Chapter 4 - Sophia’s Impossible Secret
Adrian traced the call to a farmhouse owned by Clara's late husband.
By the time he arrived, the front door was open.
He found Clara unconscious in the kitchen.
Emma was gone.
“Clara.”
Her eyes fluttered.
“Emma.”
“We'll find her.”
“No.”
She grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
“He didn't take her.”
“What?”
“Emma ran.”
Clara pointed toward the woods.
Adrian found Emma inside an abandoned tool shed.
She launched herself into his arms.
He held her until she stopped shaking.
“Did Victor hurt you?”
“No.”
“What did he want?”
“My pictures.”
Adrian frowned.
“What pictures?”
Emma pointed toward her drawing pad.
Victor had not been hunting Clara.
He had been hunting the child's drawings.
Back at the farmhouse, Clara finally told Adrian the truth.
Her husband, Thomas Hale, had been an accountant for Richard Marlowe.
Thomas discovered Victor had diverted money into shell companies connected to Halcyon.
Richard ordered him to collect evidence.
Thomas died before he could deliver it.
“Car accident,” Clara said.
“Victor?”
“I couldn't prove it.”
“Why stay in my house?”
“Because your father told Thomas that if anything happened, the safest place for us would be close to you.”
Adrian looked toward Emma.
“She saw Victor meeting Luca.”
Clara nodded.
“Three weeks ago. Through the pantry window.”
Emma had drawn what she saw because that was how she remembered things.
Victor giving Luca money.
Victor threatening him.
And something nobody had noticed.
Clara turned to a page showing Victor beside a black car.
A second man sat inside.
Emma had drawn his face as a square with glasses.
Adrian knew only one senior member of his organization who wore square glasses.
His attorney.
Samuel Cross.
The conspiracy was larger.
Sophia arrived before dawn.
Adrian met her outside.
“You shouldn't be here.”
“Neither should you.”
He almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he saw the envelope in her hand.
“What is that?”
“My secret.”
Inside was a birth certificate.
Sophia Bennett.
Father: Michael Bennett.
Mother: Evelyn Bennett.
A second certificate followed.
Luca Bennett.
Same parents.
Then a third document.
Adrian read it.
His eyes lifted.
“No.”
Sophia's voice broke.
“Yes.”
Michael Bennett had not merely worked with Richard Marlowe.
He had been Richard's half brother.
Sophia was Adrian's cousin.
Adrian stepped backward.
Sophia immediately understood what he was thinking.
“No. Adrian, wait.”
“We were going to marry.”
“We aren't blood relatives.”
“You just showed me—”
“Michael Bennett wasn't my biological father.”
Adrian stopped.
Sophia produced another letter.
Her mother had written it before dying.
Sophia was adopted.
Luca was Michael's biological son.
Richard had hidden Sophia's adoption to protect her from Halcyon after Michael was murdered.
The revelation left Adrian dizzy.
“You knew?”
“Not until Luca contacted me.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because I was trying to verify it.”
“By yourself.”
“I was trying to protect you.”
Adrian's voice sharpened.
“Everyone keeps protecting me with lies.”
Sophia flinched.
He regretted it instantly.
But before he could apologize, Clara entered.
“You need to see this.”
Emma had remembered another detail.
The little girl drew the black car again.
This time she drew its license plate.
Children reversed numbers.
Emma had too.
Daniel corrected the sequence.
The plate belonged to Samuel Cross.
Adrian called him.
No answer.
Then the estate alarm activated.
Daniel's voice came through Adrian's phone.
“Someone entered your father's study.”
“Who?”
“We don't know.”
Adrian raced back.
The study door stood open.
The ledger was gone.
On the desk lay a fresh white card.
One black dot.
And beneath it:
BRING LUCA TO THE OLD MARLOWE WAREHOUSE.
MIDNIGHT.
COME ALONE OR THE CHILD LEARNS WHAT HAPPENED TO HER FATHER.
Adrian stared at the message.
Then Emma's small voice came from behind him.
“What happened to Daddy?”
May you like
Clara stood frozen in the doorway.
And Emma looked from her mother to Adrian, waiting for an answer neither of them was ready to give.
