Chapter 2 - The Man Her Mother Feared
Lucian moved before Renley understood what was happening.
He stepped between her and the driveway.
"Inside."
This time his voice wasn't a request.
Renley still hesitated.
"I don't know you."
"You know even less about him."
Gabriel continued walking toward them.
He looked nothing like a monster.
That bothered Renley.
She had expected someone named in a hidden warning to look dangerous. Instead, Gabriel was perhaps forty-five, silver beginning at his temples, wearing a navy suit and carrying no visible weapon.
He smiled like someone's favorite uncle.
"Lucian."
Lucian didn't respond.
Gabriel's eyes shifted around him.
They settled on Renley.
The smile remained.
"Well," he said softly. "That's unexpected."
Renley's skin prickled.
Lucian's hand moved slightly behind him, silently motioning for her to back toward the door.
Gabriel noticed.
"You're frightening the child."
"Why are you here?"
"Do I need an appointment now?"
"Yes."
"Since when?"
"Since today."
Gabriel laughed.
He walked another step.
Both guards moved.
Gabriel stopped.
"Interesting."
His eyes returned to Renley.
"What's your name?"
"Don't answer him," Lucian said.
Gabriel raised his eyebrows.
Renley tightened her hands around the strap of Evelyn's bag.
Gabriel saw it.
For the first time, his pleasant expression slipped.
Only for half a second.
But Renley saw it.
So did Lucian.
Gabriel stared at the name.
Evelyn Hart.
"Where did you get that bag?"
Renley's pulse accelerated.
Lucian's voice became colder.
"Leave."
Gabriel ignored him.
"Little girl, where did—"
Lucian stepped closer.
"Speak to her again and you'll regret it."
Silence fell over the entrance.
Renley looked between the men.
Whatever Lucian Vale was, Gabriel seemed to understand the threat.
He lifted both hands.
"Easy."
"Why are you here?"
"I came to discuss tomorrow's meeting."
"Canceled."
"Lucian—"
"Leave."
Gabriel smiled again.
This time there was no warmth in it.
"Of course."
He turned.
Then paused.
Without looking back, he said, "You should be careful with old things. People often remember them differently than they really were."
He walked to the sedan.
Renley watched until the vehicle disappeared beyond the gates.
Lucian remained motionless.
"Who is he?"
"My uncle."
Renley looked at the hidden note still in Lucian's hand.
"Your uncle?"
"Yes."
"My mom wrote that?"
"I believe so."
"Then she knew your uncle."
"Yes."
"She knew you."
"Yes."
"And you won't tell me how."
Lucian looked at her.
"I will."
"When?"
"When I understand why somebody sent you here today."
Renley crossed her arms.
"I'm supposed to be home by six."
Lucian checked the time.
4:23.
"I'll have someone call whoever's waiting."
"No."
He waited.
"I can call."
"Okay."
Renley pulled an old phone from her bag.
The screen had a crack running diagonally through it.
She dialed Mrs. Alvarez.
No answer.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
That was unusual.
Mrs. Alvarez practically slept with her phone attached to her hand.
Lucian noticed Renley's expression.
"Problem?"
"She's not answering."
He spoke to one guard.
"Get Marco."
The guard disappeared inside.
Renley stared down the driveway.
"I want to go back to the kitchen."
"I don't think that's wise."
"I didn't ask."
Lucian studied her.
Renley wished adults would stop doing that.
"If someone deliberately arranged for you to bring this bag here," he said, "then returning alone could be dangerous."
"I'm twelve. Everything adults do is supposedly dangerous."
Lucian almost smiled again.
Then the guard returned.
"Marco says Harbor Street's public request system received the order at 1:14 this afternoon."
"Origin?"
"Masked."
"Payment?"
"Free-meal request. No payment."
"Account?"
"New."
"Anything useful?"
"The request included a delivery note that didn't print on the ticket."
Lucian's face tightened.
"What note?"
The guard glanced at Renley.
"Send Evelyn's girl."
