Chapter 2 - The File That Wasn't Supposed to Exist
I read the message twice.
Then a third time.
The words did not change.
THE MAN WHO KILLED DANIEL VALE IS IN THAT ROOM.
I looked up.
Adrian stood only a few feet away.
Marcus was restrained near the bar.
Two bodyguards watched both entrances.
The bartender had disappeared into a back room.
Other than us, Belladonna was empty.
The man who killed Daniel Vale is in that room.
There were only five men left.
Adrian.
Marcus.
Two bodyguards.
And somewhere behind the bar, perhaps the bartender.
“What's wrong?” Adrian asked.
I locked my phone.
“Nothing.”
He didn't believe me.
Marcus did.
I saw it in his expression.
Not recognition exactly.
But hope.
That made my decision easy.
I handed the phone to Adrian.
“Someone sent me this.”
Marcus cursed.
Adrian read the message.
The room became very still.
One bodyguard stepped closer.
“Boss?”
Adrian raised a hand.
Nobody moved.
He scrolled upward.
There was nothing before the first message.
“Unknown number?”
“Yes.”
“When did you last change your number?”
“Never. I've had it for eight years.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You think this means anything?”
Adrian gave him the phone.
Marcus read it.
For a second, real panic flashed across his face.
“You know who sent it,” I said.
“No.”
“You reacted.”
“I'm standing in a locked bar with armed criminals.”
Adrian's bodyguard took a step toward him.
Marcus corrected himself.
“With men I don't know.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“Better.”
I stared at Marcus.
“Who knows my number?”
“Everyone.”
“Who knew I was coming here?”
Marcus said nothing.
Only Marcus.
I had not told a friend.
Not my sister.
Not anyone at work.
He had texted me at 9:48.
I left our apartment at 9:55.
The photograph had been taken at 10:14.
Someone knew.
Someone had been waiting.
Adrian handed my phone back.
“Where did you hide the copied file?”
I hesitated.
“You're still asking?”
“Especially now.”
“Why?”
“Because someone killed my brother.”
“You don't know that.”
“I do.”
His certainty frightened me.
“How?”
He looked at the brass key.
“Because Daniel didn't die in a random car accident.”
Marcus closed his eyes briefly.
Adrian saw it.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing.”
“Wrong answer.”
Adrian's voice remained calm.
That was worse than shouting.
Marcus looked at me.
“Elena, whatever you think you found, you don't understand the people involved.”
“You were one of them.”
“I was trying to protect us.”
“You hit me.”
His mouth tightened.
“That was—”
“What?”
I stepped toward him.
“A misunderstanding?”
“No.”
“A stressful evening?”
“Elena.”
“You dragged me across a floor because I wouldn't give you evidence.”
“I needed it back.”
“Why?”
His silence was an answer.
I felt something break inside me.
Four years.
We had chosen flowers for our wedding two Sundays ago.
He had kissed my mother at Christmas.
He had held me while I cried after my father died.
And now I did not know which parts of my life had been real.
Adrian interrupted.
“Tell me about the documents.”
I took a breath.
“They looked like internal payment records. Maybe consulting fees.”
“Amounts?”
“Anywhere from fifty thousand to two million.”
“Daniel's name?”
“Four entries.”
“Dates?”
“One was around two months before he died.”
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
“Interesting.”
Marcus's jaw hardened.
“Coincidence.”
“I'm losing patience with that word.”
My phone vibrated again.
Another unknown message.
DON'T TRUST THE KEY.
I showed Adrian.
He read it.
Then looked toward the ceiling.
“Cameras?”
One bodyguard nodded.
“Full coverage except restrooms and cellar.”
“Pull exterior footage.”
The man disappeared through a staff door.
Adrian turned to Marcus.
“Sit.”
Marcus did not.
The second bodyguard placed a hand on his shoulder.
Marcus sat.
I remained standing.
“What happens now?” I asked.
