Chapter 3 - ELENA'S WARNING
Damon recovered quickly.
He had always been good at that.
Boardrooms, lawsuits, construction disasters, furious investors-Damon could enter any crisis wearing a smile and leave with everyone convinced he had been the calmest person in the room.
"I assumed the police were involved," he said.
Adrian leaned against the doorway.
"Why?"
"A child nearly drowned. Vivian accused the nanny. It's not exactly a wild assumption."
Grace watched silently from the far side of the study.
Damon noticed her clothes.
"You went in after him?"
Grace nodded.
"Of course."
Damon offered a sympathetic smile.
"That must have been terrifying."
Something about his tone made Adrian's skin crawl.
Maybe Damon had always sounded like this.
Maybe Adrian had simply never listened closely enough.
"Sit down," Adrian said.
Damon looked around.
"Where's Vivian?"
"Gone."
"What happened?"
"I ended the engagement."
For the first time, Damon seemed genuinely surprised.
"Because of one accusation?"
Adrian let the silence stretch.
Damon's expression changed.
"You checked the cameras."
There it was.
Not Did you check the cameras?
You checked the cameras.
Adrian walked closer.
"Why would that matter?"
Damon shrugged.
"Obviously because the camera would show what happened."
"You know the camera covers the pool?"
"I helped install the security system."
True.
Adrian hated how many innocent explanations existed.
Damon crossed one ankle over his knee.
"So what did it show?"
"Vivian removed Leo from the playpen."
Damon's face tightened.
"She carried him to the pool and threw his toy into the water."
"Jesus."
"She watched him fall."
Damon stood.
"She did what?"
"And then Grace saved him."
He turned to Grace.
"I'm sorry."
Grace didn't answer.
Damon looked back at Adrian.
"Where is Vivian now?"
"I don't know."
"We need to find her."
"We?"
"Yes, we."
Damon pulled out his phone.
"If she intentionally endangered Leo-"
"Sit down."
Damon looked up.
Adrian's voice was quiet.
More dangerous than yelling.
"Sit."
Damon slowly returned to the chair.
Adrian placed the missing-file issue in front of him.
"Leo's trust documents are gone."
Damon stared at him.
"What?"
"The original file is missing."
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"Who has access?"
"You do."
Damon's eyes hardened.
"So do you."
"I'm not accusing myself."
"Are you accusing me?"
Adrian studied him.
"Should I?"
Damon stood again.
This time Adrian let him.
"After everything we've been through?"
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Use history as evidence of innocence."
Damon laughed bitterly.
"That's exactly what history is."
"No. History is history."
Adrian walked toward him.
"Evidence is something else."
He nodded toward Marcus.
Marcus placed a printed log on the desk.
Damon read it.
Adrian watched his face.
The reaction was subtle.
A tightening around the eyes.
Then confusion.
"This says my office."
"It does."
"I left before then."
"We know."
Damon looked up sharply.
Adrian realized he had just confirmed they had checked his movements.
Damon understood too.
"Someone used my computer."
"Who has access?"
"My assistant."
"Anyone else?"
"Cleaning staff. IT. You."
"Vivian?"
Damon hesitated.
"No."
Grace spoke for the first time.
"You met with her today."
Damon turned.
His expression went blank.
Grace continued.
"Behind the guesthouse."
Damon looked at Adrian.
"You've been busy."
"What did you give her?"
"Nothing important."
"A key."
Damon's eyes flicked toward the hidden cabinet.
That was enough.
Adrian's heart sank.
"You knew."
Damon stood motionless.
Then his shoulders lowered.
"All right."
Grace inhaled.
Adrian said nothing.
Damon walked toward the bar, poured himself water, and drank half of it.
"Vivian came to me three weeks ago."
"About what?"
"She said you were becoming obsessive about Elena's estate."
Adrian laughed.
"I haven't opened that cabinet in months."
"I know that now."
"What key did you give her?"
"A copy."
Adrian felt his control slipping.
"You copied the key to my private safe?"
"She told me there were documents inside that belonged to her."
"She lied."
"Yes."
"And you believed her?"
Damon's face tightened.
"She said she had put medical records in there because she didn't want staff finding them."
Grace looked disgusted.
"And that sounded believable?"
Damon glared at her.
"You don't know anything about my relationship with Adrian."
Grace stood.
"I know enough."
"Grace."
Adrian's voice stopped them both.
He turned to Damon.
"You gave my fiancee access to Leo's trust documents without telling me."
"I made a mistake."
"And met her secretly."
"She asked me not to embarrass her."
"You could have handed her the key inside."
Damon looked away.
Adrian stepped closer.
"Why the garden?"
No answer.
"Why hide?"
Damon's jaw tightened.
Adrian suddenly knew.
It didn't come from evidence.
It came from the way Damon refused to meet his eyes.
"How long?"
Damon looked at him.
Grace understood before Adrian said it.
She whispered, "Oh my God."
Adrian's voice dropped.
"How long have you been sleeping with Vivian?"
Damon's face answered.
The betrayal arrived strangely.
Not as an explosion.
As emptiness.
Adrian thought of dinner parties.
Business trips.
Damon joking with Vivian.
Vivian touching Adrian's shoulder while Damon sat across the table.
The wedding venue Damon had helped choose.
The bachelor trip he had already started planning.
"How long?"
"Three months."
Grace closed her eyes.
