Chapter 18 - Two Seventeen in the Morning.
They should have driven directly to the country house.
Elena refused.
For once, Adrian agreed with her.
"Bell expects us to react," he said.
They stood inside the surveillance van while agents prepared warrants and teams.
Sofia wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
Marcus had been taken into custody.
Victor was being interviewed separately.
Preston remained under protection.
For the first time all day, Elena had ten uninterrupted minutes.
She used them to watch the complete penthouse recording.
Not the edited clip.
Not the short capacity video.
Everything.
The footage began at 1:31 A.M.
Elena saw herself at Adrian's kitchen island.
A doctor had already examined her.
She looked pale but focused.
Adrian stood across the room.
His attorney explained the trust clause.
"Marriage triggers a thirty-day suspension of any pending pledge or proxy affecting your shares."
Recorded Elena looked at Adrian.
"How quickly can two people get legally married in this city at two in the morning?"
The attorney hesitated.
"Under normal circumstances, not quickly."
Adrian spoke.
"No."
Elena blinked at the screen.
On video, she looked at him.
"No what?"
"No marriage."
"You have a better idea?"
"We can get an injunction at opening."
"By opening, Northstar could draw the loan."
"I'll freeze the lender."
"Victor controls more than one lender."
Adrian's face tightened.
Recorded Elena leaned forward.
"You said the clause is automatic."
The attorney nodded.
"If the marriage is valid, yes."
Elena pointed at Adrian.
"Then marry me."
Present-day Elena stopped the video.
Adrian stood behind her.
He said nothing.
She turned slowly.
"It was my idea."
"Yes."
"You told me it was a temporary legal marriage you proposed."
"I said I proposed it as an option."
"You let me think you started it."
"You were already overwhelmed."
Elena gave him a look.
"Bad answer."
"I know."
She resumed the video.
Recorded Adrian argued for four more minutes.
Elena won.
She demanded separate attorneys.
She demanded a doctor certify her orientation and ability to understand the decision.
She demanded multiple cameras.
She demanded no financial rights for Adrian.
Then came the edited line.
Recorded Elena said,
"Once we're married, transfer the shares to Adrian."
The full sentence continued.
"Transfer the temporary voting proxy to Adrian's independent trust office only if Victor tries to move them before the review, and make sure Adrian cannot become the beneficial owner."
Adrian answered,
"All of them?"
"Only enough to break Victor's control."
The edited clip had removed nearly twenty words.
Elena felt anger rise again.
Not at Adrian this time.
At how easily truth could be altered by removing a few seconds.
Then the video showed something she had no memory of.
At 1:57 A.M., Elena asked everyone to leave except Adrian's attorney.
She lowered her voice.
"I think Preston drugged me."
The attorney nodded.
"The doctor thinks so too."
"I can still think clearly right now."
"Yes."
"But I may not remember everything tomorrow."
"Possible."
Recorded Elena looked toward the camera.
"Then I want one private file."
Present-day Elena leaned closer.
The attorney asked why.
Elena on screen answered.
"Because if I wake up confused, I don't want Adrian deciding which version of him I believe."
Adrian looked away from the monitor.
Recorded Elena continued.
"I want to judge him from what he does after I wake up."
The attorney asked what should happen to the file.
"Seal it for thirty days."
"Why thirty?"
Elena looked toward the empty doorway.
"Because that's when the marriage clause ends."
Present-day Elena's heart began beating faster.
The attorney wrote the instruction down.
"Anything else?"
Recorded Elena smiled faintly.
"Yes."
"Do not tell Adrian this file exists."
The video jumped to 2:12 A.M.
Adrian returned.
The officiant arrived.
At 2:17 A.M., Elena and Adrian said yes.
At 2:19, Adrian placed the old diamond ring on her hand.
Recorded Elena looked down at it.
"That's a serious ring for a temporary marriage."
Adrian's mouth moved slightly.
"It was my mother's."
"You carry your mother's wedding ring around?"
"No."
"Then where did it come from?"
Adrian hesitated.
"Sofia brought it."
Elena paused the recording again.
"Sofia was at the penthouse?"
Adrian looked at her.
"For eight minutes."
"Before she disappeared?"
"The night she disappeared."
Sofia spoke from behind them.
"I left after the ceremony."
Elena turned.
Sofia looked embarrassed.
"Marcus followed me from the building."
"That's why you vanished."
"Yes."
"And you never told Adrian you had been there because you thought Marcus was inside his network."
"Yes."
Elena rubbed her forehead.
"I am surrounded by people who treat communication like a contagious disease."
Sofia gave a tired smile.
"Family trait."
An agent approached the van.
"We have the warrant."
Elena closed the laptop.
"Country house?"
"Yes."
The agent hesitated.
"But there's something else."
"What?"
"A car registered to Richard Bell was captured on a traffic camera thirty minutes ago."
"Near the house?"
The agent shook his head.
"Near the marina where your mother disappeared."
Elena looked at the photograph from Samuel's envelope.
The location on the back matched.
Elena looked once more at the frozen frame from 2:17 A.M.
Her recorded self stood across from Adrian with one hand resting on the kitchen island.
No music.
No family.
No flowers.
Nothing about it resembled the weddings she had imagined when she was younger.
And yet the moment contained more consent than the engagement Preston had staged on a rooftop in front of photographers.
That realization unsettled her.
Preston had given her the performance of choice while quietly removing it.
Adrian had given her an ugly emergency option and argued against taking it.
She did not know what that meant for day thirty-one.
She only knew it mattered.
Sofia watched her close the laptop.
"You okay?"
"No."
Sofia nodded.
"Reasonable."
Elena looked at Adrian.
"You could have told me the marriage was my idea."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you?"
"Because every time I told you something you couldn't remember, I watched you wonder whether I was writing your memory for you."
Elena went quiet.
It was exactly what she had done.
Adrian continued.
"I decided the video should answer what I could not."
Not perfect.
Not enough to erase what he had hidden about her family.
But honest.
The lead agent called them toward the vehicles.
Elena looked at the photograph from Samuel's envelope.
The location on the back matched.
May you like
Richard was not going to the blue room.
He was going back to the water.