Renley felt cold.
"What?"
Lucian looked at her.
"Did anyone at the kitchen know you would deliver this specific meal?"
"There were volunteers."
"Names."
"Mrs. Alvarez, Theo, June, Mr. Bennett..."
"Anyone new?"
Renley thought.
A man had come in during lunch.
Baseball cap.
Brown jacket.
He hadn't volunteered. He had spoken briefly to Mrs. Alvarez near the office.
Renley remembered him because he kept looking toward the delivery shelves.
"Maybe."
"Maybe?"
"There was someone I didn't know."
Lucian's attention sharpened.
"Describe him."
She did.
Marco received the description over the phone.
Meanwhile, Lucian finally invited Renley inside again.
This time she accepted.
Not because she trusted him.
Because Gabriel knew her mother's bag.
That changed everything.
Renley stepped onto polished marble and immediately looked down at her dirty shoes.
Lucian noticed.
"Don't worry about the floor."
"I'm not."
She definitely was.
The chandelier overhead glittered like a thousand tiny stars.
A woman in a dark dress emerged from another hallway.
She stopped when she saw Renley.
"Mr. Vale?"
"Tea, Rosa. And food."
Renley held up the delivery container.
"I brought food."
Lucian looked at the chicken.
"Something not mysterious."
Rosa's mouth twitched.
"Yes, sir."
Renley followed Lucian into a study.
Dark shelves covered every wall.
There were no family photographs.
That surprised her.
Most rich houses in movies had huge portraits of dead relatives judging everyone.
Lucian's study had books, a fireplace, and a locked cabinet.
He set the folded message on his desk.
Renley remained standing.
"Sit."
"I'd rather stand."
"Fine."
He sat.
She immediately sat too, just to be difficult.
Lucian looked at her.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"You're strange."
"So I've been told."
Renley pointed at the note.
"Explain."
Lucian leaned back.
For a moment he looked older than thirty-something.
"Your mother wasn't always Evelyn Hart."
Renley went still.
"What was she?"
"Evelyn Vale."
The room seemed to tilt.
Renley laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
"No."
Lucian said nothing.
"My mom's last name was Hart."
"Later."
"No."
"Renley—"
"How would you know?"
"Because she was my sister."
Silence.
Renley stared at him.
Somewhere in the mansion, a door closed.
She heard the tiny sound as if it had happened beside her ear.
"That's not true."
Lucian opened a desk drawer.
Slowly, carefully, he removed a photograph.
He placed it face down on the desk.
"You don't have to look."
Renley reached immediately.
The photograph was old.
Three children stood beside a lake.
One was Lucian, younger but unmistakable.
Another was a boy Renley didn't recognize.
The third was a teenage girl.
Renley's throat tightened.
Same eyes.
Same crooked smile.
Same tiny dimple beside the mouth.
Her mother.
Renley touched the photograph.
"That's..."
"Evelyn."
She looked at Lucian.
"You were her brother?"
"Yes."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"I don't know."
"Why didn't you find us?"
That question hurt him.
She could see it.
"I tried."
"For six years?"
"For longer than that."
"You live in a mansion."
"I know."
"You have guards."
"I know."
"You have people who can apparently find who orders vegetarian meals in five minutes."
Lucian looked down.
"Yes."
"And you couldn't find your sister?"
"No."
Renley's eyes burned.
She hated crying in front of people.
Especially men with tattooed necks.
"So either you're lying or she was hiding."
Lucian looked back at the note.
KEEP HER AWAY FROM GABRIEL.
"She was hiding."
Renley understood before he said it.
"From you?"
"I thought so."
"And now?"
"Now I'm not sure."
Rosa entered with sandwiches and tea.
She sensed the tension and left quickly.
Renley ignored the food.
"Who was the other boy?"
Lucian looked at the photograph.
"My younger brother. Adrian."
"Where is he?"
"Dead."
Renley regretted asking.
"I'm sorry."
"It was a long time ago."
"How?"