Adrian nodded slowly.
"Get out."
Damon moved toward him.
"Adrian-"
"Get out."
"It wasn't planned."
"Get out."
"She came to me."
Adrian nearly hit him.
He stopped himself.
"You were my brother."
Damon's face broke for the first time.
"I know."
"No, you don't."
Adrian pointed toward the hall.
"My wife trusted you. My son calls you Uncle Damon. I trusted you with every part of my life."
"I screwed up."
"You didn't screw up. You made choices."
Damon looked toward Grace.
"She's turning you against everyone."
Adrian laughed once.
"Vivian almost drowned my son, and you're blaming Grace?"
"You don't know why she's here."
"I do."
Damon froze.
Grace went pale.
Adrian saw it.
"You know too."
Damon stared at Grace.
Then he looked at Adrian.
"What did she tell you?"
Adrian's heartbeat accelerated.
"Why don't you tell me?"
Damon's silence stretched.
Grace whispered, "Elena."
Damon's expression changed.
There it was again.
Fear.
Real fear.
He grabbed his jacket.
Adrian stepped in front of the door.
"Where are you going?"
"Home."
"We're not finished."
"I am."
"Did Elena know you were stealing from the company?"
Damon stopped.
The silence became enormous.
Adrian hadn't known whether the accusation was true.
Until that moment.
Damon slowly turned.
"Who told you that?"
Adrian touched the letter inside his pocket.
Wrong move.
Damon saw it.
"What do you have?"
"Nothing."
"Adrian."
"What was Elena investigating?"
Damon stared at Grace.
"You should ask her."
"I'm asking you."
"Then ask better questions."
Damon pushed past him.
Marcus stepped forward.
Adrian shook his head.
Let him go.
The front door slammed.
Grace stared after him.
"You should stop him."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because scared people run toward whatever they're trying to protect."
Marcus understood.
"You want him followed."
Adrian nodded.
"Discreetly."
Marcus immediately left.
Grace turned toward Adrian.
"You already believed Elena?"
"I believed her before Damon reacted."
Grace sat heavily.
Adrian took out the letter.
"Tell me everything."
Grace looked at Elena's handwriting.
"Eight months before the accident, Elena called me. We hadn't spoken in almost two years."
"Why?"
"Family drama. Stupid pride. The kind of thing you think you have time to fix."
Her voice cracked.
"She said she found irregularities in one of Cole Development's charitable accounts."
Adrian frowned.
"Cole Foundation?"
"Yes."
"The foundation is audited every year."
"Elena knew."
"What irregularities?"
"Large transfers. Small enough not to trigger immediate attention, but repeated."
"How much?"
"She estimated three million dollars."
Adrian stared at her.
"That's impossible."
"She said the records were being altered."
"By Damon?"
"She never said."
"But she wrote his name."
Grace nodded.
"She became suspicious of him."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
"She was afraid you'd confront him before she had proof."
Adrian looked away.
That sounded exactly like Elena.
She had known him too well.
"What happened next?"
"Two weeks before she died, she called again."
Grace's hands tightened.
"She was terrified."
"What did she say?"
"That somebody knew."
"Knew what?"
"That she was investigating."
Adrian felt sick.
"The police said Elena's accident was caused by brake failure."
Grace nodded.
"That's what they said."
"What are you suggesting?"
"I'm telling you what Elena told me."
Grace met his eyes.
"She said if anything happened to her, it might not be an accident."
Adrian stopped breathing.
"No."
"I'm sorry."
"No."
"Adrian-"
"My wife died because a brake line failed."
"I know."
"The investigation found corrosion."
"I read the report."
"Then don't stand there and tell me somebody killed her."
"I'm not telling you that."
Grace's eyes filled.
"I'm telling you she was afraid they would."
The room blurred for a second.
Adrian grabbed the desk.
Memories crashed through him.
The phone call.
The hospital.
Elena's wedding ring in a plastic property bag.
Leo only ten months old.
Damon holding Adrian upright at the funeral.
Damon.
Always Damon.
Adrian forced himself to breathe.
Grace suddenly reached for his arm.
He didn't pull away.
For a few seconds neither spoke.
Then Marcus called.
Adrian answered.
"Where is he?"
Marcus's voice came through quietly.
"Mr. Pike didn't go home."
"Where did he go?"
"I followed him downtown."
"To the office?"
"No."
Adrian straightened.
"Where?"
"To a private storage facility near the river."
Grace stood.
Marcus continued.
"He opened a unit under another name."
"What name?"
Paper rustled.
"Daniel Bennett."
Adrian looked at Grace.
Vivian's last name.
Bennett.
"Her brother?"
Grace whispered.
Adrian shook his head.
"Vivian told me she was an only child."
Marcus lowered his voice.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"Damon brought out a box."
Adrian's fingers tightened around the phone.
"What kind?"
"Old banker's box. He opened it."
"And?"
Marcus went silent.
"Marcus."
"I could see the label."
Adrian waited.
"It said ELENA COLE."
Grace covered her mouth.
Adrian's entire body went cold.
"Do not lose him."
"I won't."
The line disconnected.
Grace stared at Adrian.
"He has Elena's things."
"No."
Adrian picked up his keys.
"He has something he never wanted me to see."
May you like
Outside, thunder rolled across the sky.
And somewhere across the city, the man Adrian had trusted for nineteen years was standing over a box carrying his dead wife's name.
