Chương 5
Do not trust him.
The message was written in Lucia’s handwriting.
She knew that much.
The slight angle of the letters.
The way Lucia pressed harder on certain words.
The small uneven mark at the end of every sentence.
But the meaning felt impossible.
Elena looked up.
“Who is him?”
Nobody answered.
Adrian stared at the photograph in her hand.
His face had become unreadable.
That frightened Elena more than anger would have.
People who were angry usually revealed where the wound was.
Adrian looked like someone searching through every memory he had, trying to find the moment where everything had gone wrong.
“Where was this taken?” he asked.
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“I told you.”
“Tell me again.”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“An envelope was left at my apartment.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone got inside your apartment?”
“No.”
“Then how did they leave it?”
Daniel did not answer immediately.
Elena noticed.
Again.
That pause.
The tiny space where the truth was trying to get out.
“Daniel.”
He exhaled.
“It was under my door.”
“That’s impossible.”
“It happened.”
Adrian looked toward the entrance of the ballroom.
Security guards were standing near the hallway, confused by the unusual activity.
“You reported this?”
Daniel looked down.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if someone could get into my apartment without breaking anything, reporting it wouldn’t help.”
“That’s not a reason.”
“It was the reason I had.”
The answer was quiet.
Not convincing.
But human.
Adrian looked away.
Elena could see the conflict in him.
He wanted to be furious.
He wanted someone to blame.
But every person standing in front of him was carrying some version of failure.
Including himself.
Madison slowly walked toward the table.
“Let me see the picture.”
Adrian did not move.
“No.”
Her expression changed.
“You don’t trust me.”
The words sounded less like an accusation and more like a painful observation.
Adrian looked at her.
“I don’t know what to trust.”
Madison looked down.
That hurt her.
Elena saw it.
Despite everything, despite the secrets, there was history between them.
A wedding did not disappear because of one terrible afternoon.
There had been months of planning.
Conversations.
Private jokes.
A life they thought they were building.
People did not become strangers instantly.
Sometimes they became strangers slowly.
“I should have told you,” Madison said.
Adrian said nothing.
“I should have told you six years ago.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Madison swallowed.
“Because I was afraid you would believe the worst version of me.”
Adrian’s expression hardened slightly.
“And now?”
“Now I think you might.”
The honesty stopped him.
Elena looked at Madison carefully.
She still did not know if she could forgive her.
She did not even know if forgiveness was something Madison deserved.
But fear was not the same thing as guilt.
And Elena had spent enough time around wounded people to know the difference.
“What happened the night Lucia left?” Elena asked.
Madison looked at her.
The question seemed easier coming from Elena than Adrian.
Maybe because Elena was not asking as a sister.
She was asking as someone who had known Lucia after everyone else stopped looking.
Madison sat down slowly.
The movement looked strange.
A bride in a perfect white gown sitting at a wedding table after the wedding had already collapsed.
“I was at the office,” she said.
Daniel remained standing.
“I had found documents.”
“About the money?” Adrian asked.
Madison nodded.
“My father knew.”
Adrian looked away.
The mention of his father carried years of complicated emotions.
His father had built the company.
He had also built a family where loyalty often meant silence.
“What documents?” Elena asked.
“Transfers.”
Madison rubbed her hands together.
“Fake vendors.”
“Fake companies?”
“Yes.”
“Why did Lucia care?”
Madison looked at Elena.
“Because she found out the money was connected to people who were being hurt.”
The answer was vague.
Elena waited.
Madison noticed.
“She worked with a nonprofit clinic before she came back to the company.”
Elena frowned.
“No.”
Madison looked at her.
“You didn’t know?”
Elena shook her head.
“Lucia never told me.”
“She didn’t tell many people.”
Madison looked at the floor.
“She discovered that some of the money taken from the company was supposed to fund medical programs.”
Elena felt something tighten in her chest.
Lucia had spent months worrying about patients who could not afford treatment.
She had spent her own time helping people fill out paperwork.
She had stayed late because nobody else would.
And while she was doing that, someone had been taking money meant for people like them.
“What did she do?” Adrian asked.
“She confronted him.”
“Who?”
Madison looked at him.
“Your father.”
The words sat there.
Heavy.
Adrian walked away from the table.
He did not say anything.
Elena watched his back.
There was something painful about seeing a powerful person lose control of the story of his own life.
For years, Adrian had probably believed his sister disappeared because of a personal choice.
Now he had to consider something worse.
That the people closest to him had shaped that choice.
“I told her to go to the police,” Madison said.
Adrian stopped.
“But?”
Madison looked at Daniel.
“But she said she didn’t trust the police.”
“Why?”
Madison hesitated.
“Because someone had already warned her not to.”
The room went quiet.
“Who?” Adrian asked.
Madison looked at the photograph.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not true.”
She looked at him.
“I know who she was afraid of.”
“Who?”
Madison’s eyes filled with tears, but she did not cry.
Not yet.
“My father.”
Adrian stared.
“My father has been dead for three years.”
“I know.”
“Then how could she be afraid of him?”
Madison looked at Daniel.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elena understood before anyone spoke.
There was another person.
Someone still alive.
Someone connected to all of this.
“Your father didn’t work alone,” Madison said.
Adrian’s face changed.
“Who?”
Madison looked toward the photograph again.
“I don’t know.”
May you like
Daniel finally spoke.
“There was someone else.”
