Chapter 7
Adrian did not sleep.
Emma knew because she did not sleep either.
They remained at the Lake Geneva house while Marcus’s team secured and cataloged Room 17.
At 2:14 a.m., Emma found Adrian sitting on the kitchen floor.
Not a chair.
The floor.
His back against a cabinet.
A glass of water untouched beside him.
She stopped in the doorway.
There were moments when Adrian looked powerful because he controlled a room.
This was not one of them.
This was a man whose childhood had just been reopened like a case file.
Emma walked over and sat beside him.
He looked at her.
She said nothing.
Neither did he.
After several minutes, his hands moved.
I watched her die.
Emma turned.
“What?”
My mother.
He stared straight ahead.
I was sixteen. Hospital. Three days.
Emma felt something heavy settle in her chest.
“What did they tell you?”
Aneurysm.
“Did you see her afterward?”
He nodded.
Funeral?
Yes.
“Open casket?”
No.
Emma understood.
“Who arranged everything?”
Victor.
Of course.
She hated how predictable that answer had become.
Adrian rubbed his hands over his face.
I held her hand.
“They could have drugged her.”
I saw doctors.
“They could have been paid.”
He looked at her sharply.
Emma stopped.
“I’m not saying that happened. I’m saying we don’t know.”
I hate that sentence.
“I know.”
He leaned his head against the cabinet.
Emma touched his shoulder.
“You don’t have to solve twenty years tonight.”
He looked at her.
Then signed.
I do.
“No.”
I do.
“No, Adrian.”
He straightened.
My mother might be alive.
“Yes.”
My father might be alive.
“Biological father.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Precision matters.”
Not now.
“Especially now.”
That made him angry.
Good.
Anger was easier than the hollow expression she had been watching for hours.
Emma faced him.
“Nolan controlled you by making uncertainty intolerable. He gave you answers because he wanted you dependent on the person providing them. Victor apparently controlled everyone with secrets. Whoever sent that photograph wants you destabilized.”
Adrian’s hands stopped.
Emma continued.
“So no. You do not have to solve everything tonight.”
He watched her.
“You have to avoid becoming so desperate for answers that someone else gets to choose what you believe.”
The anger left his face.
Then something almost amused appeared.
You practice speeches?
“Constantly.”
Bad habit.
“You’re dating me voluntarily.”
There it was again.
A small reminder of normal life.
Tiny.
Necessary.
Adrian lifted her hand and kissed her knuckles.
Then he signed.
Thank you.
Emma leaned against him.
At 6:30 a.m., Marcus entered.
He looked at them sitting on the floor.
He wisely made no comment.
“We have Koenig.”
Emma stood.
“Where?”
“Video call in ten minutes.”
Adrian rose.
Private?
Marcus nodded.
“He insisted.”
Adrian signed.
Emma stays.
Marcus almost smiled.
“I assumed.”
Daniel Koenig appeared on a secure screen in the library.
He was eighty-one.
Thin.
White hair.
Sharp eyes.
He sat inside what looked like a study.
Bookshelves behind him.
Snow beyond a window.
Switzerland, apparently.
He began speaking in German.
Emma stared.
Adrian stared.
Marcus swore.
Then Koenig smiled.
“Forgive me. A test.”
His English was perfect.
“What test?” Emma asked.
“To determine whether Mr. Voss would pretend to understand rather than admit he did not.”
Adrian signed.
Emma translated.
“He says your test is insulting.”
Koenig smiled more broadly.
“Good. Gabriel would have said worse.”
The name changed Adrian immediately.
Koenig saw it.
“You found Room 17.”
Yes.
“You found the documents.”
Yes.
“And the photograph of Elena?”
Adrian nodded.
Koenig sighed.
“I hoped you would have more time.”
Emma leaned forward.
“Is she alive?”
Koenig looked at Adrian, not Emma.
“Yes.”
One word.
Twenty years destroyed by one syllable.
Adrian did not move.
Emma translated though he had read Koenig’s lips.
Adrian signed.
Why?
Koenig’s face hardened.
“Because Victor Voss intended to kill her.”
