Chapter 4 - A HOUSE BUILT ON LIES|
Adrian Corsetti did not shout.
That was what frightened his employees most about him. Men who shouted could be distracted, challenged, or provoked. Adrian simply became quieter, and the people around him learned to fear the silence.
After Isabella's accusation, he sent everyone out of the hospital room except Elena and Dr. Bennett.
"Tell me exactly what you heard," he said.
Isabella rubbed the rabbit's ear.
"Aunt Celeste said Mama had to disappear because she knew too much. Uncle Victor said the little girl wouldn't remember anything."
"Did they say where they were?"
"In the blue room."
Adrian stared at the floor.
The blue room was a private sitting room in his estate. His late wife, Sophia, had decorated it herself. After her death, he had ordered the room locked.
"Who else was there?"
"Grandpa's friend. The one with the gold ring."
Adrian's eyes lifted.
"Charles?"
Isabella nodded.
Elena watched the change in his face.
"Who are these people?"
Adrian didn't answer immediately.
"Celeste is my father's sister. Victor is the head of security at my estate. Charles Voss is a business partner."
"Your daughter says they were discussing her mother."
"I heard her."
"Then why aren't you calling the police?"
Adrian looked at her.
"Because the police have been receiving money from my enemies for twenty years."
Elena stepped away from the bed.
"That doesn't mean every officer is corrupt."
"No. It means I don't know which ones are."
It was the first honest answer he had given her, and it unsettled her more than his threats could have.
Dr. Bennett returned with preliminary results. Isabella had been given a sedative, but the dosage had not been enough to kill her. The doctor believed she had also suffered a severe reaction to a medication she had been prescribed for anxiety.
"Who prescribed it?" Adrian asked.
"Her pediatric specialist."
"Name."
"Dr. Howard."
Adrian looked at his assistant.
"Find him."
Elena frowned.
"Wait. Why would a doctor give a child something dangerous?"
"Because someone paid him," Adrian replied.
"You don't know that."
"I know the medication wasn't supposed to be administered at that dose."
Elena turned to Isabella.
"Do you remember taking medicine?"
The girl nodded.
"Aunt Celeste gives it to me when I ask about Mama."
Adrian's hands curled into fists.
"How long?"
"Since summer."
He looked away.
For the first time, Elena saw something that resembled shame in his expression.
He had been living in the same house as his daughter, surrounded by security, doctors, and expensive people. Yet a child had been frightened and drugged under his own roof.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked her gently.
Isabella looked down.
"Aunt Celeste said you would be sad."
Adrian reached for her hand.
"I would rather be sad than not know."
The girl began to cry.
He held her carefully, his face turned away from Elena.
A few minutes later, Elena stepped into the corridor. Margaret followed.
"Mr. Corsetti will want you to stay at the estate until this is resolved."
"Absolutely not."
"He believes you're in danger."
"I've been in danger for years. I don't need a mansion to make it worse."
Margaret lowered her voice.
"Someone followed you home last night."
Elena stopped.
"What?"
"We found a car outside your building. It was gone before our people arrived."
"How do you know it was following me?"
"Because the driver photographed your apartment windows."
Elena's mouth went dry.
Adrian appeared behind them.
"You're coming with us."
"No."
"Elena—"
"You don't get to decide where I live."
"I can put men outside your building."
"And make my neighbors think I'm involved in something criminal?"
"You are involved."
"Because I helped a little girl?"
"Because you were the last person seen with my daughter before someone tried to kill her."
Elena stared at him.
"Then perhaps you should find out who tried to kill her instead of ordering me around."
For a long moment, Adrian said nothing.
Then he gave a small nod.
"You're right."
Elena hadn't expected that.
He took out his phone.
"Get her a car. No guards inside her building. Two men across the street, out of sight. If she tells us to leave, they leave."
"Adrian—"
"Your choice. But I need you to understand something."
He stepped closer.
"My wife died because she trusted someone in my house. I will not let my daughter become the second woman I bury."
Elena looked at him and saw the grief beneath the power.
She agreed to the car, but not the guards.
As she left the hospital, