Chapter 2 - THE WOMAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEADThe first bullet punched through the private dining-room door at shoulder height.
The second buried itself in the wall inches above Elena’s head.
Adrian pulled her lower.
“Do not move.”
She almost laughed.
Three years ago, Adrian Vale had been the one man capable of making her feel protected with three words.
Now those same words terrified her.
Because protection had a price.
It always had.
Another burst of gunfire rattled through the corridor.
Adrian fired twice through the shattered doorway.
A cry followed.
Then silence.
“Elena.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re bleeding.”
She looked down.
A thin red line crossed her forearm where broken glass had cut her.
“Just a scratch.”
His attention moved immediately to her stomach.
“The baby?”
“Fine.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
The emergency lights flickered on.
Red light filled the room.
Adrian touched an earpiece hidden beneath his collar.
“Status.”
A voice answered faintly.
“Two shooters down. One running through the service corridor. Sofia is already gone with ambulance detail.”
“Take him alive.”
Elena grabbed Adrian’s wrist.
“No.”
He stared at her hand.
She released him.
“If you capture him, they’ll know you’re involved.”
His face hardened.
“They already fired into my room.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“We need to leave.”
“We?”
The word slipped from him before he could control it.
Elena heard everything behind it.
For three years there had been no we.
There had been a funeral.
A grave.
Questions.
Rage.
And now suddenly she was asking him to run beside her.
She stood.
Adrian caught her elbow.
“Stay behind me.”
They moved into the corridor.
Two men lay unconscious near the service elevator.
Adrian’s security chief, Marcus Kane, stood over one with a gun in his hand.
“Third man escaped downstairs.”
“Description?”
“Male, forty-ish, gray jacket.”
Elena’s stomach dropped.
“Scar on his neck?”
Marcus looked at her.
“Maybe.”
Elena grabbed the wall.
Adrian caught her before she slipped.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“Don’t lie.”
“Adrian, please. We have to get to Sofia.”
He studied her, then nodded at Marcus.
“Hospital.”
Marcus frowned.
“The building isn’t secure.”
“Then make the garage secure.”
Within four minutes Elena was inside an armored SUV, sitting beside Adrian as Chicago blurred beyond tinted windows.
Nobody spoke.
Marcus drove.
Another vehicle followed.
Elena stared at the city she had avoided for three years.
The streets looked the same.
The woman returning to them did not.
“You said you used to be medical.”
Adrian’s voice broke the silence.
“Nursing school.”
“You quit?”
“I had reasons.”
“You always had reasons.”
She turned toward him.
“That’s unfair.”
“So was attending your funeral.”
The words landed harder than shouting.
Elena looked away.
“When they found your car, they pulled enough blood from it to convince investigators you couldn’t have survived.”
“I donated it beforehand.”
“You planned everything.”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Three weeks.”
“While you were living with me?”
“Yes.”
“Sleeping beside me?”
She closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
Adrian leaned back.
For a man whose reputation had been built on controlling rooms, companies, unions, politicians, and men with guns, betrayal was perhaps the one thing he could not command into submission.
“Did you ever intend to tell me?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because you would have stopped me.”
“You’re damn right I would have.”
“And then you would be dead.”
Marcus glanced into the mirror.
Adrian didn’t.
“Explain.”
Elena remained silent.
Adrian lowered his voice.
“You owe me that much.”
“I owed you a life.”
“You gave me a corpse.”
“I gave you a chance to live.”
Before he could respond, they reached St. Catherine Medical Center.
Adrian was out before the SUV fully stopped.
Elena followed.
At the emergency entrance, one of Adrian’s men met them.
“She’s alive. ICU is evaluating her heart.”
“Cause?”
“Unknown.”
Elena’s instincts sharpened.
“Did she eat anything at dinner?”
Everyone looked at her.
Adrian answered.
“Almost nothing.”
“Drink?”
“Water. Half a glass of wine.”
“Any medication?”
“I don’t know.”
Elena turned to the guard.
“Did paramedics keep her purse?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Adrian’s stare narrowed.
“What are you thinking?”
“Maybe Sofia didn’t collapse because she was sick.”
Twenty minutes later, Elena stood outside the ICU while Adrian convinced a physician to check toxicology.
The doctor finally emerged.
“Sofia’s heart rhythm has stabilized.”
Adrian’s shoulders loosened slightly.
“But?”