Emma’s breath caught.
Adrian’s expression did not change.
“When Elena decided she was going to tell you the truth about Gabriel, Victor discovered it.”
Koenig looked down.
“Your mother believed she could leave.”
Adrian signed.
She could have taken me.
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Cruel.
Koenig continued.
“Victor made it clear that if she took you, he would find both of you. She believed him.”
Why fake her death?
“Because dead women are difficult to hunt.”
Emma folded her arms.
“She left Adrian with the man threatening her?”
Koenig flinched.
The question had landed exactly where she intended.
“That decision destroyed her.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Koenig looked at Emma.
“No. It doesn’t.”
He turned back to Adrian.
“Elena did not intend to leave you permanently.”
Adrian laughed silently.
There was no humor in it.
Koenig continued.
“The plan was six months. She would disappear. Gabriel would collect evidence. Victor would be arrested. Then they would come for you.”
Adrian signed.
But?
Koenig closed his eyes briefly.
“Gabriel vanished.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
“Victor got to him?”
“We believed so.”
Believed?
“We never found a body.”
Adrian stood.
Koenig continued quickly.
“Elena wanted to return anyway. I stopped her.”
Adrian’s hands moved with fury.
You stopped my mother from coming back?
“Yes.”
Who gave you that right?
“No one.”
Then why?
“Because Victor sent her photographs.”
Adrian froze.
“What photographs?” Emma asked.
Koenig looked ill.
“Adrian walking to school.”
Emma stopped breathing.
“Sleeping in his bedroom.”
Her skin crawled.
“Eating breakfast.”
Adrian lowered himself slowly into the chair.
Koenig whispered, “Victor told Elena that if she returned, the next photographs would be taken after Adrian was dead.”
Emma had hated Victor Voss before.
Now hatred felt inadequate.
Adrian stared at the desk.
Koenig continued.
“Your mother stayed away because she believed distance kept you alive.”
Adrian raised his hands.
And when Victor died?
Koenig did not answer immediately.
Adrian repeated the question.
When he died?
“Nolan.”
Emma felt the room tilt.
“Nolan knew?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s face became dangerous.
Koenig nodded.
“Nolan came to Switzerland four days after Victor’s funeral.”
Why?
“He told Elena that the organization was unstable. Rivals were watching you. If she returned, enemies would use her to reach you.”
Emma whispered, “And she believed him.”
“At first.”
Adrian signed.
How long?
Koenig looked ashamed.
“Years.”
“How many?” Emma demanded.
“Seven.”
Adrian stood again.
Koenig continued.
“By the time Elena realized Nolan had exaggerated the danger, you had built your own life. She watched from a distance.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
Emma could almost see every year being counted.
Seventeen.
Eighteen.
Twenty.
Twenty-five.
Thirty.
Thirty-five.
Birthdays.
Funerals.
Victories.
Loneliness.
A mother alive somewhere across an ocean.
Watching.
Not coming.
Adrian signed.
She chose not to contact me.
Koenig swallowed.
“Yes.”
The answer mattered.
Emma appreciated him for not softening it.
Why now?
“Because Nolan’s arrest changed something.”
What?
“Elena received a letter.”
“From whom?” Emma asked.
Koenig looked directly into the camera.
“Gabriel.”
No one moved.
Adrian signed.
Impossible.
“I agree.”
Where is it?
“With Elena.”
When received?
“Two months ago.”
Before Nolan’s arrest.
“Yes.”
Emma thought.
“Postmark?”
“Chicago.”
“Handwriting authenticated?”
“Three experts believe it matches Gabriel’s known writing.”
“What did it say?”
Koenig hesitated.
Adrian slammed one palm against the table.
Emma did not need to translate that.
Koenig answered.
“Three words.”
He looked at Adrian.
“Adrian knows nothing.”
Silence.
Then the call disconnected.
Marcus turned immediately toward his laptop.
“He cut connection.”
Adrian signed.
Find him.
Marcus nodded.
“Already trying.”
Emma looked at Adrian.
His mother was alive.
His biological father might be alive.
