Chapter 3 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The photograph was lying on the table.
My father's face stared back at me.
For two years, I had searched for a missing man.
I had searched through old records.
I had followed rumors.
I had knocked on doors that people told me to avoid.
But I never expected to find him sitting inside a file connected to Adrian Valenti.
"Where did you get this?"
My voice barely sounded like mine.
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
His eyes stayed on the photograph.
"My father kept it."
I looked at him.
"Your father?"
He nodded.
"Before he died, he kept records of everyone he trusted."
I picked up the photograph with shaking hands.
The edges were old.
The image was faded.
But there was no mistake.
That was my father.
Standing beside two men I didn't recognize.
Smiling.
Alive.
A version of him I hadn't seen in years.
"He wasn't a criminal," I whispered.
Adrian watched me.
"I never said he was."
"But everyone else did."
The words came out sharper than I expected.
"My entire life changed because people believed a lie."
Adrian didn't look away.
"Then maybe it's time you found out who created it."
I stared at him.
The strange thing about Adrian Valenti was that he never tried to comfort people.
He didn't say everything would be okay.
He didn't promise justice.
He only dealt with facts.
And right now, the facts were terrifying.
"My father worked for your family?"
"Yes."
"How long?"
"Almost twelve years."
I felt my chest tighten.
Twelve years.
Twelve years of secrets.
Twelve years of someone knowing the truth.
"And you knew his name before tonight."
Adrian was silent.
That was my answer.
"You knew."
His expression changed slightly.
"I knew the name Russo."
"But not me."
"No."
"Why?"
He looked toward the photograph.
"Because your father disappeared before I ever met you."
That sentence hit me harder than I expected.
Disappeared.
Not left.
Not abandoned.
Disappeared.
The word I had been afraid to say for years.
"What happened to him?"
Adrian looked at me.
"I don't know."
I almost laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because it was impossible.
A man like Adrian Valenti knew everything.
He knew who entered his buildings.
He knew where his money moved.
He knew when a contract was fake before signing it.
But he didn't know what happened to my father.
"I don't believe you."
The words left my mouth.
The entire room became still.
One of Adrian's guards looked shocked.
Nobody talked to him like that.
But Adrian didn't get angry.
Instead, he leaned back.
"Good."
I frowned.
"Good?"
"If you believed everything I said, you would be easy to manipulate."
I studied him.
"You think someone is manipulating me?"
"I think someone has been doing it for years."
Those words stayed with me.
Because deep down, I knew he was right.
My whole life had been built around a question nobody wanted answered.
Why did my father disappear?
Why did everyone suddenly call him a thief?
Why did the people who knew him stop defending him?
I had always believed there was a reason.
Now I knew there was.
Someone had erased him.
Someone powerful enough to make everyone afraid.
The guard who brought the photograph cleared his throat.
"Mr. Valenti."
Adrian looked at him.
"What else?"
The guard hesitated.
"There is more."
He placed another folder on the table.
This one was black.
No logo.
No name.
Just a small silver mark in the corner.
I noticed Adrian's reaction immediately.
For the first time that night, he looked worried.
"What is that?"
I asked.
He didn't answer.
The guard spoke quietly.
"We found it hidden inside the camera room."
Adrian's eyes moved to him.
"Who found it?"
The guard swallowed.
"Nobody."
A pause.
"It was placed there after we checked the cameras."
Adrian stood.
"That means someone was still inside."
The realization changed everything.
Security guards moved instantly.
The restaurant doors locked.
The remaining staff froze.
I felt panic rise inside me.
Someone had been watching.
Someone had been listening.
Someone had known exactly what would happen tonight.
Adrian opened the folder.
Inside were documents.
Old documents.
The first page had a date.
Twenty years earlier.
The second page had my father's signature.
I stepped closer.
"What is that?"
Adrian didn't respond.
His eyes moved across the page.
Then his expression hardened.
"Where did you get this?"
The guard shook his head.
"I told you. It appeared after the cameras were checked."
Adrian turned another page.
I saw his hand stop.
A small reaction.
Almost invisible.
But I saw it.
"What does it say?"
He looked at me.
And for a moment, I saw something I never expected from Adrian Valenti.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
"Your father wasn't investigating the betrayal."
I stared at him.
"What?"
Adrian turned the document around.
The handwriting was familiar.
My father's handwriting.
A note was written at the bottom of the page.
Four words.
Four words that made my entire body freeze.
"Elena is next."
I couldn't breathe.
The room disappeared.
My father's handwriting.
My name.
A warning written twenty years ago.
"That's impossible," I whispered.
Adrian looked at me.
"Why?"
"Because he didn't know I existed."
Silence.
The kind of silence where everyone realizes something at the same time.
Adrian slowly looked back at the document.
Then at me.
"Elena."
His voice was different.
"What?"
He pointed to the date.
My hands trembled as I looked.
The document was dated six months before I was born.
I stepped back.
"No."
Someone had written my name before I existed.
Someone knew I would be involved.
Someone had been planning this longer than I understood.
Adrian closed the folder.
"You're leaving with me."
I looked at him.
"What?"
"Whoever sent this knows you are here."
"I can't just leave."
"You can."
"I have a life."
Adrian stared at me.
"No."
His voice was quiet.
"You had a life."
The words hurt because they sounded true.
Before tonight, I was just Elena Russo.
A waitress.
A daughter looking for answers.
Someone nobody noticed.
Now I was standing in the middle of a war I didn't understand.
The lights suddenly went out.
Every person in the restaurant froze.
A second later, an alarm started.
The guards moved.
Adrian grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the windows.
"Stay behind me."
"What is happening?"
Nobody answered.
Then my phone vibrated.
Again.
The same unknown number.
I looked down.
One new message.
This time, there were only six words.
"Ask Adrian what happened in 2006."
My blood ran cold.
Because Adrian saw the message.
And for the first time...
he looked terrified of the answer.
He turned toward me slowly.
"Elena..."
He stopped.
May you like
Then he whispered a name I had never heard before.
The name of the person who knew why my father disappeared.
