Chapter 2 - The Man She Finally Called
Adrien was through the door before Elena could call his name.
“Lucian?”
Marcus stepped backward.
Adrien caught the door before it closed.
“What did you say?”
Marcus looked past him.
“Not here.”
Adrien grabbed his jacket.
“Tell me.”
A nurse appeared.
“Sir.”
Adrien released Marcus immediately.
That single act told Marcus something had changed.
The Adrien he knew would never have cared who was watching.
“Five minutes,” Marcus said. “Then come downstairs.”
“I’m not leaving Elena.”
“Then you may never understand why your son has those eyes.”
Adrien’s expression hardened.
Marcus walked away.
Inside the room, Elena held their baby against her chest.
Adrien returned.
She had heard enough.
“Who is Lucian?”
Adrien pulled a chair beside her.
“My uncle.”
“You never told me you had an uncle.”
“I barely remember him.”
“Then why did Marcus say his name?”
Adrien stared at their son.
“My father had a younger brother. Lucian Moretti. He disappeared when I was five.”
“Disappeared?”
“According to my father, he betrayed the family and fled.”
“And the eyes?”
Adrien looked at the baby.
“My grandmother kept one photograph of Lucian.”
He swallowed.
“He had eyes exactly like these.”
Elena looked down.
Their son’s eyes were unusual.
One appeared blue-gray.
The other carried a faint amber ring around the pupil.
Beautiful.
Distinctive.
“Genetics doesn’t mean conspiracy,” she said.
“No.”
“Then don’t turn our son’s first hour alive into one.”
Adrien nodded.
“You’re right.”
Again, the answer disarmed her.
The nurse took the baby for routine checks.
Elena immediately tensed.
Adrien noticed.
“I’ll stay where you can see him.”
“Thank you.”
Not I’ll handle it.
Not Trust me.
Just presence.
He stood near the bassinet while the nurse worked.
His phone vibrated.
A message.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
He opened it.
YOU SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE BOX CLOSED.
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
A second message arrived.
27B WAS NEVER ABOUT ELENA.
Then a photograph loaded.
It showed Mercy General.
Taken tonight.
From inside the maternity corridor.
Adrien glanced toward the doorway.
Someone on this floor had sent it.
He quietly showed Elena.
Her face changed.
“Call security.”
“I already am.”
“No private men.”
Adrien looked at her.
“Hospital security.”
He made the call.
Ten minutes later, the carton had been isolated.
The hospital reviewed camera footage.
Nothing obvious appeared.
The box had arrived on a legitimate supply cart.
Its paperwork matched the distributor.
Only the code was wrong.
Or deliberately right.
Adrien sat beside Elena.
“Why did you really call me?”
She looked at him.
“You know why.”
“Because of the box?”
“And because I was scared.”
The admission cost her something.
He did not exploit it.
“I’m sorry you had to be.”
“You made me scared too, Adrien.”
“I know.”
“You called it protection.”
“I know.”
“You had people following me.”
“I stopped.”
“After I threatened to disappear forever.”
“Yes.”
His honesty left nowhere easy for her anger to go.
Elena turned toward the sleeping baby.
“What are we calling him?”
Adrien almost smiled.
“You still like Mateo?”
Her eyes softened.
“You remembered.”
“I remember everything you told me.”
“That was part of the problem.”
“I know.”
This time she did smile.
Barely.
“Mateo.”
Adrien looked at his son.
“Mateo Cruz.”
Elena studied him.
“You don’t want Moretti?”
“He can decide what name he wants someday.”
That answer hurt in a different way.
A gentler one.
Before Elena could respond, the door opened.
Marcus entered.
Adrien stood.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Marcus looked at Elena.
“She deserves to hear this too.”
“Then talk.”
Marcus took a photograph from his inside pocket.
Old.
Creased.
Four men stood beside a warehouse.
Elena recognized a younger version of Adrien’s father.
Beside him stood another man.
Same bone structure.
Same dark hair.
And unmistakable eyes.
Blue-gray with amber around one pupil.
Lucian.
Marcus pointed to a faded stencil on the warehouse wall.
MRL.
“What is it?” Elena asked.
“Moretti Recovery Line.”
Adrien frowned.
“That isn’t what my father told me.”
“No.”
“What was recovered?”
Marcus looked at Mateo.
“People.”
Silence.
Marcus continued.
“Your grandfather used legitimate freight routes to move families out of dangerous situations. Witnesses. Women escaping violent men. Children whose parents had gotten trapped in debts they could never repay.”
Adrien stared.
“My father said MRL moved sensitive merchandise.”
“He wanted you to believe that.”
“Why?”
“Because Lucian ran it.”
Elena understood first.
“And after Lucian disappeared, Adrien’s father erased it.”
Marcus nodded.
“Almost.”
“What is 27B?” Adrien asked.
Marcus hesitated.
“Lucian’s final case.”
Elena’s hand tightened around the blanket.
“Who?”
Marcus looked directly at her.
“A pregnant woman.”
Adrien’s expression changed.
“What woman?”
“I never knew her real name.”
“Where was she taken?”
“Mercy General.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Elena looked toward the corridor.
“This hospital?”
Marcus nodded.
“Twenty-nine years ago.”
Adrien calculated automatically.
He was thirty-one.
Close.
Too close.
“Who was the woman?”
Marcus reached into his coat again.
This time he produced an envelope.
“I found this after your father died. He ordered me to destroy it.”
Adrien took it.
On the front, in his father’s handwriting, were four words.
FOR ADRIEN. NOT BEFORE 30.
Adrien stared.
“You had this?”
“I thought destroying it was safer.”
“For whom?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
Adrien tore open the envelope.
Inside was a birth record.
Mercy General.
Twenty-nine years earlier.
The mother's name had been blacked out.
The infant's name had been blacked out too.
But beside FATHER was a name no one in the room expected.
Lucian Moretti.
Elena looked up.
“Adrien…”
He turned the page.
A handwritten note was attached beneath it.
The first sentence read:
IF ADRIEN EVER HAS A CHILD, THE TRUTH CAN NO LONGER REMAIN BURIED.
Then footsteps stopped outside their door.
A woman’s voice spoke from the corridor.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Adrien folded the paper.
May you like
The door handle slowly turned.
And a nurse Adrien had never seen before whispered, “Lucian sent me.”
