Chapter 3 - The Woman With Another Name
Nora heard the name.
But she did not understand it.
Eleanor.
The old man had looked directly at her when he said it.
Adrian remained between them.
His voice dropped.
“Leave.”
The man with the cane smiled.
“You haven’t told her.”
“Leave, Victor.”
Victor.
Nora searched her memory.
The Moretti investigation.
Victor Moretti.
Former lieutenant to the crime family Adrian had helped destroy.
Declared dead six years ago.
She had seen that name while researching Adrian.
“You’re supposed to be dead,” Nora whispered.
Victor’s smile widened.
“So was half the truth surrounding you.”
Adrian stepped forward.
Two security officers appeared almost instantly.
Victor lifted both palms.
“I came to attend a wedding.”
“You weren’t invited,” Ethan said.
Victor turned toward him.
“You should be careful discussing invitations, Mr. Cole. Yours created this entire situation.”
Ethan looked sick.
Nora’s anger finally broke through the confusion.
“What does he mean?”
No answer.
She turned on Adrian.
“And who is Eleanor?”
His eyes met hers.
“I don’t know.”
Victor laughed.
“Still lying.”
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
“I said leave.”
Security moved toward Victor.
But Victor leaned close enough that only Nora, Adrian, Ethan, and Vanessa could hear.
“Ask Adrian what Marcus Vale kept in Room 814.”
Then he calmly allowed security to escort him out.
Nora turned toward Adrian.
“Room 814.”
“Nora—”
“Do not tell me later.”
Guests nearby were pretending not to watch.
Wedding music began inside the ballroom.
Vanessa pressed both hands against her temples.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Nora looked at her.
“What wasn’t?”
Vanessa stared at Ethan.
“You tell her.”
Ethan lowered his voice.
“We invited you because someone paid us.”
Silence.
Nora thought she misunderstood.
“What?”
Ethan’s eyes dropped.
“Someone contacted me two months ago. They wanted you at the wedding.”
“You invited your ex-girlfriend because somebody paid you?”
“It wasn’t like that.”
“It sounds exactly like that.”
“They knew things about you.”
“What things?”
“Your childhood.”
Nora froze.
She had grown up with her mother, Claire Quinn.
Single parent.
No father listed on Nora’s birth certificate.
Claire had died when Nora was twenty-two.
Nora knew almost nothing about her father.
Claire refused to discuss him.
Ethan knew that.
“You sold information about me?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Vanessa interrupted.
“Ethan didn’t take the money.”
Nora looked at her.
Vanessa swallowed.
“I did.”
The confession landed strangely.
“I received an anonymous transfer offer,” Vanessa continued. “Fifty thousand dollars if I made sure you attended.”
“You’re telling me this on your wedding day?”
“I thought it was some ugly rich-family game. I didn’t know Adrian Vale would appear.”
Adrian’s expression darkened.
“Who contacted you?”
Vanessa reached into her bridal clutch.
She removed a folded sheet.
An email printout.
Adrian read it.
Nora watched his face.
Something changed.
“What?”
Adrian handed her the paper.
One line sat at the bottom.
THE GIRL MUST ENTER THE BALLROOM BEFORE 6:30.
Beneath it was a symbol.
Black.
Embossed.
The same symbol Nora had noticed on Adrian’s cufflink the previous evening.
She looked at him.
“That’s yours.”
“No.”
“I saw it on your cuff.”
“It belonged to my father.”
Nora’s pulse accelerated.
“Marcus Vale.”
“Yes.”
She looked toward the ballroom.
“Why would someone using your dead father’s symbol care whether I attend Ethan’s wedding?”
Adrian stared at the email.
“I don’t know.”
Nora laughed once.
No humor.
“This evening is becoming very repetitive.”
He looked at her.
“You should leave.”
“Absolutely not.”
“Nora.”
“Everybody in this building seems to know something about my life except me. I am not leaving.”
“You may be in danger.”
“I’ve spent twenty-nine years not knowing who my father was. A supposedly dead gangster just called me Eleanor and mentioned your father. I think we’re past the part where you protect me by keeping things vague.”
Adrian absorbed the accusation.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
He took her hand.
Not romantically now.
Protectively.
“We go to Room 814.”
They left the wedding.
Ethan followed.
Adrian stopped.
“No.”
“Nora deserves to know why I was contacted.”
“You can tell security.”
Ethan looked at Nora.
She remembered four years of him controlling conversations.
Choosing what she could handle.
Deciding what counted as overreacting.
“Stay,” she said.
It felt good.
He did.
Vanessa remained beside him.
For once, Ethan had nothing to say.
Adrian and Nora entered the elevator.
Neither spoke during the ride.
Room 814 belonged to an older section of the Bellamy used mostly for private suites.
Adrian opened the door with a master key.
Dust.
Empty furniture.
A locked cabinet built into one wall.
Adrian stared at it.
“I haven’t been in here since I was sixteen.”
Nora looked at him.
“You knew the room.”
“Yes.”
“You said you didn’t know what Victor meant.”
“I didn’t.”
“Adrian.”
“My father brought me here once.”
He moved toward the cabinet.
“He told me never to open it.”
“And you listened for twenty years?”
“My father was not a man people disobeyed easily.”
Adrian entered a code.
Nothing.
Nora looked around.
A framed painting hung crooked.
She straightened it.
Behind it were four numbers scratched into the wall.
Adrian saw them.
His face changed.
“What?”
“My mother’s birthday.”
He entered 0417.
The cabinet unlocked.
Inside sat one envelope.
Old.
Yellowed.
Addressed by hand.
FOR ELEANOR.
Nora stopped breathing.
Adrian removed it.
She took the envelope with shaking fingers.
Inside was a photograph.
Claire Quinn.
Her mother.
Young.
Standing beside Marcus Vale.
And Claire was holding a baby.
On the back were three words.
Eleanor Vale. 1997.
Nora stared until the letters blurred.
“No.”
Adrian said nothing.
“My mother named me Nora.”
“She may have changed it.”
“No.”
Her hands shook harder.
Adrian reached toward her.
She stepped away.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Nora turned the photograph over again.
A folded note slid from behind it.
She opened it.
Claire’s handwriting.
If Eleanor ever finds this, Marcus failed to keep his promise.
Nora pressed a hand over her mouth.
Adrian read over her shoulder.
The next line was worse.
Do not trust the Vale family.
A sound came from the hallway.
Footsteps.
Adrian immediately moved toward the door.
The handle turned.
He pushed Nora behind him.
Someone outside whispered:
“Eleanor?”
May you like
The door slowly opened.
And Nora recognized her mother’s voice.
