Chapter 2 - The Man on the Other End
Olivia stared at the message until the letters blurred.
DON'T TRUST ADRIAN.
"Olivia?"
Adrian's voice sounded distant.
She looked up.
Police officers entered the alley.
Felix immediately raised his hands and began talking.
He was good at that.
Talking.
Explaining.
Turning sharp edges soft.
Within seconds, he had transformed himself from pursuer to concerned former boyfriend.
Olivia had watched him perform that transformation before.
But she barely heard him now.
Her attention remained on the message.
Ryan knew Adrian.
That was impossible.
Wasn't it?
She stepped away.
Adrian noticed.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
He glanced at her phone.
She turned the screen inward.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
But he didn't push.
That surprised her.
An officer approached Olivia and asked if she could answer questions.
She nodded.
Felix interrupted.
"Officer, she's been under a lot of stress."
Olivia's head snapped toward him.
There it was.
The old technique.
Make her emotional.
Make himself reasonable.
She straightened.
"I can speak for myself."
Felix smiled sadly.
"Of course you can."
Adrian watched Olivia's hands curl into fists.
Marcus stepped beside him.
"Police have Felix's two guys separated."
"Names?"
"Working on it."
"Find out."
Marcus nodded.
Olivia gave her statement.
She explained the diner.
The pursuit.
The alley.
The unwanted contact.
She mentioned previous incidents and the protective-order paperwork she had begun but never completed.
For once, Felix's calm performance didn't erase hers.
There were witnesses.
There were cameras near the hardware store.
There were three men searching an alley for one terrified woman.
Felix and his companions were taken away for questioning.
Before entering the police car, Felix looked at Olivia.
He mouthed something.
She couldn't hear it.
But she understood.
Ask Ryan.
Adrian offered her a ride.
"No."
"Fair."
She expected persuasion.
None came.
"I'll call my brother."
Adrian's eyes flicked toward her phone.
"The brother who was supposed to answer tonight?"
"Yes."
"Do you have somewhere safe to wait?"
She hesitated.
That hesitation answered him.
Marcus returned carrying an umbrella and stopped a respectful distance away.
Adrian said, "There is a twenty-four-hour café across the street from the station. Marcus can take you there. Public place. Cameras. Police nearby."
Olivia studied him.
"Why?"
"Because whoever Felix is, he found you once."
"He'll be in custody."
"Maybe."
She hated that he was right.
Adrian handed her a card.
No company logo.
Just a name.
ADRIAN VALE.
A number beneath it.
The number she had accidentally called.
"That's it?"
"What?"
"No title?"
"I've never needed one."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then Ryan's message returned to her mind.
Don't trust Adrian.
She put the card into her pocket.
"I'll go to the café."
Adrian nodded.
"I won't come with you."
That surprised her again.
Marcus drove Olivia to the café and remained outside.
She called Ryan immediately.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
She texted.
Where are you?
Why do you know Adrian Vale?
Call me NOW.
No response.
Olivia searched Adrian's name.
The results were strange.
Vale Strategic Holdings.
Real estate.
Logistics.
Private security.
Restaurants.
Warehouses.
Dozens of companies.
Articles described Adrian as reclusive, influential, controversial, and notoriously private.
None called him a criminal.
None explained why Felix had looked terrified.
Then Olivia found a photograph.
Adrian leaving a courthouse five years earlier.
Beside him stood a younger man.
Olivia zoomed in.
Her breath stopped.
Ryan.
Her brother.
Standing beside Adrian Vale.
The article caption identified Ryan as Ryan Bennett, "technical consultant."
Olivia read it twice.
Then a third time.
Her phone rang.
RYAN.
She answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Liv, listen to me."
"Why were you with Adrian Vale?"
Silence.
"Ryan?"
"Where are you now?"
"Answer me."
"Are you alone?"
"Marcus is outside."
Ryan swore.
"Leave."
"Why?"
"Just leave."
"Felix found me tonight."
"I know."
"How?"
Another silence.
Olivia stood.
"Ryan, how did you know?"
"I need you to go somewhere public."
"I'm already somewhere public."
"Somewhere Adrian doesn't know."
Her stomach tightened.
"Why?"
"Because there are things I never told you."
"Then tell me now."
"I can't."
"You sent me a message telling me not to trust the man who just stopped Felix from taking me. I think we're past 'can't.'"
Ryan breathed heavily.
"Seven years ago, I did contract work for Vale."
"The article says technical consultant."
"I installed security systems."
"So?"
"So I saw something I wasn't supposed to see."
Olivia's fingers tightened around the phone.
"What?"
"Records."
"What records?"
"I can't explain on the phone."
"Then where are you?"
Ryan hesitated.
"Union Station. Lower level. Locker corridor."
"I'll come."