“We find out who's watching you.”
“And then?”
“We find the file.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at me.
“I'll help figure out what Marcus did.”
I gestured toward my bruising wrist.
“But I'm not giving you the only copy of something people apparently kill over.”
“You think possession protects you?”
“It kept me alive for three weeks.”
“That may be because nobody knew you had it.”
“Marcus knew.”
Marcus looked away.
Interesting.
Adrian noticed too.
“When did you learn she copied it?” he asked.
Marcus said nothing.
Adrian stepped closer.
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
My stomach dropped.
“How?”
Marcus ignored me.
“Marcus.”
He finally looked at me.
“You left the camera battery charger on the desk.”
I remembered.
I had taken the charger from a storage box because the camera battery was nearly dead.
I had put it beside my laptop.
Stupid.
Careless.
“You searched the camera?”
“No. It wasn't there.”
“Because I moved it.”
“I know.”
“How?”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“I know you.”
“No,” I said quietly.
“You clearly don't.”
That hit him.
Good.
The bodyguard returned carrying a tablet.
“We've got something.”
He set it on the table.
Security footage showed Belladonna's entrance.
9:58.
People arrived.
10:03.
A black SUV stopped across the street.
Nobody exited.
10:11.
The driver's window lowered.
10:14.
I appeared.
A small flash from inside the SUV.
The photograph.
10:16.
The SUV drove away.
“Plate?” Adrian asked.
“Obscured.”
“Traffic cameras?”
“I'm checking.”
Adrian watched the footage again.
Then paused it.
“Zoom.”
The guard enlarged the frame.
Pixelated.
Dark windshield.
A partial face near the passenger side.
Adrian leaned closer.
Marcus stood suddenly.
“I need a bathroom.”
Nobody answered.
“I said—”
“Sit down,” Adrian said.
Marcus remained standing.
Adrian looked at him.
Slowly, Marcus sat again.
I studied the image.
There was something familiar about the passenger.
Not the face.
The jacket.
Navy wool.
A silver pin on the collar.
I had seen that pin before.
At Marcus's company Christmas gala.
Every senior partner received one.
A geometric silver M.
Meridian Strategic.
Marcus's employer.
“That's someone from your company,” I said.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“No.”
“Yes.”
I pointed.
“The pin.”
Adrian looked at him.
Marcus looked furious.
“Half the financial district has company pins.”
“Not that one.”
I remembered the gala clearly.
Marcus had complained because junior partners didn't receive them.
Only executives.
There were twelve.
“Who are the executives?” Adrian asked.
Marcus's silence returned.
I laughed.
“I can name them.”
His head snapped toward me.
“You met them once.”
“I remember people.”
Adrian motioned for me to continue.
“Charles Wynn. Peter Aldridge. Simon Kerr. Richard Bell. James Morton…”
Marcus shifted.
There.
A reaction.
“James Morton,” I repeated.
Marcus stood again.
The bodyguard pushed him down.
Adrian noticed.
“You reacted to Morton.”
Marcus rubbed his jaw.
“No.”
“You did.”
“James has nothing to do with this.”
Adrian leaned forward.
“Then why are you defending him?”
Marcus's breathing changed.
“I'm not.”
Adrian turned toward me.
“Who's James Morton?”
“Chief operating officer.”
“At Meridian?”
“Yes.”
“Relationship with Marcus?”
“His mentor.”
Marcus's voice became sharp.
“Stop talking.”
I looked at him.
“You lost the right to tell me what to do when you hit me.”
His face twisted.
“I was trying to stop you from getting yourself killed.”
The words echoed.
Adrian went still.
I whispered, “What did you say?”
Marcus realized his mistake.
“Elena—”
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew someone would kill me.”
“I knew the documents were dangerous.”
“Why?”
Marcus looked around the room.
Then at Adrian.
“Because your brother found them first.”
Silence.
Adrian's face emptied.
“What?”
