Chapter 5 - The Brother Who Disappeared
Olivia turned the photograph over again.
"Who is she?"
Ryan shook his head.
"I don't know."
"Where did you find this?"
"Evidence inventory. Felix rented a storage unit under another name."
Olivia pointed at the necklace.
"Vivian has one exactly like this."
Ryan looked closer.
A small silver bird.
"Elena had one too."
Olivia stared at him.
"Elena?"
"Adrian gave matching necklaces to Elena and his mother years ago."
The woman in the photograph wasn't Vivian.
She was younger.
Dark-haired.
Maybe thirty.
Ryan took out his phone.
"I sent the image to Adrian."
"You what?"
"He needs to know."
Olivia's phone rang almost immediately.
Adrian.
She answered.
"You saw it?"
"Yes."
"Who is she?"
A pause.
"Claire Danton."
"Who?"
"Elena's college roommate."
Olivia looked at Ryan.
"What happened to her?"
"She disappeared eight years ago."
Olivia's stomach tightened.
"Before Elena died."
"Eleven months before."
"And nobody connected it?"
"Claire was an adult. Police believed she left voluntarily."
"What did Felix have to do with her?"
"I don't know."
Ryan took the phone.
"Adrian, there was writing on the back. Olivia Bennett—second attempt."
Silence.
Then Adrian said, "Don't go anywhere."
Olivia sighed.
"You're doing the security thing again."
"This time, humor me."
Twenty minutes later, Adrian arrived with Marcus.
They spread documents across Olivia's small kitchen table.
Ryan explained that Felix's storage unit contained photographs, old phones, receipts, and copies of records.
One receipt showed payments from Harrow Consulting eight years earlier.
Before Elena's death.
Adrian stared at it.
"My mother said she started using Harrow twelve years ago."
Marcus nodded.
"So Claire may have found something first."
"Why would Felix get close to Claire?"
Olivia answered.
"Same reason he got close to me."
Everyone looked at her.
"To get close to someone else."
Ryan understood.
"Elena."
Claire had been Elena's roommate.
Felix had targeted Claire to reach Elena.
Then years later he targeted Olivia to reach Ryan.
A method.
Not coincidence.
Olivia felt nauseated.
Adrian said, "We need to find Claire."
"If she's alive," Ryan added.
Marcus opened his laptop.
Two hours later, he found something.
A woman named Claire Denton had renewed a driver's license in Wisconsin four years earlier.
Different spelling.
Same birthdate.
No photograph publicly available.
"Milwaukee," Marcus said.
Adrian stood.
Olivia stood too.
"No."
He looked at her.
"You aren't coming."
"That's what I'm saying to you."
He blinked.
She pointed at Ryan.
"Ryan and I go."
"Why?"
"Because if Claire spent eight years hiding from the Vale family, showing up with Adrian Vale probably isn't the best introduction."
Marcus coughed to hide a laugh.
Adrian considered it.
"Fine."
Olivia narrowed her eyes.
"That was too easy."
"I'm learning."
The next morning Olivia and Ryan drove north.
The address led to a small bookstore.
Behind the counter stood a dark-haired woman in her late thirties.
Olivia placed the photograph on the counter.
Claire's face went white.
"Where did you get that?"
"Felix Mercer."
Claire stepped backward.
"Leave."
"We're not with him."
"Leave."
"My name is Olivia Bennett."
Claire froze.
Olivia turned the photograph over.
Claire read the words.
SECOND ATTEMPT.
Her eyes filled.
"He did it again."
"Did what?"
Claire locked the front door.
Then turned the sign to CLOSED.
"Come upstairs."
They followed her to a small apartment.
Claire listened to Olivia's story without interrupting.
When Olivia finished, Claire cried quietly.
Not dramatically.
Just tears she seemed tired of holding.
"I tried to warn Elena," she said.
"About Felix?"
"About Vivian."
Ryan leaned forward.
"What did Vivian do?"
"She was moving money. Elena discovered it. I helped her."
"Then Felix came into your life."
Claire nodded.
"He was charming."
Olivia looked away.
"I know."
"He asked questions about Elena. At first they seemed normal."
"When did you realize?"
"When I found him searching my laptop."
Claire had confronted Felix.
He claimed jealousy.
Then apologized.
Then Claire discovered a tracker in her car.
She went to Elena.
Together they began gathering evidence.
"Why did you disappear?"
Claire looked toward the window.
"Because Felix told me what would happen if I didn't."
Ryan asked, "Did he threaten you?"
"He showed me photographs of my parents' house."
Olivia felt cold.
"I left that night."
"Why didn't you contact Elena?"
"I did."
Claire crossed the room and opened an old wooden box.
She removed a phone.
"I sent her one message."
She handed it to Olivia.
The message remained saved.
ELENA, VIVIAN KNOWS. DON'T TRUST THE HOUSE.
Adrian had never seen it.
"What's 'the house'?" Olivia asked.
Claire looked at Ryan.
"The Vale lake house."
Ryan sat upright.
"Elena went there the night before she died."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"She hid something."
Claire removed a key from the box.
Small.
Brass.
A number engraved on it.
"Elena gave this to me three days before I left Chicago."
"What does it open?"
"I never knew."
Olivia took it.
"Why keep it?"
"Because she told me if anything happened to her, someone would eventually come asking the right questions."
Olivia stared at the tiny key.
"Where is the lake house?"
Claire gave them the address.
They drove back to Chicago first.
Adrian was waiting.
When Olivia gave him the key, his face changed.
"Fourteen."
"You recognize it?"
"Yes."
"What?"
He looked at Ryan.
"The wine cellar."
Olivia frowned.
"You have numbered wine cabinets?"
"My father did."
"Cabinet fourteen?"
Adrian shook his head.
"There were only thirteen."
They drove to the abandoned Vale lake house that afternoon.
Dust covered everything.
The wine cellar remained locked.
Adrian opened it with an old master key.
Thirteen wooden cabinets lined one wall.
Olivia counted.
"Where's fourteen?"
Ryan tapped the wall.
Hollow.
Marcus found a narrow seam.
A hidden panel.
Behind it was a small brass lock.
Olivia inserted Claire's key.
Click.
The compartment opened.
Inside sat a notebook.
A photograph.
And an old voice recorder.
Adrian picked up the photograph.
Elena stood beside Vivian.
A third person stood between them.
Adrian stared.
"That's impossible."
Olivia looked.
The third person was Adrian's father, Victor.
The photograph was dated six months after the date Adrian had always believed his father left Chicago permanently.
Ryan opened the notebook.
One name appeared across the first page.
Not Vivian.
Not Felix.
MARCUS REED.
Everyone slowly turned.
May you like
Marcus was standing behind them.
And the cellar door had just locked.
