Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The alarm kept screaming.
Red lights flashed across the mansion walls.
Nobody moved for a second.
Then Adrien Moretti changed.
The calm man who had been standing in front of me disappeared.
The person standing there now was the reason people whispered his name.
Cold.
Focused.
Dangerous.
"Lock every entrance," he ordered.
The guards moved instantly.
I stood there holding the photograph of my mother.
My hands were shaking.
I looked at the picture again.
The woman beside Adrien was younger.
But there was no mistake.
It was her.
My mother.
The same woman who had raised me.
The same woman who had always told me she lived a simple life.
The same woman who had never once mentioned knowing a man like Adrien Moretti.
"How do you know my mother?"
Adrien didn't answer immediately.
That scared me.
Because he had answered every other question.
Even the difficult ones.
But this one made him silent.
"Adrien."
The way I said his name surprised even me.
Nobody in that room called him that.
Everyone called him boss.
Mr. Moretti.
Sir.
But I didn't.
Maybe because I was angry.
Maybe because I was tired of being the only person who didn't know the truth.
Finally, he looked at me.
"Your mother's name was Elena Bennett."
I frowned.
"Was?"
His eyes moved away.
"You know what I mean."
"No, I don't."
My voice became sharper.
"Everyone keeps talking like my life is some secret file. My key card. The message. The photo. Now my mother."
I stepped closer.
"I deserve answers."
The guards looked uncomfortable.
Nobody spoke to Adrien that way.
But he didn't stop me.
Instead, he looked at the photograph.
"Your mother wasn't who you thought she was."
I felt my chest tighten.
"Everyone says that when they want to make someone sound like a villain."
"She wasn't a villain."
The answer came instantly.
Too instantly.
That caught my attention.
Adrien Moretti was defending my mother.
Why?
"Then who was she?"
He stayed quiet.
And I realized something.
The most feared man in Chicago wasn't afraid of enemies.
He wasn't afraid of guns.
He wasn't afraid of threats.
But he was afraid of talking about my mother.
Before I could ask again, a guard rushed into the room.
"Boss."
Adrien turned.
"What?"
"We checked the property cameras."
"And?"
The guard looked at me.
Then lowered his voice.
"The person who entered didn't break in."
Adrien's eyes narrowed.
"How did they get inside?"
The guard swallowed.
"They were invited."
The room became silent.
"By who?" Adrien asked.
The guard hesitated.
Then answered.
"By someone using Clara Bennett's identity."
Every person in the room looked at me.
I felt my stomach drop.
"What?"
The guard placed a tablet on the table.
"We found the access record."
Adrien picked it up.
The screen showed a security entry.
Time.
Location.
Authorization.
My name.
CLARA BENNETT.
But I had never entered the mansion before tonight.
"I didn't do that."
Nobody said anything.
I looked around.
"I swear I didn't."
Adrien watched my face carefully.
Then he did something unexpected.
He believed me.
"I know."
The guard looked surprised.
"Boss?"
Adrien handed the tablet back.
"Someone is using her."
I stared at him.
"Why would someone use my identity?"
His expression became darker.
"Because they want me to think you are the threat."
A chill moved through me.
"And are you?"
"No."
The answer was immediate.
"Then why am I here?"
Adrien walked toward the window.
Outside, security lights moved across the property.
The mansion looked like a fortress.
A place nobody could enter.
A place nobody could escape.
"Because whoever is doing this knows something about you."
I shook my head.
"They don't know anything about me."
Adrien looked back.
"That's what makes you dangerous."
I almost laughed.
"Dangerous?"
"You have no idea what you are connected to."
I wanted to argue.
But then I remembered the photo.
My mother standing beside him.
The hidden message.
The person in the hallway.
Maybe I really didn't know anything.
A guard suddenly spoke.
"Boss, we found the entrance point."
Adrien turned.
"Where?"
The guard looked nervous.
"The old service elevator."
Adrien's expression changed.
Nobody in the room seemed to like that answer.
"What about it?" I asked.
The guard looked at me.
"Nobody has used that elevator in twelve years."
My heart stopped.
Twelve years.
That number meant something.
I didn't know why.
But something inside me reacted.
Adrien noticed.
"You remember something?"
I looked away.
"No."
But that was a lie.
Because twelve years ago...
Something happened.
Something my mother never talked about.
Something I had spent years trying to forget.
My mother had disappeared for three days when I was thirteen.
She came back different.
Quieter.
Scared.
And when I asked what happened, she only said one thing.
"Promise me you will never look for answers."
I had forgotten that memory.
Until now.
Adrien walked toward the service elevator.
"Stay behind me."
I followed.
"No."
He stopped.
"You don't understand."
"I understand that my mother is connected to this."
I looked directly at him.
"And I understand that everyone keeps telling me to stay away from the truth."
A pause.
"But nobody has explained why."
Adrien stared at me.
Then, slowly, he nodded.
"Fine."
The guards looked shocked.
Adrien Moretti never allowed anyone near danger.
But he allowed me.
We walked through the mansion.
The farther we went, the colder it felt.
The luxury disappeared.
The golden walls became plain.
The expensive decorations vanished.
Until we reached an old hallway hidden behind the main rooms.
At the end was a metal elevator door.
Old.
Rusty.
Forgotten.
Adrien stopped.
Nobody spoke.
Then he touched the button.
Nothing happened.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
The guard checked the control panel.
"Power is disconnected."
Adrien looked at him.
"Then why is it active?"
The guard froze.
"What?"
Adrien pointed.
A small green light was blinking.
The elevator had power.
Someone had turned it on.
Recently.
The doors suddenly opened.
Everyone raised their weapons.
The elevator was empty.
Except for one thing.
A small black box sitting on the floor.
Adrien stepped closer.
"Don't touch it."
He examined it carefully.
Then he looked at me.
"Do you recognize this?"
I shook my head.
"No."
But when he opened the box...
I felt like I couldn't breathe.
Inside was an old necklace.
A necklace I knew.
Because I had seen it every day growing up.
It belonged to my mother.
Adrien picked it up slowly.
Underneath it was a folded piece of paper.
My name was written on the front.
CLARA.
My hands became cold.
"How did someone get this?"
Adrien didn't answer.
He opened the paper.
His eyes moved across the words.
Then his face changed.
I stepped closer.
"What does it say?"
He looked at me.
And for the first time since I met him...
Adrien Moretti looked afraid.
"Clara..."
His voice was quiet.
"Your mother wasn't hiding from me."
I waited.
"She was hiding you from someone else."
Before I could ask who, every light in the hallway turned off.
The elevator doors started closing.
And from inside the darkness behind us...
a woman's voice whispered:
"Adrien..."
May you like
He froze.
Because he knew that voice.
