Chapter 4 - I didn't sleep that night.I wasn't sure anyone in the Voss residence did.
The estate sat behind iron gates and enough security cameras to make a prison jealous.
I had never seen a house like it.
Black stone.
Tall windows.
Long corridors.
Expensive furniture.
And silence.
The kind of silence that made every footstep sound like an accusation.
Adrian had moved me there after the attack.
"Until we know who's targeting you."
That was his explanation.
I had argued.
He had ignored me.
Apparently, being a crime lord meant you didn't negotiate when you were frightened.
I was beginning to understand why people found him terrifying.
At three in the morning, I found Leo sitting on the staircase.
Barefoot.
Pajamas covered in dinosaurs.
"You should be sleeping."
He looked up.
"So should you."
I almost smiled.
"What are you doing?"
"Waiting for Papa."
"Why?"
"He doesn't sleep when he's scared."
I frowned.
"Your father isn't scared."
Leo looked at me like I'd said something ridiculous.
"Everyone thinks Papa is never scared."
"Isn't he?"
"He is."
"Of what?"
Leo whispered.
"Losing people."
I sat beside him.
That answer hurt more than it should have.
"Where's your father now?"
"Downstairs."
"Do you know why?"
Leo shook his head.
"He said he has to find the bad man."
"What bad man?"
"The one who was there when Mama left."
I looked at him.
"Leo."
He stared at his dinosaur.
"Do you remember your mother?"
"Sometimes."
"What happened to her?"
He went quiet.
Then he said,
"She cried."
My chest tightened.
"Why?"
"Because Papa wouldn't let her take me."
"Why wouldn't he?"
Leo shrugged.
"He said it wasn't safe."
I didn't know what to say.
Then Leo looked at me.
"Are you going to leave too?"
The question landed like a stone.
"I don't know."
"Don't."
He took my hand.
"Papa needs someone."
I looked toward the dark hallway.
I didn't know what terrified me more.
The men trying to kill me.
Or the possibility that Leo's father might become someone I couldn't walk away from.
The next morning, I discovered that Adrian had found something.
He was in the study.
Several files were spread across the desk.
He didn't look up when I entered.
"Sit."
"I hate when you say that."
"Good."
I sat anyway.
He pushed a file toward me.
"Your mother's death certificate."
I glanced at it.
"Car accident."
"Fake."
He pushed another document across.
A surveillance report.
Then another.
A hospital security log.
Then a photograph.
My mother entering a warehouse at 11:43 p.m.
I stared.
"She was alive after the accident?"
"No."
My eyes snapped up.
"Then what?"
"Someone staged the crash."
I couldn't breathe.
"The accident happened at 1:17 a.m."
He pointed at the photograph.
"She entered that warehouse ninety-four minutes earlier."
"Why?"
"We don't know."
I swallowed.
"What happened inside?"
"We found a witness."
"Alive?"
"No."
Of course.
I looked at the floor.
"Do you know what was in the warehouse?"
"Medical supplies."
"That's it?"
"No."
He opened another file.
Inside were photographs of crates.
Labels.
Codes.
A symbol.
A black triangle crossed by a white line.
"You've seen this?"
"No."
He stared at me.
"Think."
I tried.
Nothing.
Then suddenly, I remembered.
A symbol stitched into my mother's old winter coat.
Black triangle.
White line.
My heart raced.
"I have."
Adrian leaned forward.
"Where?"
"My mother's coat."
His expression hardened.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know."
He stood.
"We're going."
"Where?"
"Your apartment."
We drove through the city in silence.
I kept watching him.
He looked almost painfully calm.
"You don't trust me," I said.
He glanced at me.
"Should I?"
"My mother's note said not to."
He didn't deny it.
"You may have good reason."
"Then why am I here?"
"Because whoever is hunting you doesn't care whether you trust me."
He looked ahead.
"And neither do I."
I frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you're safer with me whether you like me or not."
I laughed softly.
"You really don't know how to reassure people."
"No."
We reached my building.
Two guards entered first.
My apartment door was unlocked.
I froze.
"I locked it."
Adrian drew his weapon.
"Stay behind me."
We entered.
Everything had been turned upside down.
Mattress cut open.
Drawers emptied.
Kitchen cabinets ripped from the hinges.
My mother's old trunk lay open.
I ran toward it.
Empty.
"The coat."
Adrian glanced at me.
"Missing?"
"Yes."
A strange sound came from behind us.
A phone ringing.
I looked toward the kitchen.
My old landline.
I hadn't had service in months.
Adrian raised his weapon.
I answered.
"Hello?"
Silence.
Then a woman's voice.
My blood turned to ice.
"Nora?"
I knew that voice.
I hadn't heard it in five years.
"M... Mom?"
The line went dead.
I stood frozen.
Adrian grabbed the receiver from my hand.
"Who was it?"
I stared at him.
"I don't know."
That was a lie.
Because I knew exactly whose voice I'd heard.
My mother.
And before the call ended, she had whispered one final sentence.
"Don't let Adrian find the room."
Adrian's face changed.
"What room?"
I looked at my demolished apartment.
Then toward the bedroom wall.
A memory flashed through my mind.
My mother kneeling beside my bed when I was twenty-one.
Tapping three times against the wall.
Then saying,
"Some doors should never be opened."
Adrian followed my gaze.
"You remember something."
I nodded.
"There's something behind that wall."
He stepped toward it.
Then all the lights went out.
A red laser dot appeared on Adrian's chest.
I screamed.
"Adrian!"
He turned.
A shot cracked.
The bullet shattered the wall beside his head.
May you like
And in the darkness, someone whispered from the hallway.
"Open the room, Nora."
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