Chapter 2 - Room 417
Lucian stared at the message until the screen went dark.
“Who is it?” Mara asked.
He didn't answer.
Celia did.
“Adrian.”
Mara looked between them.
“Who’s Adrian?”
“My brother.”
Mara frowned.
Then looked at Lucian.
“I thought you were her brother.”
“I am.”
Celia’s voice shook.
“Adrian was our oldest brother.”
“Was?”
Lucian took the phone from Mara.
“He died nine years ago.”
That changed the air around them.
Mara looked at the phone again.
“Then somebody’s using his name.”
“Yes.”
Lucian turned to one of his men.
“Darius.”
A broad-shouldered man stepped forward.
“Find out where this phone came from. Quietly.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And Bellini House?”
“Lock down the security footage before anyone touches it.”
Mara crossed her arms.
“My manager will love that.”
Lucian looked at her.
“You're going inside.”
“My apartment?”
“Yes.”
“You don't give orders here.”
“I do tonight.”
“No, you don't.”
Celia actually laughed.
Lucian glanced at his sister.
For the first time, Mara saw affection underneath his irritation.
Then Celia swayed.
Lucian moved quickly.
He caught her before Mara could.
Celia tensed for half a second.
Then her forehead dropped against his chest.
Lucian’s hand settled carefully behind her head.
“I'm here,” he said.
The terrifying man from the street vanished for one brief second.
There was only an older brother holding his frightened sister.
Mara looked away.
“Bring her upstairs.”
Lucian raised an eyebrow.
“That sounded suspiciously like an order.”
“Enjoy it. You’re never getting another one.”
Ten minutes later, Lucian Vale stood in Mara’s apartment.
He looked absurd there.
The apartment was clean but tiny. The radiator clanged. A secondhand sofa faced a television old enough to have buttons. Medical supplies occupied half the kitchen table.
Noah appeared from the hallway.
He was nineteen, thin, wearing sweatpants and carrying the portable oxygen unit he used when his lungs were acting up.
He stopped.
“Uh.”
Mara sighed.
“Noah, this is Celia.”
He looked at Celia asleep on the couch.
“And the giant?”
“Lucian.”
Lucian offered his hand.
Noah shook it.
“Are you a banker?”
Mara nearly choked.
Lucian said, “Something like that.”
Noah nodded.
“You look like a banker.”
After Noah returned to his room, Lucian glanced at the medical equipment.
“Your brother?”
“Yes.”
“What’s wrong with him?”
“That’s none of your business.”
Lucian accepted the boundary without argument.
That surprised her.
Celia slept under Mara’s only good blanket.
Darius arrived twenty minutes later.
“The phone is unregistered.”
“Of course,” Lucian said.
“Bellini House footage from nine to eleven has been erased.”
Mara straightened.
“Erased?”
“Remotely.”
Lucian's eyes darkened.
“And room 417?”
Darius hesitated.
“There are six hotels in the city with a room 417.”
“Check all of them.”
“We did.”
“And?”
“Five are occupied.”
“The sixth?”
Darius looked directly at Lucian.
“The Grand Aurelia.”
Celia woke.
Her face changed at the name.
Lucian noticed.
“You remember it?”
“No.”
But she was lying.
Mara could see it.
Lucian could too.
He sat opposite his sister.
“Celia.”
She pulled the blanket closer.
“I went there.”
“When?”
“Tonight.”
“With whom?”
“I don't know.”
Lucian’s jaw flexed.
Mara sat beside Celia.
“Start with what you do remember.”
Celia closed her eyes.
“A hallway.”
“Good.”
“Gold walls.”
Lucian glanced at Darius.
The Grand Aurelia had gold-paneled upper floors.
“A man gave me champagne.”
“Face?”
“No.”
“Voice?”
Celia shook her head.
“Then someone said Adrian’s name.”
Lucian went motionless.
“What exactly?”
Celia pressed both hands against her temples.
“Stop.”
Mara touched her shoulder.
“You don’t have to force it.”
“Yes, she does.”
Mara turned.
“No.”
Lucian stood.
“My sister was drugged and used to send a message to me.”
“And forcing her into a panic attack won’t make her remember faster.”
“You don’t understand what’s happening.”
“Then explain it.”
Darius looked uncomfortable.
Lucian remained silent.
Mara stood.
“You came to my building with three cars and enough men to invade a small country. Somebody drugged your sister. Somebody erased security footage. Somebody put a phone in her purse using the name of your dead brother. If you want my cooperation, stop acting like secrecy is helping.”
Lucian stared at her.
Then he said, “Adrian didn’t die in an accident.”
Celia opened her eyes.
“Lucian.”
