Chapter 6 - The Woman in the PhotographI couldn’t stop staring at the signature.
My mother’s handwriting.
I knew it.
The elegant loop on the J.
The sharp final stroke.
There was no mistake.
“What did she promise Isabella?”
“I don’t know.”
“You keep saying you don’t know.”
“Because I’m not lying.”
“Then find out.”
Adrian looked almost amused.
“You’re giving orders now?”
“You dragged me into this.”
“No.”
He leaned forward.
“You were already in it.”
That sentence stayed with me.
We returned to the penthouse before dawn.
The building had been swept twice.
Every camera replaced.
Every employee isolated.
Adrian led me into a private office.
“There’s something you need to see.”
He opened a safe.
Inside was a small wooden box.
My breath caught.
I recognized it immediately.
“My mother had that.”
Adrian handed it to me.
“How?”
“She gave it to me the night before she disappeared.”
My hands shook as I opened it.
Inside was a key.
A silver locket.
And a folded piece of paper.
I unfolded it.
Three words.
Trust no Duca.
I looked up.
Adrian stared at the paper.
“Your mother wrote that?”
“Yes.”
“So she knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That someone in my family would betray her.”
The locket had an engraving on the back.
A number.
“What is that?”
“I don’t know.”
The key had the same number.
Adrian took it.
“Penn Station lockers.”
“How do you know?”
“My father used them.”
We drove downtown before sunrise.
Locker 217 was still there.
That should have been impossible.
The key turned.
Inside sat a metal case.
Adrian reached for it.
I stopped him.
“Why?”
“There could be a trap.”
“Then why are you touching it?”
He smiled faintly.
“Because I’m stubborn.”
The case opened.
Inside were documents.
Photographs.
A flash drive.
And one old newspaper clipping.
The headline read:
DUCA SHIPPING HEIR DIES IN FIERY CRASH
Adrian stared.
“My brother.”
“What?”
“Everyone thought my older brother died eighteen years ago.”
I looked at the photograph.
The young man had Adrian’s eyes.
But underneath it was another picture.
My mother.
Standing beside him.
Alive.
And pregnant.
Adrian’s face went blank.
“That’s impossible.”
I looked at the date.
My fingers went numb.
The date was exactly one month before I was born.
Adrian looked at me.
“Cara…”
The station lights suddenly went out.
Someone locked the doors from outside.
May you like
And a voice came through the darkness.
“Now you know why your mother had to disappear.”