His adoptive father had built his childhood out of surveillance and threat.
Nolan had known at least part of it.
And someone had sent a letter from Chicago before Nolan ever fell.
“This isn’t over,” Emma said.
Adrian looked at her.
“No,” she continued. “Nolan wasn’t the center.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
Nolan was another layer.
Exactly.
Marcus’s phone vibrated.
He read the message.
His expression changed.
“What?”
He looked at Emma.
“Federal detention called.”
Adrian narrowed his eyes.
“Nolan Pierce requested to speak with you.”
Emma laughed once.
“Convenient.”
Marcus continued.
“He says it concerns Gabriel Voss.”
Adrian immediately headed toward the door.
Emma grabbed his sleeve.
“No.”
He turned.
“We think.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
Emma signed as she spoke.
“We do this correctly.”
He waited.
“Nolan spent fourteen years controlling you by making you react to what he gave you. He doesn’t get to do it again.”
Adrian’s expression softened slightly.
Emma continued.
“We decide the conditions.”
He nodded.
Marcus said, “I can arrange attorneys present. Recorded interview. Separate interpreter.”
“Yes,” Emma said.
Adrian looked at her.
“You’re not objecting.”
No.
“Growth.”
He rolled his eyes.
By afternoon they were back in Chicago.
Nolan appeared behind reinforced glass wearing a plain detention uniform.
No expensive suit.
No watch.
No office.
No employees.
Yet the moment he saw Adrian, some of the old arrogance returned.
Then he saw Emma.
It disappeared.
“You.”
Emma smiled pleasantly.
“Me.”
A certified interpreter sat beside the attorney.
Emma deliberately took a chair away from the interpreting position.
Nolan noticed.
“Aren’t you going to translate?”
“No.”
His eyes moved to the professional interpreter.
Something bitter crossed his face.
Adrian saw it.
For years Nolan had made himself indispensable.
Now another person did the work without ownership.
Adrian signed.
The interpreter voiced.
“You asked for this meeting.”
Nolan leaned back.
“I heard you found Lake Geneva.”
Emma’s skin prickled.
Adrian showed nothing.
Nolan smiled.
“Samuel always was a coward.”
Adrian signed.
The interpreter spoke.
“Gabriel.”
Nolan’s smile faded.
“What about him?”
“Where is he?”
Nolan laughed.
“You still think I’m the villain who knows everything.”
Adrian remained still.
Nolan leaned forward.
“I never knew where Gabriel was.”
“Was?” Emma asked.
Nolan looked at her.
“I thought he was dead.”
“Until?”
“Three years ago.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
Nolan continued.
“I received a package.”
“What was inside?” the attorney asked.
Nolan ignored him.
“A photograph of Adrian leaving headquarters.”
Emma’s pulse accelerated.
Nolan looked at Adrian.
“Taken from across the street.”
Adrian signed.
Who sent it?
“Gabriel.”
Proof?
Nolan smiled.
“On the back he wrote something only three people knew.”
What?
Nolan’s gaze shifted to Emma.
“Ask Adrian about the fire.”
Emma looked at Adrian.
Every bit of color disappeared from his face.
“What fire?”
Nolan’s smile returned.
“You never told her?”
Adrian stared at him.
Nolan whispered,
“That’s interesting.”
Emma hated how quickly he recognized weakness.
She leaned forward.
“What fire, Nolan?”
“The one when Adrian was eight.”
Emma remembered.
Adrian checked every building for visual fire alarms because he had once been trapped during an evacuation.
Nolan continued.
“Everybody thought it was an electrical accident.”
Adrian’s hands clenched.
Nolan looked directly at him.
“Gabriel’s message said it wasn’t.”
Emma went cold.
Adrian signed.
What did it say?
Nolan leaned back.
For the first time, he looked genuinely afraid.
“Your father started the fire.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
Victor?
Nolan shook his head.
“No.”
Then he smiled without humor.
“Your real one.”
Emma stopped breathing.
The room became perfectly still.
May you like
Nolan looked at Adrian through the glass.
“Gabriel Voss tried to kill you when you were eight years old.”
