Chapter 2 - The Note From a Dead ManDaniel Mercer disappeared through the mansion doors.
Adrian followed.
His footsteps echoed across the marble floor.
“Daniel!”
No answer.
He checked the study.
Empty.
Library.
Empty.
Dining room.
Empty.
Then Adrian heard a door slam upstairs.
He ran.
At the end of the hall, Daniel stood outside the nursery.
He was holding something.
A phone.
Adrian slowed.
“Give me that.”
Daniel looked at him.
For the first time in fifteen years, Adrian saw fear on his attorney’s face.
“This isn't what you think.”
“You're wearing the same shoes Maisie saw last night.”
Daniel glanced down.
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves you were here.”
“I have been here every day.”
“Were you outside near the SUV?”
“No.”
“Did you know Owen was in that car?”
Daniel’s silence lasted half a second too long.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“You knew.”
Daniel shook his head.
“I knew there was a problem.”
“What problem?”
Daniel looked toward the nursery.
“Natalie has been receiving threats.”
Adrian stared.
“From whom?”
“We don't know.”
“Then why didn't you tell me?”
“Because every time someone tried to reach you, something happened.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel handed him the phone.
The screen showed a photograph.
Adrian’s blood turned cold.
It was Owen.
Sleeping in the nursery.
Taken from inside the room.
Timestamped 2:14 a.m.
Last night.
Another photograph.
Adrian asleep in his study.
Another.
Natalie entering the nursery.
Another.
Maisie standing in the hallway.
Someone had been watching the entire house.
Adrian looked up.
“Where did you get this?”
Daniel swallowed.
“It came to me at 3:02 this morning.”
“From whom?”
Unknown number.
Adrian scrolled.
There was one final message.
THE NEXT TIME, THE BABY WON'T BE SAVED.
Daniel lowered his voice.
“I wanted you to sign the custody papers before I told you.”
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
“Because someone is trying to use the custody case to take Owen.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian threw the phone onto the table.
“Stop saying you don't know.”
Daniel flinched.
“You hired me to protect you. I'm doing that.”
“No. You're protecting something.”
Daniel said nothing.
Adrian stepped toward him.
“Did Julian contact you before he died?”
Daniel went completely still.
Adrian had asked the question dozens of times over the years.
Everyone had always denied it.
Julian had died in what police called a highway accident.
Three years earlier.
Drunk driver.
Rainy road.
Closed case.
Adrian had never believed it.
But he had never found proof.
Until now.
Daniel whispered, “Your brother left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“To protect Owen.”
Adrian’s heart stopped.
“Julian knew about my son?”
“He knew what was coming.”
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“He tried.”
“When?”
“Three days before he died.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“What happened?”
Daniel looked down.
“Julian came to my office. He told me someone inside your family was planning to take control of your estate.”
“My family?”
Daniel nodded.
“He said they couldn't simply kill you because the companies were too heavily protected. They needed a legal reason to remove you.”
“Custody.”
“Yes.”
Adrian thought of the papers on his desk.
The accusations.
The anonymous reports claiming he was an unstable father.
The accusations that he worked too much.
The claim that his criminal business dealings endangered his son.
All of it had seemed too coordinated.
Now it made terrifying sense.
“Who filed the first report?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Natalie.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“What?”
“She said Owen wasn't safe with you.”
Adrian stared.
He looked toward the nursery.
“What have you done, Natalie?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Don't decide too quickly.”
“She's the mother.”
“She may also be a target.”
Adrian laughed once.
Coldly.
“She just admitted she was supposed to make my son disappear.”
“She said something worse,” Daniel replied.
Adrian stopped.
“What?”
“Last night I asked Natalie why.”
Daniel reached into his jacket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
“She gave me this.”
Adrian opened it.
One sentence.
If Owen stays alive, they will kill Adrian.
His hand tightened around the paper.
“Who are they?”
Daniel whispered, “That's what Julian spent his final days trying to discover.”
A sound came from the nursery.
Adrian turned.
Maisie stood in the doorway.
She looked frightened.
“Mr. Vale?”
“What is it?”
She pointed inside.
“There's someone in the closet.”
The security team rushed forward.
Adrian entered first.
He opened the closet.
Nothing.
Only clothes.
Boxes.
Blankets.
Then Maisie shook her head.
“Not that closet.”
She pointed toward the opposite wall.
“The secret one.”
Adrian frowned.
“There is no secret closet.”
Maisie walked to the nursery bookshelf.
She reached behind a row of children's books.
Her small fingers found a hidden brass lever.
She pulled.
The bookshelf shifted.
A dark opening appeared.
Adrian stared.
A narrow staircase descended into darkness.
Daniel whispered:
“Julian.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You knew about this?”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Maisie looked down the stairs.
“My mommy told me never to go down there.”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“Why?”
The girl hesitated.
“Because that's where the bad man keeps things.”
“What bad man?”
Maisie looked up at Adrian.
“Your father.”
Adrian froze.
His father had been dead for twelve years.
But inside the hidden room beneath the nursery, Adrian found a metal cabinet.
And inside it were dozens of files.
Every file concerned Owen.
Birth records.
Medical records.
DNA reports.
Photographs.
And one final document dated four years before Owen was born.
Its title made Adrian's fingers go numb.
VALE HEIR SUCCESSION PLAN
At the bottom was a signature.
His father's.
And beneath it, another signature.
Julian Vale.
But the last page carried a third name.
May you like
One Adrian had never expected to see.
Natalie Cross.
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