Chapter 5 - Midnight at the Marlowe House
“I’m going.”
“No,” Adrian said.
“My sister is there.”
“That’s exactly why you’re not going.”
I looked at him.
“If Luca were kidnapped, would you stay here?”
He didn’t answer.
“That’s what I thought.”
Adrian turned toward Marco.
“Prepare two teams.”
The old Marlowe house had belonged to my grandparents.
I hadn’t been there since childhood.
By 11:40 p.m., Adrian’s men surrounded the property from a distance.
I wore a wire.
Adrian stood beside me.
Victor had demanded him.
So he was coming.
“You stay behind me,” he said.
“I’m the one Victor wants to talk to.”
“He wants me.”
“He wants both of us.”
The front door was unlocked.
We entered.
A lamp glowed in the living room.
My sister wasn’t there.
Victor sat alone at the dining table.
No weapon visible.
“Sit.”
Adrian remained standing.
“Where’s the girl?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Victor pushed a tablet across the table.
Live video.
My sister sat in another room.
Alive.
Terrified.
I wanted to run to her.
Victor stopped me.
“You’ll see her when we finish.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because your father failed.”
“My father is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Victor looked almost sad.
“Closer than you think.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“Who ordered the assassination?”
Victor smiled.
“You still think this is about killing you?”
“You poisoned my glass.”
“I did no such thing.”
“The shooter?”
“Meridian.”
“You are Meridian.”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
Victor looked at me.
“Ask your father.”
A door opened behind us.
Footsteps.
I turned.
An older man entered.
Gray at the temples.
A scar near his left eyebrow.
He walked with a slight limp.
Seventeen years older than the man I remembered.
But I knew him instantly.
“Dad.”
Daniel Marlowe stopped.
His eyes filled with tears.
“Elena.”
I crossed the room before thinking.
Then stopped halfway.
Seventeen years.
Seventeen years of birthdays.
Graduations.
My mother’s funeral.
Everything.
“You were alive.”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury you.”
“I had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“I chose you.”
“No. You chose this.”
My voice broke.
“You chose secrets.”
He looked destroyed.
“I’m sorry.”
Victor laughed quietly.
Daniel turned.
“Release her sister.”
“When this is finished.”
Daniel’s expression hardened.
“You promised.”
“So did you.”
Adrian watched both men.
“What happened seventeen years ago?”
Daniel looked at him.
“Your father and I discovered Meridian.”
“Who leads it?”
“We never knew.”
Victor interrupted.
“That’s a lie.”
Daniel’s face changed.
Victor stood.
“You knew.”
“Victor—”
“You knew and you protected him.”
My father looked at me.
That was enough.
He knew.
“Who?”
Daniel said nothing.
“Dad.”
“Elena.”
“Who runs Meridian?”
Before he could answer, gunfire exploded outside.
Victor ducked.
Adrian pulled me behind the wall.
Marco shouted through the wire.
“We have multiple vehicles!”
Victor swore.
“They followed you.”
“No,” Adrian said.
“They followed you.”
Windows shattered.
Men entered the property.
A firefight erupted.
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Basement!”
“My sister!”
“She’s downstairs!”
We ran.
Adrian followed.
Victor disappeared in the opposite direction.
The basement door opened.
My sister was there.
I untied her.
She threw her arms around me.
Then someone entered behind us.
Luca.
Adrian raised his weapon.
Luca raised both hands.
“Don’t shoot.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Saving you.”
Daniel looked at Luca.
“You.”
Luca froze.
“You’re alive.”
Daniel stepped toward him.
“You arranged Bellamont.”
“No.”
“I saw you with Carver.”
“I was investigating him.”
“Liar.”
Adrian stood between them.
“Everybody stop.”
The house shook with gunfire.
Marco shouted from upstairs.
“We need to move!”
There was a tunnel beneath the basement.
My father knew it.
We escaped through it.
Outside, vehicles waited.
We drove until dawn.
Victor did not come with us.
Neither did several attackers.
By morning, we had my sister safe.
And my father back.
But trust was gone.
Daniel finally told us the truth.
Matteo Vale had discovered Meridian’s leader.
Before he could expose him, he had hidden the evidence.
Daniel had spent seventeen years searching for it.
“Where?”
“He never told me.”
Adrian looked furious.
“My father died because of this.”
“Yes.”
“Who killed him?”
Daniel looked toward Luca.
Luca stepped forward.
“Say it.”
Daniel’s voice lowered.
“I don’t know.”
“Then stop looking at me.”
My father shook his head.
“I’m looking at you because Matteo left one clue.”
He pulled a folded paper from his coat.
A handwritten note.
Adrian recognized his father’s handwriting.
IF ANYTHING HAPPENS TO ME, THE TRUTH IS WITH MY YOUNGEST SON.
Everyone looked at Luca.
Luca stared at the paper.
“I’ve never seen that.”
Adrian’s voice became cold.
“What did Dad give you?”
“Nothing.”
“Think.”
“I said nothing.”
Then Luca stopped.
His expression changed.
“When I turned eighteen…”
“What?”
“He gave me a watch.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Where is it?”
“My apartment.”
We went immediately.
The apartment had been searched.
Drawers open.
Furniture overturned.
But Luca’s old watch remained inside a locked safe.
He placed it on the table.
My father examined it.
Nothing.
Then I remembered the champagne glass.
The tiny mark.
The detail everyone else ignored.
I turned the watch over.
A scratch ran across the back.
Not random.
Letters.
B.M. 0427.
“What is B.M.?” I asked.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Bellamont Mountain.”
We returned to the lodge after closing.
Police tape still covered part of the terrace.
Luca led us downstairs.
Old wine cellars ran beneath the chalet.
Locker 427 was hidden behind a storage rack.
The watch opened it.
Inside was a sealed file.
Adrian reached for it.
I stopped him.
A wire ran beneath the folder.
“Don’t.”
Everyone froze.
Bomb.
Marco called specialists.
The device was disabled.
Then Adrian opened the file.
Documents.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Names.
At the top was a single photograph.
The leader of Meridian.
I stared at the face.
So did Adrian.
So did Luca.
My father whispered, “No.”
Because the man in the photograph was standing behind us.
May you like
Detective Harris locked the cellar door.
And raised his gun.
