergency lights flashing against the empty walls.
But his heart was already beating faster.
Because Lily wasn't confused.
Children could misunderstand many things.
But they rarely forgot a face.
"Who did you see?" Adrian asked softly.
Lily held onto his coat.
"The man in the picture."
Adrian looked down at the photograph again.
His hands tightened.
The person standing beside him, his wife, and Lily was someone he recognized.
Someone who was supposed to be gone.
Someone whose funeral he attended years ago.
His own father.
Richard Cole.
The man who died three years before Adrian's wife.
The man Adrian buried himself.
"No," Adrian whispered.
Daniel looked at him carefully.
"You need to leave."
Adrian looked up.
"What?"
Daniel walked toward the door.
"Right now."
"You know something."
Daniel stopped.
"Yes."
"Then tell me."
Daniel looked at Lily.
Then at Sofia.
His expression changed.
Not fear for himself.
Fear for them.
"Not here."
Adrian stepped closer.
"You brought me into this."
Daniel shook his head.
"No. Someone else did."
Before Adrian could respond, a loud sound came from the hallway.
A door closing.
Everyone froze.
Daniel immediately turned off the room lights.
"Stay quiet."
Adrian hated taking orders from him.
But Lily was there.
So he moved beside Sofia and kept the child close.
The hospital room became completely dark.
Only the faint glow from the city outside entered through the window.
Footsteps moved through the hallway.
Slow.
Calm.
Like whoever was walking knew nobody could stop them.
Lily buried her face against Adrian's chest.
Adrian looked at Daniel.
The man who had lied to him for years now looked like someone running from something much bigger.
The footsteps stopped outside the room.
The handle moved.
Once.
Twice.
Then stopped.
Nobody breathed.
After several seconds, the footsteps moved away.
Daniel finally turned the lights back on.
Adrian immediately grabbed him.
"Who was that?"
Daniel didn't fight back.
"Someone who thinks Lily belongs to them."
Adrian released him.
"What does that mean?"
Daniel looked at Sofia.
"Tell him."
Sofia looked away.
Her silence was an answer.
Adrian felt anger building.
"I deserve the truth."
Sofia wiped her tears.
"Three years ago, your wife found evidence that someone inside your family was using your company."
Adrian frowned.
"My family?"
She nodded.
"Someone had access to your accounts, your security systems, and your private information."
"Who?"
Sofia looked at Richard's photograph.
"Your father."
Adrian stepped back.
"My father was dead."
"That's what everyone believed."
The room went silent.
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
Sofia reached for the envelope she had shown him earlier.
Inside was another photograph.
She handed it to him.
The picture showed a man entering a building.
The date was printed in the corner.
Two months after Richard Cole's official death.
Adrian stared.
His mind refused to accept it.
"This is fake."
Daniel spoke quietly.
"It's not."
Adrian looked at him.
"You knew?"
Daniel nodded.
"I found out during the investigation."
"And you covered it up."
Daniel looked down.
"Yes."
The answer hurt more than a lie.
Because Daniel didn't defend himself.
He admitted it.
"Why?"
Daniel looked at Lily.
"Because your father threatened everyone who tried to expose him."
Adrian's voice became colder.
"My father was dead."
Daniel looked at him.
"Adrian, your father was never the person you thought he was."
The words cut deeper.
Because Richard had always been Adrian's hero.
The man who taught him business.
The man who taught him strength.
The man who told him family was everything.
But now Adrian wondered if family had always been the thing destroying him.
Lily quietly spoke.
"My grandpa said you would come."
Everyone turned.
Adrian looked at her.
"When did you see him?"
Lily looked at the stuffed rabbit.
"Before Mama took me away."
Sofia closed her eyes.
Adrian noticed.
"You knew."
Sofia whispered:
"I tried to protect her."
"From my father?"
Sofia nodded.
"Your father wanted Lily."
"Why?"
Sofia looked terrified.
"Because she knows what happened that night."
Adrian stared.
"What night?"
Sofia's eyes filled with tears.
"The night your wife died."
The room went completely still.
Adrian felt like he couldn't breathe.
For three years, he had lived with one version of the truth.
A car accident.
A tragic loss.
A terrible night.
But now everyone around him was telling him the same thing.
It wasn't an accident.
His wife knew something.
Lily knew something.
His father was alive.
And someone had spent years making sure he never discovered it.
Adrian walked toward Sofia.
"What did Lily see?"
Sofia hesitated.
Then she looked at her daughter.
"Lily saw who was with your wife before she died."
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Who?"
Sofia didn't answer.
Because Lily did.
The little girl looked at Adrian with tears in her eyes.
"He told Mama not to tell you."
Adrian knelt down.
"Who did?"
Lily looked toward the photograph.
"The man who came to our house that night."
Adrian's heart stopped.
"What man?"
Lily squeezed her stuffed rabbit.
"The man who looked like Grandpa."
Nobody spoke.
Adrian slowly stood.
His entire world was changing.
Then Daniel's phone suddenly rang.
Everyone looked at it.
Daniel checked the screen.
His face immediately changed.
"What is it?" Adrian asked.
Daniel didn't answer.
He turned the phone toward Adrian.
There was a message.
One sentence.
A number Adrian didn't recognize.
But the words made his blood run cold.
"Stop searching for your father."
A second message appeared.
"Or I will tell Lily what you did."
Adrian stared.
"I didn't do anything."
Daniel looked at him.
"That's exactly what scares me."
Before Adrian could respond, the hospital room door opened slightly.
Nobody touched it.
Nobody stood near it.
It slowly moved inward.
A shadow appeared behind the door.
Then a familiar voice whispered:
"Adrian..."
He froze.
Because he knew that voice.
It was the voice of the man he buried.
The voice of his father.
May you like
Richard Cole.
And the door opened all the way.
