Chapter 2 - The Man Who Said He Was Protecting Her.
Elena called Preston back immediately.
The call went straight to voicemail.
She tried again.
Nothing.
She looked at Adrian.
"Did you hear that?"
"Every word."
"And you still look calm."
"Looking frightened won't make him honest."
"You think he's lying?"
"I think Preston tells the truth when the truth is useful to him."
Elena stood so quickly that the chair scraped the floor.
"I'm leaving."
Adrian did not stop her.
"A car will take you anywhere you want."
That answer made her hesitate.
She had expected a threat.
A command.
At minimum, an argument.
Instead Adrian reached for his phone.
"I'll have security bring your dress and shoes from downstairs."
"My dress?"
"You changed because champagne was spilled on it."
"Convenient."
His eyes sharpened.
"You think I undressed you?"
The question embarrassed her, but she did not look away.
"I woke up in your house wearing a robe."
"My housekeeper helped you change while my attorney was present in the adjoining room."
He slid his phone toward her.
"Her name is Mrs. Alvarez."
A video clip showed an older woman entering the guest suite with folded clothing while Adrian remained in the hallway.
Elena hated that he had an answer for everything.
She hated even more that the answers sounded reasonable.
"I want copies of every video from last night."
"You'll have them."
"Every document too."
"Already being printed."
"And I want the toxicology report."
"The doctor took blood at your request."
Elena frowned.
"At my request?"
"You were very specific about creating a record."
Something inside her shifted.
The woman in the video had not looked helpless.
She had looked furious.
Strategic.
Almost cold.
Elena knew that version of herself.
It was the part Preston had spent three years telling her was unattractive.
Too suspicious.
Too difficult.
Too much like her father.
Her phone buzzed again.
This time it was a text from an unknown number.
IF YOU WANT PRESTON ALIVE, COME ALONE.
Below the message was a photograph.
Preston sat in the back seat of a car.
His face was pale.
A dark bruise marked one cheek.
A hand held the back of his collar.
Elena's breath stopped.
Adrian was beside her before she realized he had moved.
He did not touch the phone.
"Don't reply."
She looked at him sharply.
"You don't get to order me around."
"I'm not ordering you."
"It sounded exactly like an order."
"Then hear the reason instead."
He pointed to the bottom corner of the image.
A reflection in the car window showed part of a red neon sign.
Only three letters were visible.
O-R-E.
"They want us to identify the location," Adrian said.
"Why would they do that?"
"Because they want you to come."
"The message already says that."
"No."
He met her eyes.
"They want you to think you found him."
Elena stared at the photo again.
"Who are they?"
"I have an idea."
"Tell me."
Adrian walked to the window.
For the first time since entering the room, tension showed in his shoulders.
"Northstar Heritage Partners is a shell company."
"I figured that out."
"Its registered manager is a law clerk in Delaware who died four years ago."
Elena blinked.
"That's impossible."
"Not if someone stole the identity."
"Who owns it?"
"The money behind it traces through seven entities."
"And?"
He turned.
"The final account belongs to a company controlled by Victor Marlowe."
Elena stopped breathing.
"My uncle?"
"Yes."
The answer felt absurd.
Uncle Victor had been the steady one after her father died.
He had handled the company.
He had taken care of the trust paperwork.
He had given speeches about preserving her father's legacy.
He sent flowers every year on her father's birthday.
"You're lying."
Adrian did not flinch.
"I expected you to say that."
"Victor practically raised me."
"That doesn't change the account records."
"Preston works for Victor's firm."
"Exactly."
Elena felt suddenly sick.
Preston had joined Marlowe Systems as a consultant two years before they started dating.
Victor had introduced them at a company holiday party.
Elena had always joked that her uncle had played matchmaker.
Now the joke felt poisonous.
"Show me the records."
Adrian opened another file.
There were bank transfers.
Entity registrations.
Ownership charts.
Nothing she could understand quickly.
But one name appeared repeatedly beside authorizations.
Victor James Marlowe.
Elena sank into the chair.
"Why would Victor need my shares?"
"Control."
"He already runs the company."
"He runs it because your shares are held in trust."
Adrian tapped the page.
"When you turn thirty next month, the voting rights transfer fully to you."
Elena's eyes widened.
She had forgotten the date was that close.
Victor had always treated her thirtieth birthday like an administrative detail.
"If my shares transfer to me, he loses majority control."
"Correct."
"So Preston's forged guarantee would have put my shares at risk."
"Yes."
"And Northstar could seize them if the loan defaulted."
"Exactly."
A cold, terrible understanding formed.
"Victor controls Northstar."
Adrian nodded.
"Which means Victor could create the default himself."
Elena closed her eyes.
A relationship she had trusted for twenty-eight years cracked down the center.
Then her phone rang.
This time the screen showed UNCLE VICTOR.
She answered before Adrian could say anything.
"Elena?"
Victor sounded shaken.
"Thank God you're all right."
Her throat tightened.
"Where's Preston?"
There was a pause.
"Why would I know?"
"Because Adrian says Northstar belongs to you."
Silence.
Too much silence.
Elena stood.
"Victor?"
Her uncle exhaled slowly.
When he spoke again, his warm familiar voice was gone.
"You need to leave Adrian Vale's house."
"Why?"
"Because if he has shown you Northstar, then he has already decided how much of the truth to give you."
Elena looked toward Adrian.
"What truth?"
Victor's next words came quietly.
May you like
"Ask your new husband what happened the night your father died."
Then he hung up.
