Chapter 4 - THE HEAVY COAT
The medical room at the back of the estate was quiet and sterile.
When Adrian burst through the doors, Nora jumped, dropping a roll of gauze.
Her left hand was properly bandaged now, covered in white wrapping, but she wasn’t sitting on the examination bed.
She was frantically stuffing medical supplies and a small wad of cash into the pockets of a cheap, faded winter coat.
“Nora,” Adrian said, shutting the door and locking it behind him.
Nora backed against the wall, her eyes wide with panic. “Mr. Vale, I’m sorry, I was just leaving. I resign. I won’t say anything to anyone, I swear.”
“Thomas is dead,” Adrian said bluntly.
Nora stopped breathing. The color completely vanished from her face.
“No,” she whispered, her hands shaking violently. “No, you don’t understand. If Thomas doesn’t check in with his men... they have my daughter.”
“I know,” Adrian said gently, taking a slow step forward so he wouldn’t frighten her more. He pulled the glossy photograph of Lily from his pocket and set it on the counter. “He showed me this.”
Nora let out a choked sob, covering her mouth. “He told me if I told you about the basement, he would have his men pick her up from school. She’s only seven. Please, Mr. Vale. I have to go to her school. I have to get her.”
“The school is thirty minutes away, Nora,” Adrian said. “If Thomas’s men are watching it, they’ll grab her the second you show up. You can’t outrun them.”
“I have to try!” she cried, grabbing her coat.
“Stop,” Adrian commanded. His voice wasn’t harsh, but it carried a weight that made her freeze.
“You aren’t going alone,” Adrian said. “I am going to get your daughter back.”
Nora stared at him, bewildered. “Why? I’m just a maid.”
“Because she’s a child, and this is my fault,” Adrian said firmly. He pulled the yellow train ticket from his pocket. “Thomas was looking for this. But Thomas wasn’t the one running the operation. It’s Michael.”
Nora’s eyes widened. “Mr. Michael? Your advisor?”
“Yes. He just murdered Thomas in the basement to tie up a loose end. Which means Michael controls the men watching your daughter.”
Adrian looked at the faded coat Nora was holding. The sleeves were far too short for her, and the fabric was bright pink under the dirt.
“Nora,” Adrian frowned. “That coat doesn’t fit you.”
Nora looked down at the pink fabric in her trembling hands.
“It’s Lily’s,” Nora whispered. “She left it in the staff breakroom yesterday when she came to wait for me after my shift.”
Adrian stepped closer. “Let me see it.”
Nora handed him the tiny pink coat.
Adrian checked the pockets, looking for a phone or an address tag.
His fingers brushed against a crumpled piece of paper deep in the lining.
He pulled it out and smoothed it over the metal examination table.
It was a child’s drawing, done in bright, heavy crayons.
It showed a little girl holding a pink coat, hiding behind a large potted plant.
But the drawing wasn’t just a doodle.
In the center of the paper, Lily had drawn two men standing in a hallway. One was handing the other a thick stack of green rectangles—money.
One of the men had gray hair. Michael.
The other man had a distinct, jagged red scar running down his neck.
Adrian stared at the drawing, the blood in his veins turning to ice.
“Nora,” Adrian said softly. “When was Lily waiting for you yesterday?”
“Around four o’clock,” Nora said, wiping a tear. “I told her to stay in the breakroom while I finished the study.”
“She didn’t stay in the breakroom,” Adrian said, tapping the drawing. “She wandered into the west hallway. She saw Michael paying off a man with a scar on his neck.”
The reversal shattered everything Adrian thought he knew.
“The man with the scar on his neck,” Adrian whispered, his voice trembling with sheer rage, “is Victor Rossi. The man who ordered the hit on my brother.”
Answer One: Michael didn’t just want the ledger. Michael had actually paid the rival family to murder Adrian’s brother.
Open Two: Why did Michael betray the family he helped build? And what did Victor Rossi give him in return?
“Mr. Vale,” Nora gasped, pointing at the drawing. “Look at the bottom.”
Adrian looked closer.
Underneath the drawing of the scarred man, Lily had written a single, clumsy sentence in purple crayon.
The bad man said they will take me from the library at 12.
Adrian checked his gold wristwatch.
May you like
It was 11:40 AM.
“They aren’t waiting for her bus,” Adrian said, his heart hammering. “They’re grabbing her during her library period. We have twenty minutes.”