Lucian hesitated.
"Car accident."
She looked at the photo again.
Three siblings.
One dead.
One vanished.
One sitting in a mansion surrounded by armed guards.
"What happened to your family?"
Lucian's mouth tightened.
"That's a complicated question."
"I have time until six."
Despite himself, he smiled.
It vanished when his phone rang.
Marco.
Lucian answered.
"What did you find?"
He listened.
His expression darkened.
"When?"
Another pause.
"Send the footage."
He ended the call.
"What?"
"The kitchen's surveillance cameras went offline at 1:07."
Renley's stomach tightened.
"The order came at 1:14."
"Yes."
"Someone did that."
"Probably."
"Mrs. Alvarez."
"I'm sending people."
"I'm going too."
"No."
"She's my family."
"So are you."
The words stunned them both.
Lucian looked almost annoyed with himself.
Renley stood.
"You don't get to become my uncle after seven minutes."
"Fair."
"But I'm going."
Lucian considered arguing.
Then apparently remembered how well that had gone before.
"With me."
Twenty minutes later, Renley's bicycle was loaded into the back of an SUV.
She sat in the rear seat beside Lucian.
Two vehicles followed.
"This is ridiculous," she said.
"Probably."
"Mrs. Alvarez is going to think I joined the Secret Service."
"She'll survive."
Renley watched expensive neighborhoods become apartment blocks, then old storefronts.
When Harbor Street appeared, she leaned forward.
The community kitchen's lights were on.
Front door open.
No police.
No obvious danger.
Renley exhaled.
Then she saw Mrs. Alvarez standing outside.
Alive.
Renley opened the SUV door before it fully stopped.
"Renley!"
Mrs. Alvarez hurried toward her.
She was sixty-three, short, round, and capable of making a grown man confess to stealing cookies with one look.
She grabbed Renley by both shoulders.
"Where have you been?"
"Delivering the meal."
"What meal?"
Renley froze.
"The Bellmont Crest order."
Mrs. Alvarez's face changed.
"I never sent you to Bellmont Crest."
Lucian stepped from the vehicle.
Mrs. Alvarez looked past Renley.
Her face drained of color.
"Lucian."
He stopped.
Renley turned slowly.
"You know him too?"
Mrs. Alvarez didn't answer.
Instead, she stared at Evelyn's old delivery bag.
Then at Lucian.
"You shouldn't have brought her here."
"Someone already did."
Mrs. Alvarez closed her eyes.
Lucian showed her the note.
She read it.
Her hands began trembling.
"You've seen this before," Lucian said.
Mrs. Alvarez looked at Renley.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart."
"For what?"
"I promised your mother."
"Promised her what?"
Mrs. Alvarez stepped inside.
She locked the front door behind them.
Then she crossed the kitchen and entered her tiny office.
Renley followed.
Mrs. Alvarez pulled a key from a chain around her neck.
From beneath her desk, she opened an old metal lockbox.
Inside were several envelopes.
All marked with dates.
One carried Renley's name.
Another carried Lucian's.
And beneath them rested a small black cassette recorder.
Mrs. Alvarez lifted the envelope addressed to Lucian.
"Your sister gave me this two nights before she disappeared."
Renley's breathing stopped.
"Disappeared?"
Mrs. Alvarez looked at her.
"She didn't die when you were told she did."
Renley stared at the woman who had helped raise her.
"What did you just say?"
Mrs. Alvarez's eyes filled with tears.
"Renley, there's something about your mother's death certificate you need to see."
She reached for the envelope.
Before she could open it, three hard knocks struck the kitchen's locked front door.
Everyone froze.
A man's voice came from outside.
"Maria Alvarez?"
Mrs. Alvarez went pale.
Lucian reached beneath his jacket.
The voice came again.
"This is Gabriel Vale."
Renley looked at Lucian.
Lucian looked toward the door.
May you like
Then Gabriel said the sentence that made Mrs. Alvarez drop the key.
"I know Evelyn is alive."
