Chapter 12 - Adrian at the Door
Adrian Vaughn looked nothing like a monster.
That was the first thing Olivia noticed.
He wore a dark navy overcoat.
His silver-black hair was neatly combed.
His posture was relaxed.
He could have been arriving for dinner.
Two men stood behind him.
Nora Bell was one of them.
Grace whispered, “Of course.”
Adrian smiled when he saw her.
“Grace.”
Then he looked at Derek.
His smile widened.
“Little brother.”
Derek stepped in front of Olivia.
Adrian laughed softly.
“You still do that.”
Derek said, “Leave.”
“This isn’t your house.”
“It isn’t yours either.”
Adrian looked at Thomas.
“Technically, he owns it.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
Olivia stepped around Derek.
“What do you want?”
Adrian’s eyes settled on her.
For the first time, his expression changed.
Something like emotion.
“Evelyn’s daughter.”
Olivia felt a chill.
“You knew my mother.”
“Yes.”
“You abandoned her.”
Adrian’s face remained calm.
“It was more complicated.”
“It always is when the person explaining it is the one who caused the damage.”
Mason looked impressed.
Adrian almost smiled.
“You sound like her.”
Olivia hated the comparison coming from him.
“Where is Daniel?”
Adrian became still.
Derek glanced at Olivia.
Thomas closed his eyes.
Adrian asked, “So you found the journal.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“I know he was my mother’s son.”
“Our son.”
Olivia stepped closer.
“You lost the right to say that.”
Adrian’s smile faded.
Nora shifted behind him.
Grace watched her carefully.
Adrian entered the kitchen without permission.
His men followed.
Derek moved.
One guard raised a weapon.
Adrian lifted a hand.
“No.”
The guard lowered it.
Adrian looked at Derek.
“I didn’t come to fight.”
Derek laughed.
“You locked down a building.”
“You refused a conversation.”
“You threatened civilians.”
“They were never in danger.”
Derek stared at him.
Olivia realized something.
“You lied about the building.”
Adrian looked at her.
“The doors were locked.”
“But you weren’t going to hurt the guests.”
“No.”
“Derek thought you would.”
Adrian glanced at his brother.
“He always assumes I’ll behave like him.”
Derek’s expression hardened.
Mason stepped closer.
“This doesn’t make you the good guy.”
Adrian nodded.
“Correct.”
The honesty surprised Olivia.
Adrian looked toward the basement door.
“The archive is here.”
Nobody answered.
He smiled.
“I can smell old paper.”
Thomas stepped forward.
“You’re not taking it.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You’ve been saying that for twelve years.”
Olivia turned to her father.
“You knew he was alive.”
Thomas nodded.
“How long?”
“Since your mother died.”
“And you never told me.”
“I wanted you away from this.”
Adrian laughed.
“Thomas always confuses silence with protection.”
Olivia looked at Adrian.
“Where is my brother?”
Adrian’s face darkened.
“I don’t know.”
Olivia stared.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Yes.”
“You spent years looking.”
“Yes.”
“And never found him?”
“No.”
Derek watched carefully.
For once, he seemed unsure whether Adrian was lying.
Grace asked, “Then why do you need the archive?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Because Evelyn found him.”
Olivia froze.
“When?”
“Days before she died.”
Thomas whispered, “No.”
Adrian turned.
“You knew.”
Thomas’s face collapsed.
Olivia looked at her father.
“You knew she found Daniel?”
Thomas sat down.
His hands shook.
“She thought she did.”
“What does that mean?”
“She received a photograph.”
“Of who?”
Thomas looked at her.
“A boy.”
“How old?”
“Four.”
Daniel would have been four.
Olivia felt dizzy.
“She found the adoptive family?”
“Maybe.”
“Where?”
“She wouldn’t tell me.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“That location is in the archive.”
Thomas shook his head.
“No.”
“Yes.”
Olivia looked between them.
“Then why didn’t she go get him?”
Thomas’s eyes filled.
“Because she realized Adrian was watching.”
Adrian said, “I wasn’t.”
Thomas stood.
“You always were.”
Adrian’s voice hardened.
“My father was.”
Silence.
Olivia turned.
“Your father knew where Daniel was?”
Adrian nodded.
“He arranged the adoption.”
Derek whispered, “And kept the location from you.”
“Yes.”
For the first time, Adrian showed genuine anger.
“My father used my son to control me.”
Derek looked at him.
“You still stayed.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“Just like you stayed when Father used Olivia.”
Derek stopped.
Olivia looked at him.
Adrian continued.
“You think you’re different?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
The brothers stared at each other.
Olivia saw the same darkness in both.
Different shapes.
Same source.
She stepped between them.
“This isn’t about either of you.”
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
“It’s about my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Then we find him.”
Adrian smiled slightly.
“That’s why I came.”
Derek said, “No.”
Olivia turned.
“This isn’t your decision.”
Adrian enjoyed that.
Derek ignored him.
“You can’t trust him.”
Olivia replied, “I don’t.”
Adrian raised an eyebrow.
“Good.”
She looked at Nora.
“And I don’t trust her.”
Nora said, “Smart.”
Grace looked furious.
Adrian continued.
“The archive contains a cipher.”
“What cipher?”
“Evelyn created it.”
Thomas looked up sharply.
Adrian saw.
“You do know.”
Thomas said nothing.
Adrian walked toward him.
“Where is it?”
Thomas whispered, “You’ll never understand it.”
Olivia remembered something.
The blue house.
Childhood games.
Her mother teaching her strange rhymes.
Numbers connected to colors.
She had assumed they were memory games.
Suddenly she understood.
“The cipher is mine.”
Everyone turned.
Olivia looked toward the basement.
“My mother taught it to me.”
Adrian stared.
Thomas looked terrified.
“Liv.”
She faced him.
“You knew.”
“I hoped you forgot.”
Olivia shook her head.
“I didn’t.”
Adrian smiled.
“That’s why you’re the key.”
Derek looked at Olivia.
“Don’t do this.”
She ignored him.
“Bring the archive upstairs.”
Thomas stood.
“No.”
Olivia looked at her father.
“I’m done letting everyone else decide what I’m allowed to know.”
Thomas stared at her.
Then slowly nodded.
Grace and Mason retrieved the files.
Adrian’s men remained near the entrance.
Nora watched silently.
The archive filled the dining table.
Olivia opened Evelyn’s coded ledger.
Rows of numbers.
Colors.
Symbols.
It looked meaningless.
But Olivia remembered the game.
Blue was three.
Red was seven.
Green was one.
Her mother’s voice echoed in memory.
Start with home.
Always start with home.
Olivia began decoding.
After twenty minutes, she found an address.
Everyone stared.
Derek searched it.
A town in Maine.
A house.
Ownership records.
One name.
Daniel Hale.
Age twenty-nine.
Olivia’s breath caught.
The age matched.
Adrian whispered, “My son.”
Then Grace opened a current photograph.
Daniel Hale had blond hair.
Blue eyes.
And a face Olivia recognized immediately.
She had seen him before.
At the Monarch Club.
Standing beside Caleb.
Olivia slowly turned.
Caleb had gone pale.
She whispered, “You know him.”
Caleb said nothing.
Adrian stepped forward.
“Where is Daniel?”
Caleb looked at Olivia.
Then answered.
“He’s closer than you think.”
The back door opened.
A man entered.
Blond hair.
Blue eyes.
The same face from the photograph.
He looked at Olivia.
“Hi.”
Then he looked at Adrian.
May you like
His expression became cold.
“Dad.”
