Chapter 2 - Gone Before Sunrise
The estate switched to emergency power three seconds later.
Red security lights illuminated the corridors.
Elena stood motionless inside her room.
Her phone remained in her hand.
Adrian's voice came through the door.
"Elena, stay away from the windows."
"What happened?"
"Power interruption."
"You said this house had three backup systems."
"It does."
That frightened her more.
She opened the door.
Adrian stood alone.
A pistol was already in his hand.
"Where are your guards?"
"Checking the west wing."
"You told me you wouldn't come in."
"I'm not coming in."
Even now.
Even after everything, he respected that boundary.
She hated that some part of her noticed.
Elena showed him the messages.
His expression hardened.
He read them twice.
"Who has this number?"
"No one."
"Think."
"It's a burner. I bought it before we married."
"Your sister?"
"No."
"Doctor?"
"No."
"Your attorney?"
Elena looked at him.
"Maybe."
Adrian handed the phone back.
"Pack everything."
She stared.
"Five minutes ago you were trying to keep me here."
"I changed my mind."
"Why?"
"Because whoever took that photo is inside my house."
"My house too."
"Tonight that distinction could get you killed."
She hated his tone.
But she understood the urgency.
"Where are we going?"
"You aren't going with me."
That surprised her.
Adrian continued.
"My security chief has a safe property outside the city."
"You mean one of your criminal hideouts."
"Call it whatever makes you feel better."
"Nothing makes me feel better."
His face tightened.
"I know."
He turned away.
Elena watched him walk down the corridor.
"Adrian."
He stopped.
She almost asked again about Vanessa.
Instead she said, "If you lie to me again, I'm gone."
He looked over his shoulder.
"I already know."
By 12:30 a.m., the estate had become a controlled panic.
Armed security moved through halls.
Cameras were checked.
Doors were sealed.
And yet whoever had photographed Adrian had vanished.
No unknown fingerprints.
No broken locks.
No unexplained vehicle.
Someone had either escaped perfectly or belonged there.
Elena changed into flat shoes and a black winter coat.
Her suitcase waited beside her bed.
She called her attorney, Rachel Lane.
No answer.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Then the burner phone rang.
Unknown.
Elena answered.
"Hello?"
A distorted voice spoke.
"Leave before sunrise."
"Who are you?"
"Someone who knows what Adrian did."
Her stomach tightened.
"With Vanessa?"
"That is the smallest part of your problem."
"Then tell me the biggest."
A pause.
"Ask your husband what happened to Dominic Russo."
Elena frowned.
She knew the name.
Dominic had worked for Adrian years ago.
He had disappeared before their wedding.
Adrian had once told her Dominic fled to Europe after stealing money.
"Why?"
"Ask him why Dominic's body was never found."
The line disconnected.
Elena stared at the phone.
A minute later, Adrian entered the outer sitting area but stopped short of her bedroom threshold.
"We leave in ten."
She looked at him.
"Who was Dominic Russo?"
Adrian's face went completely still.
That was answer enough.
"Where did you hear that name?"
"Answer me."
"Not here."
"Adrian."
"He was my cousin."
Elena blinked.
"You told me he worked for you."
"He did."
"You never told me he was family."
"I didn't want you involved."
"He's dead?"
Adrian looked away.
"I don't know."
"Someone just asked me why his body was never found."
His gaze snapped back.
"What exactly did they say?"
She repeated it.
Adrian swore under his breath.
Then he reached for his phone.
"Lock this room."
"I'm not staying here."
"Elena—"
"No. You don't get to hide me every time the truth becomes inconvenient."
He stared at her.
Maybe he finally understood.
Her anger wasn't only about Vanessa.
It was about years of half-truths disguised as protection.
Adrian spoke more carefully.
"Dominic betrayed my family twelve years ago."
"What did he do?"
"He sold information to people who wanted my father dead."
"And?"
"My father died."
Elena had never met Adrian's father.
Officially, Vittorio Vale died in a boating accident.
Elena suddenly understood that "officially" meant very little in Adrian's world.
"Did you kill Dominic?"
"No."
She searched his face.
He didn't look away.
"Did you order someone else to kill him?"
"No."
"Then what happened?"
"He disappeared before I found him."
A door slammed somewhere downstairs.
Adrian immediately turned.
A guard shouted.
Then came running footsteps.
Adrian stepped toward Elena and guided her behind him without touching her.
A security officer appeared.
"Boss."
"What?"
"We found something in the garage."