Marcus closed his eyes.
I felt suddenly cold.
“Daniel found them?”
Marcus nodded once.
“Six weeks before his accident.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“And?”
“He started asking questions.”
“About what?”
“The payments.”
“Who was paying him?”
“No one.”
Adrian grabbed Marcus by the jacket.
It was the first time he touched him.
Marcus froze.
“Then why was Daniel's name in those records?”
“Because somebody was using it.”
“For what?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian pulled him closer.
“Wrong.”
Marcus's voice cracked.
“I swear.”
“Daniel called me the night before he died.”
Marcus stopped breathing.
Adrian continued.
“He said he found something inside Meridian. He refused to explain it over the phone.”
I stared at Marcus.
“You worked with Daniel?”
Marcus nodded reluctantly.
“He retained us for restructuring.”
“You never told me.”
“It was confidential.”
“Everything is confidential with you.”
Adrian released him.
“Who had access to Daniel's files?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Senior leadership.”
“Names.”
“Charles Wynn. Morton. Me. A few others.”
“Who handled the audit?”
“I did.”
“And what did you find?”
“Nothing.”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“You're a terrible liar when you're frightened.”
Marcus slammed his palm on the table.
“I cleaned the audit!”
The words exploded out of him.
Nobody moved.
Marcus stared at us.
He knew what he had admitted.
I whispered, “You what?”
His shoulders sagged.
“I changed things.”
Adrian's bodyguard stepped forward.
Adrian stopped him.
“Continue.”
Marcus looked at me.
“They told me Daniel had been moving money.”
“Who?”
“Morton.”
“Did you believe him?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
Marcus looked at the floor.
“No.”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“So you falsified an audit that made my dead brother look guilty.”
“I didn't know he was going to die.”
The sentence hung in the room.
Adrian's voice became almost a whisper.
“But you knew afterward.”
Marcus didn't answer.
“You knew the accident wasn't an accident.”
“I suspected.”
“That's not what I asked.”
Marcus looked at him.
“Yes.”
I covered my mouth.
Adrian turned away.
For several seconds nobody spoke.
Then Marcus said, “That's why Elena needs to give me the file.”
I stared at him.
“You still think I'm giving you anything?”
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“If they know you have those records, they won't negotiate.”
“Who is they?”
Marcus looked toward the security camera.
Adrian noticed.
“Cameras are internal.”
Marcus shook his head.
“You don't know that.”
Adrian frowned.
Marcus lowered his voice.
“Meridian installed Belladonna's network.”
One bodyguard swore.
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
“Shut everything down.”
The guard rushed toward the office.
Lights flickered.
Music system died.
Security screens went black.
The bar became eerily quiet.
Marcus laughed once.
“You think that helps?”
Adrian faced him.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Marcus swallowed.
“The records aren't really financial records.”
“What are they?”
“They're a ledger.”
“For what?”
Marcus stared directly at me.
“For people.”
My stomach tightened.
“People?”
“Judges. executives. cops. prosecutors. politicians. Anyone Meridian could compromise.”
Adrian's jaw clenched.
“Blackmail.”
Marcus nodded.
“The transfers are payments, but the numbers beside them identify evidence packages.”
I thought of the handwritten number.
Adrian touched the key in his pocket.
“What is package 417?”
Marcus looked toward him.
“I don't know.”
“You reacted when you saw it.”
“Because everyone inside Meridian knows one thing.”
“What?”
Marcus spoke very slowly.
“Package 417 is the reason Daniel Vale died.”
Then every light in Belladonna went out.
Complete darkness.
Someone screamed from the back hallway.
A gunshot shattered the silence.
I dropped behind the table.
Adrian grabbed my arm and pulled me down.
Another shot.
Glass exploded above us.
Then a phone began ringing somewhere in the darkness.
Marcus's phone.
He answered.
May you like
And a voice on speaker said only three words.
“Finish it now.”