“He was murdered.”
Mara slowly sat down.
“Nine years ago,” Lucian continued, “Adrian was investigating money disappearing from one of our family companies. He discovered someone close to us was stealing.”
“Who?”
“We never found out.”
“And he died?”
“His car went off a bridge.”
Celia whispered, “They never found his body.”
Mara looked at her.
Lucian said, “The police found enough blood in the vehicle to conclude he couldn't have survived.”
“But no body.”
“No.”
Mara glanced at the second phone.
“And now somebody wants you in room 417.”
“Yes.”
“Are you going?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Lucian looked at her.
She pointed toward Celia.
“This is obviously bait.”
“I know.”
“Then don't walk into it.”
“I have to.”
“No, you want to.”
His eyes narrowed.
“There's a difference.”
Darius almost smiled.
Lucian noticed.
Darius immediately stopped.
Celia suddenly sat upright.
“There was a woman.”
Everyone turned.
“At the hotel?”
“Yes.”
“What woman?”
“I saw her near the elevator.”
“Did you know her?”
Celia shook her head.
“She had a red coat.”
Lucian froze.
Mara noticed.
“What?”
“Adrian’s fiancée wore a red coat the night he disappeared.”
Celia stared at him.
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“But Evelyn left the country.”
“Eight years ago.”
Mara looked from one sibling to the other.
“Where is she now?”
“No one knows.”
Lucian picked up his coat.
Darius followed.
Mara stood.
“Where are you going?”
“Room 417.”
Celia grabbed his hand.
“Don't.”
“I'll be back.”
“You always say that.”
Something painful passed across his face.
He knelt.
“I will come back.”
Mara watched him.
She understood suddenly that Lucian’s control wasn't arrogance.
It was armor.
“Darius,” Lucian said, “stay here.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at Mara.
She picked up her coat.
“If you’re going, I'm coming.”
Lucian almost laughed.
“Absolutely not.”
“Celia trusts me.”
“This has nothing to do with you.”
“Someone put that phone in her purse while she was with me.”
“You weren't with her at the hotel.”
“No. But whoever did this knows she left the bar with a waitress.”
Lucian paused.
Mara continued.
“If they're watching her, they may already know where I live.”
That silenced him.
Noah appeared in the doorway.
“Mara?”
She looked at her brother.
And suddenly the danger felt real.
Lucian followed her gaze.
“Darius stays with them.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“Noah doesn't know these people.”
“I know you.”
“Barely.”
“You insulted me within thirty seconds of meeting me. I feel we’ve established something meaningful.”
Despite everything, Noah snorted.
Mara glared at Lucian.
Then at Darius.
“Fine.”
The Grand Aurelia stood fourteen blocks away.
Lucian and Mara rode in silence.
“You’re scared,” she finally said.
“No.”
“You're terrible at lying.”
“I don't get scared.”
“That sounds exhausting.”
He looked out the window.
“Adrian raised us after our father died.”
Mara waited.
“He was twenty-four. I was nineteen. Celia was fourteen.”
“So he was more than your brother.”
“Yes.”
“And you became him after he disappeared.”
Lucian looked at her.
“How did you know?”
“Because Celia looked at you like she wanted her brother and feared her guardian.”
He said nothing.
The hotel lobby was nearly empty.
They took the elevator to the fourth floor.
Room 417 waited at the end.
Lucian motioned Mara behind him.
She ignored him.
He knocked.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing.
Darius had provided a master key obtained through a hotel executive who apparently owed Lucian a favor.
Lucian unlocked the door.
The room was dark.
He entered first.
Mara followed.
A lamp came on automatically.
The room was empty.
No luggage.
No person.
Only a table.
On it sat a champagne bottle.
Two glasses.
And a photograph.
Lucian approached.
Mara looked over his shoulder.
The picture showed three teenagers.
Lucian.
Celia.
And an older young man who had Lucian’s eyes.
Adrian.
Something had been written across the photograph.
YOU LET HER FORGET.
Lucian picked it up.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
Mara noticed another object beneath the photograph.
A hospital bracelet.
Celia Vale.
Nine years earlier.
Lucian’s face went pale.
“What happened to Celia nine years ago?”
“She was in the car.”
Mara stared at him.
“What?”
“She survived the crash that supposedly killed Adrian.”
“And she doesn't remember?”
“No.”
A sound came from the bathroom.
Lucian pushed Mara behind him.
The handle turned.
Slowly.
The door opened.
A woman in a red coat stood on the other side.
Lucian whispered her name.
“Evelyn.”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes.
May you like
Then she said the six words that destroyed everything Lucian believed.
“Adrian never died in that car.”