Adrian followed him.
Elena followed Adrian.
He looked back.
"Stay upstairs."
"No."
"Elena."
"I said no."
There was no time to argue.
The three descended.
In the garage, Elena's armored SUV sat with its driver's door open.
On the windshield was a white envelope.
Her name was written across it.
ELENA.
Adrian pulled on gloves before opening it.
Inside was a photograph.
He looked at it.
His expression changed.
Elena took it from him.
The image showed Vanessa standing in a parking garage beside a man.
The photograph had been taken recently.
Maybe that week.
The man's face was partly turned away.
But Adrian recognized him.
"Dominic," he whispered.
Elena stared.
"The dead cousin?"
"I never said he was dead."
"The person calling me wants me to think he is."
"No."
Adrian's voice became colder.
"They want you to understand he's alive."
Elena looked again.
Vanessa and Dominic were talking.
Vanessa appeared frightened.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written:
ASK YOUR SISTER WHY SHE CAME HERE TONIGHT.
Elena felt suddenly sick.
"Where is Vanessa?"
Adrian turned to his guard.
"Find her."
The search took six minutes.
Vanessa was in the library.
She was crying.
When Elena entered, Vanessa stood immediately.
"Elena—"
"Who's Dominic Russo?"
Vanessa went pale.
Adrian closed the door.
"You have thirty seconds," he said.
Vanessa looked from him to Elena.
"I couldn't tell you."
Elena almost laughed.
Apparently that phrase was contagious.
"You kissed my husband because you couldn't tell me something?"
Vanessa started crying harder.
"No."
"Then why?"
"Because I needed him to believe me."
"Believe what?"
"That Dominic was back."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"That makes no sense."
"I panicked."
"So you kissed me?"
"I thought Elena was still at the doctor's appointment."
Elena stared at her.
That admission hurt almost as much as the kiss itself.
Vanessa wiped her face.
"I know how horrible that sounds."
"It sounds exactly as horrible as it is."
"Elena, I made a terrible mistake."
"And Adrian?"
Vanessa looked at him.
"He pushed me away."
Elena's eyes shifted.
Adrian didn't speak.
Vanessa added softly, "After he kissed me back."
There it was again.
The part nobody could clean up.
Elena took a slow breath.
"Tell me about Dominic."
Vanessa sat.
"Three months ago, I started receiving emails."
"From him?"
"I didn't know at first."
"What did they say?"
"That Adrian had lied to you about your marriage."
Elena frowned.
"About what?"
Vanessa looked frightened.
"About why he married you."
Adrian stepped forward.
"Enough."
Elena turned.
"No. You don't get to decide what's enough."
Vanessa reached into her purse.
Adrian's hand moved toward his weapon.
"It's paper," Vanessa said.
She pulled out a folded document.
Elena took it.
It was a copy of a contract.
The signature at the bottom belonged to Adrian.
The date was six months before their wedding.
A clause had been highlighted.
Elena read it.
Then read it again.
Her throat tightened.
The agreement discussed the acquisition of assets belonging to Elena's late father's company.
The final paragraph included her name.
Marriage to Elena Caruso would secure uncontested access.
She looked at Adrian.
"You married me for my father's company?"
"No."
"Your signature is here."
"It was the original plan."
The room seemed to tilt.
"The original plan?"
"I never followed through."
"You married me."
"Because I loved you."
"After planning to use me."
"Before I knew you."
Elena shook her head.
The betrayal suddenly expanded backward through time.
Their first dinner.
Their wedding.
Their first home.
Every memory now had a shadow.
She walked out.
Adrian followed.
"Elena."
She kept moving.
"Wait."
She entered the garage.
Her suitcase had already been loaded.
A driver waited beside the SUV.
Adrian reached the car.
"Don't leave like this."
She turned.
"How should I leave?"
"We need to talk."
"You've had five years to talk."
"Not here."
She opened the rear door.
"Elena."
She looked at him one final time.
"You said I couldn't disappear."
His face tightened.
"I said that because someone is hunting you."
"And you think that means I belong to you?"
"No."
"Then prove it."
She got inside.
Adrian stepped back.
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, he allowed someone he loved to leave without stopping them.
The SUV exited the estate at 1:26 a.m.
But Elena never reached Adrian's safe house.
At 4:13 a.m., the driver called.
The back seat was empty.
Elena's coat was folded neatly beside the door.
Her burner phone was gone.
May you like
And written across the fogged rear window were four words:
DON'T TRY TO FIND ME.