"No."
"Ryan—"
"Someone is following me."
Olivia went still.
Outside the window, Marcus leaned against the SUV, scanning the street.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
"Felix?"
"No."
"Adrian?"
"I don't know."
"Then why warn me about him?"
"Because Felix wasn't looking for you just because you left him."
Olivia sat slowly.
"What does that mean?"
"You took something from his apartment."
"No, I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
"I left with nothing."
"Think."
Olivia remembered that night.
Her sweater.
Her wallet.
A charger.
A paperback.
A small canvas tote she'd grabbed from beside the kitchen counter.
She had emptied it later.
Hadn't she?
"Ryan?"
"Felix believes you have a flash drive."
"I don't."
"He thinks you do."
"What is on it?"
Ryan's voice dropped.
"Information connected to Vale."
Olivia looked through the window.
Marcus was still there.
Suddenly his presence felt different.
"Ryan, tell me exactly what you found seven years ago."
"I'll tell you when I see you."
"Why not now?"
"Because—"
A noise interrupted him.
A metallic bang.
Ryan stopped speaking.
"Ryan?"
Nothing.
Then footsteps.
"Ryan?"
His voice returned as a whisper.
"They're here."
The call disconnected.
Olivia stood so quickly her chair fell backward.
Marcus looked through the window.
Their eyes met.
He immediately entered.
"What happened?"
"My brother."
"What about him?"
"He's at Union Station."
Marcus pulled out his phone.
Olivia grabbed his wrist.
"No."
He stopped.
"Don't call Adrian."
Marcus studied her.
"Why?"
"Just take me there."
"I can't."
"Then give me the keys."
"No."
"Marcus!"
He lowered his voice.
"Olivia, if someone is following your brother, charging into a station alone is not a plan."
She stared at him.
"What would you do?"
"Tell Adrian."
"Of course."
Marcus paused.
Then said something unexpected.
"Not because he's my employer."
"Then why?"
"Because Ryan once saved his life."
Olivia released his wrist.
"What?"
Marcus looked toward the street.
"Seven years ago."
The same year.
"What happened?"
"Ryan discovered someone had compromised the security system at one of Adrian's buildings. If he hadn't found it, Adrian would've walked into a setup."
"Who set it up?"
"We never found out."
Olivia's heart pounded.
"Ryan said he saw records."
Marcus's expression changed.
"What records?"
"He wouldn't tell me."
Marcus immediately dialed Adrian.
Olivia didn't stop him this time.
Adrian answered.
Marcus spoke quickly.
Then listened.
"We're going," he said.
He ended the call.
"Adrian's meeting us there."
Olivia grabbed her coat.
They reached Union Station twelve minutes later.
Adrian arrived almost simultaneously.
They entered from separate doors.
The station was busy enough to feel safe and empty enough to feel wrong.
Olivia led them downstairs.
Locker corridor.
"Ryan!"
No answer.
They moved farther.
One locker door stood open.
Number 317.
Olivia recognized Ryan's jacket on the floor.
She ran toward it.
"Ryan!"
Empty.
Adrian crouched beside the jacket.
There was no blood.
No sign of struggle.
Just a folded piece of paper.
He picked it up.
"Don't."
Olivia snatched it from him.
One sentence had been handwritten across the page.
THE GIRL HAS WHAT HER BROTHER STOLE.
Olivia stared at it.
"I don't have anything."
Adrian looked toward the lockers.
"Maybe you don't know you have it."
Olivia remembered the canvas tote.
"I need to go back to my room."
Adrian turned to Marcus.
"Address?"
Olivia snapped, "No."
Both men looked at her.
She took a breath.
"My room. My decision."
Adrian nodded once.
"Lead."
They drove to the laundromat.
The upstairs hallway was dark.
Olivia climbed the stairs first.
Her room was at the end.
The door was closed.
She reached into her pocket for the key.
Then stopped.
The doorframe was splintered.
Someone had already been inside.
Olivia slowly pushed the door open.
Her mattress had been overturned.
Drawers emptied.
Clothes scattered.
The canvas tote sat in the center of the floor.
Untouched.
Olivia approached it.
She lifted it.
Something hard was sewn into the bottom lining.
Adrian moved closer.
Olivia tore the seam.
A small black flash drive dropped into her palm.
Marcus stared at it.
Adrian said nothing.
Olivia looked at him.
"Is this what everyone wants?"
Before he could answer, the old television on the dresser suddenly turned on.
Static filled the screen.
Then a prerecorded image appeared.
Ryan sat in a chair.
He looked directly into the camera.
"Liv," he said, "if you're watching this, Adrian is already standing beside you."
Olivia slowly turned toward Adrian.
May you like
On the television, Ryan continued.
"And that means one of the people in that room has been lying to you for seven years."
