Chapter 2 - The Call She Would Not Answer.
Adrian looked at the screen.
The old account name read ELIAS VALE EXECUTIVE OFFICE.
His father's account.
Elias Vale had been dead for three years.
Adrian felt a cold pressure settle behind his ribs.
"That's impossible."
"Someone restored the credential two weeks ago."
Olivia's water glass slipped slightly in her hands.
Adrian noticed.
"You recognize that name."
She shook her head too quickly.
"Everyone knows your father's name."
"That's not what I asked."
Dr. Bell stood and gathered her medical supplies.
"She needs rest, not an interrogation."
Adrian nodded immediately.
"You're right."
He turned back to Olivia.
"No more questions tonight."
Relief crossed her face, but only for a moment.
Marcus handed Adrian a second page on the tablet.
"There's more."
The board meeting Adrian had canceled was supposed to approve Vale Capital's acquisition of Meridian Care Staffing, a regional medical employment company with more than four thousand contract workers.
The deal had been pushed hardest by Victor Hale, Vale Capital's chief financial officer and Adrian's father's oldest business partner.
Marcus had checked the canceled meeting roster.
One guest name stood out.
Grant Mercer, chief executive of Meridian Care Staffing.
Olivia saw the name over Adrian's shoulder.
The color vanished from her face.
Her glass hit the table.
Water spilled across the polished wood.
Adrian turned immediately.
"Olivia?"
She stood despite Dr. Bell's warning.
"You have to stop that deal."
Adrian stared at her.
"Why?"
She backed away from the table.
"Because Grant Mercer is the man calling me."
Marcus went completely still.
Adrian's expression darkened.
"How do you know him?"
Olivia's eyes filled again, but this time she did not look away.
"He used to sign my paychecks."
She paused.
"Then he started deciding where I could work, where I could live, who I could speak to, and what would happen if I ever told anyone what I knew."
Adrian looked toward Marcus.
"Lock down every record on Meridian before anyone knows we're looking."
Olivia shook her head.
"It may already be too late."
Her phone lit up again.
This time the message was not from a private number.
It came from a contact saved only as M.
WE KNOW YOU'RE WITH HIM.
By midnight, the Vale residence no longer felt like a home.
It felt like a sealed investigation room with chandeliers.
Marcus divided the security staff into two groups and removed anyone who had access to the executive network during the eight-minute camera blackout.
Adrian ordered that no one mention Meridian, Grant Mercer, or Olivia's name over internal radios.
Olivia remained in the sitting room with Dr. Bell, but rest was impossible.
Every sound from the hallway made her shoulders tense.
Adrian finally sat across from her instead of standing over her.
"I won't force you to tell me everything tonight."
Olivia gave him a tired look.
"You already started an investigation."
"Because someone inside my house shut off a camera while you collapsed."
"That doesn't mean they're connected."
"You don't believe that."
She looked down.
He was right.
Marcus returned with a key card sealed inside a small evidence envelope.
"We found this in the maintenance corridor behind the east elevator."
Olivia recognized it immediately.
It was her old Meridian employee badge.
Her photograph was faded, but the number beneath it was still visible.
"I threw that away eight months ago."
Marcus frowned.
"Where?"
"At my apartment."
Adrian stood.
"Then someone has been inside your apartment."
Olivia pressed a hand to her forehead.
"I changed the locks."
"When?"
"Three times."
Marcus exchanged a look with Adrian.
"We need to see the place."
"No."
"Olivia."
"No."
Her voice cracked, and the room fell silent.
She breathed slowly before continuing.
"If someone is watching it, you walking in there will tell them I talked."
Adrian picked up his coat.
"Then you stay here, and Marcus goes with people who aren't connected to Vale security."
"He'll notice them too."
"Then I go alone."
Marcus gave him a flat look.
"Absolutely not."
For the first time that night, Olivia almost smiled.
The expression disappeared quickly.
"There is a bakery across the street from my building."
She looked at Marcus.
"The owner keeps a camera pointed at the front entrance because someone kept taking deliveries from the lobby."
Marcus nodded.
"That's useful."
"Ask for Mrs. Alvarez."
"Anything else?"
Olivia hesitated.
"There is a loose floorboard under the bookshelf in my bedroom."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What's under it?"
"Something I never understood."
"What?"
"A notebook my mother left me."
The name of Olivia's mother changed her voice.
Marcus lowered the tablet.
"Is your mother alive?"
Olivia stared at the floor.
"I don't know."
Adrian said nothing.
Olivia explained that her mother, Elise Hart, had worked as an accounts supervisor for a medical services company when Olivia was a teenager.
One morning, she left a note saying she needed to travel for a few days.
She never returned.
There had been no clear goodbye, no funeral, and no explanation Olivia believed.
Months later, a lawyer delivered a small box of personal items.
Inside was a notebook filled with names, dates, numbers, and initials.
Olivia had never understood most of it.
"Why didn't you take it to the police?"
"Because the lawyer told me my mother had left voluntarily."
She looked at Adrian.
"And because two days after I asked questions, someone left a photo of me outside my school."
Adrian's expression hardened.
"How old were you?"
"Seventeen."
Marcus closed his tablet.
"We're getting that notebook."
An hour later, Marcus and two outside investigators reached Olivia's apartment building through the rear alley.
Mrs. Alvarez recognized Olivia's name and immediately shared the bakery footage.
At 6:42 that evening, a man in a dark cap had entered Olivia's building using a key.
He stayed fourteen minutes.
At 7:03, he left carrying nothing.
Marcus froze the image and enlarged the man's face.
He was not Grant Mercer.
He was someone Marcus knew.
The man was Daniel Cross, a senior facilities manager at the Vale residence.
Marcus called Adrian.
"We have an internal connection."
Adrian's voice was quiet.
"Who?"
"Daniel Cross."
Across the room, Olivia heard the name through Adrian's speaker.
Her face changed.
"I know him."
Adrian looked at her.
"From here?"
"No."
She stood slowly.
"He worked security at Meridian before he worked for you."
At that same moment, Marcus entered Olivia's bedroom and lifted the loose floorboard.
The hiding place was empty.
The notebook was gone.
In its place sat a white envelope.
Marcus opened it with gloved hands.
May you like
Inside was one typed sentence.
TELL ADRIAN HIS FATHER STARTED THIS.
