Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Knew Too Much
The lights went out.
Gina froze beside Adrian's hospital bed.
The only sound left in the room was the slow, steady rhythm of the machines keeping him alive.
Then came the sound of the door handle.
Someone was trying to enter.
Adrian immediately moved.
Not quickly.
Not dramatically.
But with the instinct of a man who had survived things nobody else knew about.
He reached for the small emergency button beside the bed.
Gina noticed.
"You think someone is coming for you?"
Adrian didn't look away from the door.
"No."
A pause.
"I know."
The handle stopped moving.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then the lights returned.
The door was still closed.
But Adrian knew something had changed.
Someone had just tested the room.
Someone had wanted to know if he was awake.
Gina looked at him.
"Is this normal for you?"
Adrian turned his head.
"What?"
"People trying to break into your hospital room."
He studied her.
Most people would have been shaking.
Most people would have asked to leave.
Gina looked scared, but she stayed.
That confused him.
"You should go home."
Her eyebrows lifted.
"After nineteen mornings?"
"Especially after nineteen mornings."
She looked down at the sketchbook in her hands.
"You think I'm involved."
Adrian didn't answer.
That was enough.
Gina nodded slowly.
"I understand."
"No, you don't."
"Then explain it."
Her voice was calm.
Too calm.
Adrian stared at her.
Nobody demanded answers from him.
Not even his closest allies.
But Gina did.
"I woke up today and found out the man I have been talking to for almost three weeks is apparently someone dangerous."
She closed the sketchbook.
"I found out people are afraid of you."
A pause.
"I found out someone is sending you messages from a dead person."
Her eyes met his.
"And somehow, I'm the suspicious one."
Adrian had no response.
Because she was right.
He looked away.
For years, suspicion had kept him alive.
But sometimes...
It also made him blind.
The door opened again.
This time, Marco entered with two security guards behind him.
"Boss."
Adrian looked at him.
"Who tried the door?"
Marco's face changed.
Nobody missed that.
Adrian noticed immediately.
"Marco."
The man hesitated.
"It was one of the nurses."
"A nurse?"
"She left before we could question her."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Nobody leaves this floor without being checked."
Marco looked uncomfortable.
"She wasn't on the employee list."
Silence.
Gina slowly stepped backward.
"Someone came into the hospital pretending to work here?"
Nobody answered.
Adrian looked at the window.
The city stretched below them.
Thousands of people.
Thousands of possibilities.
Someone had been watching him.
Waiting.
Then Gina spoke quietly.
"I think I know something."
Everyone turned toward her.
Adrian's expression hardened.
"What?"
She opened her sketchbook.
"I noticed something on the first day."
Marco and Vincent exchanged looks.
Adrian watched her carefully.
"What did you notice?"
Gina flipped through the pages.
For nineteen days, she had drawn Adrian's face.
Different angles.
Different expressions.
Different moments.
But on one page, she stopped.
"This."
She pointed.
Adrian looked down.
At first, he saw only his own portrait.
Then he noticed the background.
A reflection.
Small.
Almost impossible to see.
A person standing behind her.
A person who had been in the room.
Adrian's eyes changed.
"When was this drawn?"
Gina swallowed.
"The fourth morning."
"You saw someone?"
"No."
"Then why is there a reflection?"
"I don't know."
Adrian took the sketchbook.
He looked closer.
The reflection showed a man standing near the door.
Wearing a dark coat.
Watching.
The same person who had been inside his room.
The same person who had left no trace.
Vincent stepped forward.
"Boss..."
Adrian raised a hand.
Silence.
He studied the drawing.
Then something caught his attention.
The man's hand.
There was a ring.
A black stone.
A symbol carved into it.
Adrian knew that symbol.
His expression changed.
Gina noticed.
"What is it?"
Adrian slowly closed the sketchbook.
"Someone from my past."
"Someone dangerous?"
He looked at her.
"Everyone from my past is dangerous."
The answer made Gina uncomfortable.
But before she could ask more, Adrian's phone rang.
The screen showed an unknown number.
Everyone in the room became silent.
Adrian answered.
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Then a voice came through.
A voice Adrian had not heard in eight years.
"Hello, brother."
Adrian stopped breathing.
Gina looked at him.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Adrian slowly stood up despite the pain.
Because the voice belonged to someone who should have been buried.
"Matteo."
The room became completely silent.
The voice laughed softly.
"You still remember."
Adrian gripped the phone.
"You died."
"No."
A pause.
"I disappeared."
Adrian's eyes darkened.
"Where are you?"
Another pause.
Then Matteo spoke.
"I'm exactly where you left me."
Adrian's face changed.
Because there was only one place that sentence could mean.
A place he had never told anyone about.
A place connected to the worst night of his life.
The night his family was destroyed.
"Why are you contacting me now?"
Matteo's voice became serious.
"Because I saw who woke you up."
Adrian looked at Gina.
"What are you talking about?"
The voice lowered.
"She doesn't know what she carries."
Gina stepped closer.
"Who is he talking about?"
Adrian ignored her.
"Matteo, explain."
The line became quiet.
Then came the words that made Adrian's blood run cold.
"Your hospital visitor isn't the danger, Adrian."
A pause.
"She's the evidence."
The call ended.
Nobody moved.
Gina looked at Adrian.
"Evidence of what?"
Adrian didn't answer.
Because his phone immediately received another message.
A photo.
He opened it.
And his face turned pale.
It was a picture taken inside the hospital room.
Taken minutes earlier.
Showing Gina standing beside his bed.
But behind her...
Standing in the reflection of the glass window...
Was a man Adrian had not seen in eight years.
May you like
And the name written below the photo was...
"Matteo Moretti."
