Chapter 2 - Peter Marchand looked exactly as I remembered him.Not from photographs.
From nightmares.
Silver hair.
Black overcoat.
A gold watch.
The kind of polished smile that suggested he had never been forced to apologize for anything in his life.
He stood in the doorway with two men behind him.
Adrian did not move.
Luca stepped forward.
“Peter.”
Peter smiled.
“Luca.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop.
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“How did you get past my security?”
Peter glanced toward the hallway.
“Your security is very good.”
He looked directly at me.
“But not as good as it used to be.”
I felt cold all over.
Adrian moved between us.
“You're not welcome here.”
Peter chuckled.
“That has never stopped me before.”
His eyes shifted toward the laptop.
For a fraction of a second, his smile disappeared.
He had seen the screen.
He knew exactly what was inside the drive.
Adrian noticed.
“So you knew.”
Peter sighed.
“Adrian, you have no idea what you're holding.”
“Then explain.”
“I came here to prevent something.”
“What?”
Peter looked at me.
“Her death.”
My stomach tightened.
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“Who wants her dead?”
Peter said nothing.
That silence was answer enough.
Luca's hand moved beneath his jacket.
Peter raised one palm.
“I didn't come here to fight.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You came into my building with armed men after midnight.”
Peter smiled.
“That qualifies as a conversation in my world.”
Then he looked at me again.
“Clara, your father should never have left that drive.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
Peter's face changed.
“And that's why you're alive.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
Before Peter could answer, every light in the office went out.
Darkness.
A single gunshot cracked through the glass.
Peter's security men hit the floor.
Luca shoved Adrian sideways.
I dropped behind the desk.
Glass exploded inward.
A bullet buried itself in the wall where my head had been.
“Sniper!” Luca shouted.
The office erupted.
Adrian dragged me behind a steel support column.
Peter pulled a pistol from his coat.
For the first time, the calm mask vanished.
“This isn't about the drive,” he said.
Another shot.
Peter's shoulder jerked.
He fell against the doorframe.
Luca rushed toward him.
Adrian grabbed his arm.
“Don't.”
Peter looked at the blood soaking through his coat.
Then at Adrian.
“They found you.”
Adrian stared.
“Who?”
Peter's voice weakened.
“The people your mother was running from.”
I knelt beside him.
“What did my father know?”
Peter looked directly into my eyes.
“Everything.”
Then his eyes rolled back.
Dr. Evelyn Mercer rushed over.
“He's alive.”
Adrian looked at Luca.
“Seal the building.”
Luca nodded.
Within seconds, men poured into the hallway.
But the shooter was gone.
No shell casings.
No footprints.
Nothing.
Only one message remained.
Written in black marker on the office window.
Four words.
ASK WHAT HAPPENED IN 1999.
Adrian stared at them.
I felt my blood run cold.
The year Eleanor supposedly died.
“Why would they leave that?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Instead, he turned to the wounded Peter.
“Get him downstairs.”
Luca hesitated.
“Sir, if he survives, he may tell us everything.”
Adrian nodded.
“That’s the point.”
Peter's eyes opened for one second.
He grabbed Adrian's sleeve.
“Don't trust…”
His voice broke.
Adrian leaned closer.
“Who?”
Peter whispered a name.
Then he passed out again.
Adrian stood perfectly still.
I looked at him.
“Who did he say?”
He did not answer.
Luca's face went pale.
Because he had heard it too.
The name was someone I had already met.
Someone standing inside the Moretti security team.
Someone Adrian trusted completely.
Then the basement alarm began screaming.
Evelyn looked toward the floor.
“We have a problem.”
Adrian turned.
“What now?”
She pointed downstairs.
“The wounded man's security tag just triggered.”
Luca frowned.
“That's impossible.”
Evelyn shook her head.
“No.”
May you like
She looked at me.
“It means somebody down there is pretending to be Peter.”
Related Stories
