Chapter 2 - Adrian Moretti had seen dead men before.He had attended funerals where coffins contained men who had owed him money, betrayed him, or tried to kill him.
He had stood beside graves in pouring rain.
He had watched bodies disappear beneath six feet of earth.
He knew what death looked like.
Daniel Carter was dead.
He had been dead for six years.
Adrian remembered the night.
A warehouse outside Newark.
An explosion.
Three vehicles destroyed.
Two bodies recovered.
One never identified.
Daniel Carter had been Adrian’s financial controller.
Quiet.
Precise.
Annoyingly honest.
He had discovered irregular transfers involving three shell companies connected to Moretti Shipping.
Two days later, he disappeared.
Then came the explosion.
Everyone assumed Daniel had died.
Adrian had accepted it.
Now Emma was shaking in the corner of his room.
“You know that voice,” Adrian said.
Emma wouldn't look at him.
“Do you?”
She nodded.
“Then start talking.”
“I can't.”
“You can.”
“I'll get Lily killed.”
Adrian glanced at the child.
Lily had stopped crying.
She sat on the sofa, hugging the rabbit.
Marcus stood by the doorway with two armed guards.
The mansion was sealed.
No vehicles could enter.
No employee could leave.
Adrian turned back to Emma.
“Six years ago, I believed your husband died.”
Emma closed her eyes.
“He didn't.”
The room went still.
Marcus slowly lowered his phone.
Adrian stared at her.
“Daniel is alive?”
“I don't know.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I haven't seen him in six years.”
“Then whose voice was that?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian stepped closer.
Emma backed away.
He stopped.
“What happened after Daniel disappeared?”
She whispered.
“They came for us.”
“Who?”
“Men.”
“From where?”
“I don't know.”
“Emma.”
She flinched at the sound of her name.
“One of them kept asking for something Daniel had taken.”
“What?”
“A book.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What book?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe your husband disappeared after stealing a book, and six years later a dead man's voice appears in my mansion?”
Emma shook her head.
“I don't expect you to believe anything.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Emma looked toward Lily.
“When Daniel vanished, I was told he was dead.”
“By whom?”
“A man named Victor.”
Adrian's expression changed.
“Victor Hale?”
Emma nodded.
Marcus looked at him.
“That’s impossible.”
“Why?”
“Victor Hale died eight years ago.”
Adrian's eyes remained on Emma.
“Who was Victor Hale?”
“The man who managed Daniel.”
“That doesn't answer the question.”
“He worked for your brother.”
Silence.
Adrian's face hardened.
His younger brother, Matteo Moretti, had been dead for eight years.
Heart failure, officially.
Victor Hale had been Matteo's personal security chief.
A man Adrian barely remembered.
Not because Victor had been unimportant.
Because Victor had been forgettable.
That was exactly the kind of man who frightened Adrian.
“Why would Matteo be involved?”
Emma hesitated.
“I never said Matteo was.”
“You just did.”
“No.”
Adrian saw the fear in her eyes.
“You know something about my brother.”
“I know something Daniel knew.”
“What?”
Emma looked down.
“A name.”
“Whose name?”
She swallowed.
“The man who controls everything.”
Adrian waited.
Emma whispered:
“Gideon Black.”
Marcus frowned.
“Sir, there's no one by that name in our records.”
“Exactly,” Adrian said.
He turned toward the windows.
The mansion grounds were black beneath the moonlight.
“Then someone has spent six years making sure there are no records.”
A soft sound came from behind him.
Lily.
“Mommy?”
Emma turned.
“What is it, baby?”
Lily pointed at the rabbit.
“The man took him.”
Emma frowned.
“Who?”
“The man from the hallway.”
Adrian crouched beside her.
“What man?”
“He touched Bunny.”
“When?”
“Before Mommy fell.”
Adrian looked at Emma.
“What did you call the rabbit?”
“Bunny.”
Lily shook her head.
“Not his name.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What is his name?”
She whispered:
“Daniel.”
Marcus stared.
Adrian slowly took the rabbit from her.
It was old.
Dirty.
A seam had been repaired along the left ear.
He turned it over.
Nothing.
Then he noticed a tiny metal zipper beneath the rabbit's belly.
“Where did this come from?”
Emma looked confused.
“That's Lily's.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Daniel gave it to her before he disappeared.”
Adrian felt something tighten in his chest.
He opened the zipper.
Inside was a folded piece of paper.
Marcus stepped closer.
Adrian unfolded it.
Four words were written in black ink.
ASK ADRIAN ABOUT 11:59.
Adrian stared at the message.
“That's impossible.”
Emma whispered.
“What?”
“This was in your daughter's rabbit?”
“Yes.”
“When did Daniel give it to her?”
“Six years ago.”
Lily had been a baby.
Adrian looked at the handwriting.
He knew it.
Daniel Carter's handwriting.
He had signed hundreds of financial reports for Adrian.
The same sharp slant.
The same narrow letters.
The same distinctive seven.
Adrian turned the paper over.
Nothing.
Then he noticed another mark.
A number.
917.
He looked toward Marcus.
“What's in room 917?”
Marcus frowned.
“Nothing. This is a private residence.”
“Think.”
Marcus checked his phone.
“917…”
He paused.
“There is an old storage registry from the original estate plans.”
“Where?”
“Basement level.”
Adrian looked at the clock.
12:17 a.m.
The mansion had gone quiet again.
Too quiet.
He handed the paper to Marcus.
“We're going downstairs.”
Emma immediately stood.
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Why?”
“Because that's where they used to take him.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
“Take him where?”
Emma's eyes filled with fear.
“To the room beneath the house.”
Adrian glanced at Marcus.
“There is no room beneath the house.”
Emma shook her head.
“There is.”
She pointed toward the floor.
“And someone is still using it.”
Three seconds later, the mansion's old service bell rang.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Then a fourth bell.
Marcus went pale.
“That system hasn't worked in years.”
Adrian looked at the floor.
“What does four bells mean?”
Emma whispered:
“Someone has opened the room.”
A metallic click sounded from beneath them.
A hidden panel in the floor shifted.
Cold air rushed into the room.
And from somewhere beneath the mansion came a child's lullaby.
Lily began to cry.
“That song…”
She looked at Adrian.
“He used to sing it to Mommy.”
Adrian stared down into the darkness.
Then he heard the voice again.
Closer this time.
“Adrian.”
He raised his gun.
“Come downstairs.”
Marcus stepped forward.
Adrian stopped him.
“No.”
“Sir?”
May you like
“This one is for me.”
:::
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