Chapter 17 — The Photograph

Lena stared at Adrian.

“What baby picture?”

He didn't answer.

“Adrian.”

His eyes remained fixed on her phone.

“I don't know.”

“You do.”

“I said I don't know.”

She stepped closer.

“You looked terrified when you read that message.”

Adrian finally looked at her.

“I wasn't terrified.”

“Then what were you?”

He clenched his jaw.

“Confused.”

“About me?”

“About something I saw years ago.”

Lena waited.

Adrian looked toward the dark trees surrounding them.

“When I was twenty-four, after my mother died, I found some of my father's personal files.”

“What was in them?”

“Business records. Bank statements. Names.”

“And a baby picture?”

His silence told her enough.

“Who was the baby?”

“I don't know.”

“You've seen it?”

“Yes.”

Lena's heart pounded.

“Tell me what you remember.”

Adrian rubbed a hand over his face.

“It was a photograph of a baby wrapped in a white blanket. There was a date written on the back.”

“What date?”

“Three months before my mother died.”

Lena froze.

“That was around the time I was born.”

“I know.”

She stared at him.

“That's why you hated me?”

Adrian looked at her.

“I thought you were connected to what happened.”

“You thought I was the baby in the photograph.”

“I didn't know.”

“But you suspected it.”

“Yes.”

Lena felt hurt.

“So every time you looked at me…”

“I saw someone I couldn't explain.”

“And you blamed me.”

“I blamed the past.”

“That's not much better.”

Adrian stepped closer.

“I know.”

His voice was quiet.

“I was wrong.”

Lena looked away.

“You should have told me.”

“I was afraid.”

She looked back at him.

“Of me?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

“Of finding out that everything I believed about my family was a lie.”

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Then Lena's phone vibrated again.

A new message.

LOOK UNDER THE FLOORBOARD IN YOUR MOTHER'S OLD BEDROOM.

Lena's eyes widened.

“That's my mother's house.”

Adrian immediately shook his head.

“We're not going there tonight.”

“Why?”

“Because whoever is sending these messages knows exactly where we're going.”

“They already know everything.”

“Exactly.”

Lena stared at the screen.

Then she noticed something.

A small symbol appeared beneath the message.

A black triangle.

She had seen it before.

On the envelope Victor left.

On one of the documents in Adrian's father's old files.

“Adrian.”

“What?”

“This symbol.”

He looked at it.

His expression changed.

“Where did you see that?”

“On Victor's envelope.”

Adrian took out his phone and opened a photograph he'd taken at the estate.

The same symbol was carved into the wooden door.

Lena's stomach tightened.

“It's not just Damian.”

“No.”

Adrian stared at the symbol.

“Someone else is behind him.”

“Who?”

Before he could answer, headlights appeared between the trees.

A black SUV was coming toward them.

Adrian grabbed Lena's hand.

“Run.”

They moved behind the trees as the vehicle stopped.

Two men stepped out.

One of them spoke into his phone.

“They're gone.”

Another voice answered through the speaker.

“Then find them.”

Lena held her breath.

The first man looked around.

“What about the girl?”

A pause.

Then the voice replied.

“Forget the girl.”

Lena's eyes widened.

“Get Adrian.”

Adrian looked at her.

The men started moving toward them.

He pulled her deeper into the woods.

“We have to move.”

But Lena couldn't stop thinking about the message.

They didn't want her.

They wanted Adrian.

And suddenly, she understood.

Someone hadn't brought her into Adrian's life to destroy him.

They had brought Adrian into hers.

Then a gunshot cracked through the night.

Adrian stumbled.

Lena caught him.

“Adrian!”

He looked down at his side.

Blood was spreading across his shirt.