The doctor glanced at Elena.
“Your friend was right to ask about toxicology.”
Adrian became still.
“We found digitalis-like compounds in her blood.”
“Poison?”
“It can be medication, but the level is dangerous. Does she take digoxin?”
“No.”
“Then we need to consider accidental or deliberate exposure.”
Elena’s blood turned cold.
Adrian looked toward the security men.
“Nobody enters her room.”
The physician raised a hand.
“This is a hospital, Mr. Vale.”
“Then station your people beside mine.”
The doctor walked away.
Adrian turned to Elena.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She hesitated.
“Sofia’s pupils. Her pulse. The nausea.”
“You noticed all of that in seconds?”
“I told you I studied nursing.”
“You studied for eighteen months. That doesn’t explain this.”
Elena looked at him.
He had always been dangerous because he noticed small contradictions.
She had forgotten just how quickly.
“What did you do after you disappeared?”
“Survived.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one you’re getting.”
A nurse approached.
“Mr. Vale? Your sister is asking for you.”
Sofia looked tiny in the hospital bed.
Wires crossed her chest.
An oxygen tube ran beneath her nose.
Adrian stood at her left side.
Elena remained near the door.
Sofia saw her.
Tears appeared immediately.
“You really are alive.”
Elena approached reluctantly.
“Yes.”
Sofia looked at Adrian.
“I wanted to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
Her gaze shifted toward the guards.
“Alone.”
Adrian dismissed everyone except Elena.
When the door closed, Sofia reached beneath her blanket and pulled out a small silver key hanging from a chain around her neck.
She held it toward Adrian.
“Grand Central. Locker 418.”
Adrian frowned.
“What’s inside?”
“Proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Elena didn’t betray you.”
Elena’s face drained.
“Sofia.”
Sofia ignored her.
“I found it six months ago.”
“You promised me,” Elena whispered.
“I promised because I thought the danger was over.”
“It’s not.”
“I know.”
Sofia’s voice cracked.
“That’s why they poisoned me.”
Adrian took the key.
“Who?”
Before Sofia could answer, an alarm began shrieking in the corridor.
The lights flashed.
A nurse rushed past the window.
Then another.
Adrian looked toward the door.
Elena looked at Sofia’s IV.
A bubble of air moved through the clear line.
Her body went rigid.
“Disconnect that!”
Adrian ripped the line free.
A second later, the door burst open.
A man dressed in hospital scrubs stood there.
Elena recognized him immediately.
Gray eyes.
Scar along his neck.
Daniel Cross.
The man who had once promised to kill everyone she loved if she ever came home.
His gaze moved from Elena to her stomach.
Then he smiled.
“There you are.”
Adrian stepped in front of her.
Daniel’s smile widened.
“Vale.”
Adrian drew his weapon.
Daniel raised empty hands.
“You should ask her who the father is.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Adrian didn’t look back.
Daniel did.
And there was satisfaction in his expression.
“He still doesn’t know, does he?”
Elena whispered, “Don’t.”
Daniel laughed.
“Oh, Elena.”
His eyes moved to Adrian.
“That baby is the reason she came back.”
Then the corridor filled with police.
Daniel ran.
Marcus pursued him.
Adrian remained.
Slowly, he turned.
Elena could already see the question forming.
She shook her head.
“Not here.”
“Who is he?”
“Not here.”
“What does he know about your child?”
“Adrian—”
He stepped closer.
“Is Daniel Cross the father?”
“No.”
The answer came instantly.
“Then who is?”
Elena looked toward Sofia.
Sofia’s eyes closed in exhaustion.
Three years of secrets pressed against Elena’s chest.
She had hidden names.
Documents.
Deaths.
Money.
A conspiracy powerful enough to reach judges, police officers, and hospitals.
But the secret Adrian was asking about was the one she had never expected to carry back into his life.
“The father is dead,” Elena said.
Adrian stared at her.
She continued before courage failed.
“He died two months ago.”
“Who was he?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“A federal witness.”
Something unreadable moved across Adrian’s face.
“And Cross killed him?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he found out what I knew.”
Adrian looked at Sofia.
Then at the silver key in his hand.
“What’s in Locker 418?”
Elena answered.
“Enough evidence to destroy the organization that has been using your family for twenty years.”
“And you knew about it?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
May you like
Elena looked directly into his eyes.
“Because my father built it.”
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