Chapter 2 - THE MAN ADRIEN TRUSTED MORE THAN HIS OWN WIFE
“Play it again.”
Adrien's voice was barely above a whisper.
Nobody moved.
He stared at the recorder in his hand as though it had become something dangerous.
“Play it again,” he repeated.
I pressed the button.
Celeste's exhausted voice filled the hidden room.
“Don't trust the man you call your brother.”
Adrien slowly lifted his eyes toward Victor.
For a moment, neither man spoke.
I could hear water dripping somewhere behind the basement wall.
Finally, Victor gave a short, disbelieving laugh.
“Adrien, you're not seriously considering what I think you're considering.”
Adrien didn't answer.
Victor spread his hands.
“We've known each other since we were sixteen. I stood beside you when your father died. I helped build everything you own.”
“And Celeste was my wife.”
Victor's expression hardened.
“Yes. A wife who disappeared with twelve million dollars.”
Adrien's fingers tightened around the recorder.
“That's what you told me.”
Something shifted in the room.
It wasn't just suspicion anymore.
It was the first crack in a friendship that had survived decades.
Victor stepped closer.
“Think carefully before you accuse me. Celeste was under enormous pressure. We don't know what she believed when she recorded that message.”
I watched Adrien's face.
For years, men had probably feared him because he never hesitated.
Now he looked like someone who had discovered that certainty was the most dangerous thing he'd ever possessed.
He turned toward Noah.
“Who gave you the key?”
Noah stared at the floor.
“Noah.”
The young waiter closed his eyes.
“I can't tell you.”
Adrien approached him.
“Why?”
“Because people disappear when they tell the truth.”
Victor adjusted his cuff.
“This is becoming ridiculous.”
I spoke before I could reconsider.
“Then why don't you want him to answer?”
Victor looked at me.
His eyes were cold.
“Miss Hart, I strongly suggest remembering your position here.”
I felt heat rise into my face.
“My position?”
“You're a waitress. This is a private family matter.”
I glanced toward the room where Celeste had been imprisoned.
“A woman was locked inside this room. Three children lost their mother. That stopped being a private family matter a long time ago.”
Adrien looked at me.
Then he turned back to Victor.
“Go upstairs.”
Victor blinked.
“What?”
“Wait in the dining room.”
“Adrien—”
“Now.”
Victor's expression changed for one brief second.
The warmth disappeared completely.
Then he straightened his jacket and walked toward the stairs.
As he passed me, he leaned close enough that only I could hear him.
“People who ask too many questions tend to regret the answers.”
I said nothing.
But I memorized every word.
Once Victor had gone, Adrien ordered the guards to leave Noah alone with us while they watched the staircase.
Then he pulled the wooden chair from the hidden room and sat directly in front of the trembling waiter.
“Noah, look at me.”
Noah reluctantly raised his head.
“I have three children upstairs who haven't spoken in two years,” Adrien said. “And I just heard my missing wife's voice inside a room I never knew existed.”
He paused.
“I don't care about protecting my reputation anymore. I want the truth.”
Noah's lips trembled.
“They brought Mrs. Bellandi here the night she disappeared.”
“Who brought her?”
“Two men. I didn't know their names.”
“Was she injured?”
Noah hesitated.
“She could walk. But she was frightened. She kept asking where the children were.”
Adrien's face tightened.
“And you locked her inside?”
“I was twenty-seven,” Noah whispered. “They told me my family would pay if I refused.”
“That doesn't excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
Noah wiped his eyes.
“I've known that every single day.”
Something about his answer sounded painfully genuine.
He wasn't asking to be forgiven.
He was admitting that he didn't deserve it.
I crouched beside the metal cabinet, looking through several abandoned folders.
Most were empty.
But inside one was a thin shipping label with an unfamiliar name.
MERCY TRANSIT SERVICES.
Beneath it was an old handwritten number.
Noah noticed the label.
His face changed.
“Where did you find that?”
“Here.”
He stood abruptly.
“We need to get out.”
Adrien rose.
“Why?”
“Because that company is still operating.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“And if they know we opened this room, they'll know what we've found.”
Adrien glanced at his phone.
“Noah, who is ‘they’?”
Noah didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he reached into his pocket.
One guard moved instinctively toward him, but Noah slowly withdrew a battered black cellphone.
“Someone sent me something this morning.”
He held it out.
“That's why I brought the key tonight.”
Adrien stared at him.
“You wanted to be caught?”
“I wanted it to stop.”
Noah's voice broke.
“I couldn't keep pretending anymore.”
He opened a message.
Attached was a short video.
The footage showed a dimly lit corridor inside what appeared to be a medical building.
A wheelchair rolled past the camera.
A woman sat in it.
Her hair was longer and darker than the woman in the framed family photograph upstairs.
Her face looked thinner.
But Adrien recognized her instantly.
“Celeste.”
The word escaped him like a prayer.
The woman in the wheelchair slowly turned her head.
For a brief moment, her face was completely visible.
She was alive.
She looked exhausted.
And she was staring directly into the camera.
A man outside the frame spoke.
“Tell your husband what happens if he refuses.”
The woman remained silent.
Then she raised one hand.
Her fingers moved against the wheelchair armrest.
Three slow taps.
Two quick taps.
My heart began pounding.
“That's her,” I whispered.
Adrien looked at me.
“How can you be certain?”
“Because she's using the same signal as the children.”
He turned back toward the screen.
The woman opened her mouth.
I leaned closer.
Her voice was weak, but I heard every word.
“Please... don't give them the money.”
The video ended.
Adrien stared at the dark screen.
“How old is this?”
Noah swallowed.
“Look at the date.”
At the bottom of the recording was a timestamp.
It showed the previous evening.
Adrien slowly sat back down.
For two years, he'd been told his wife was a thief.
For two years, he'd believed she'd abandoned their family.
For two years, his children had lived without their mother.
And now he was looking at evidence that she might still be alive.
He pressed both hands against his face.
I watched his shoulders rise and fall.
He made no sound.
Somehow, that was worse than watching him cry.
Then he lowered his hands.
“Where was this recorded?”
Noah shook his head.
“I don't know.”
“Who sent it?”
“An unknown number.”
“Can you trace it?”
“I tried.”
Adrien stood.
“Then we'll find someone who can.”
He reached for his phone.
But before he could make a call, Noah grabbed his wrist.
“Please don't contact Victor.”
Adrien stared at him.
“Why?”
Noah's eyes filled with terror.
“Because the last time Mrs. Bellandi tried to leave that room, Victor was the man waiting outside.”
Adrien went completely still.
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And then Noah revealed something even worse.
“Mr. Bellandi, your wife wasn't kidnapped for twelve million dollars. She was kidnapped because she discovered where that money came from.”
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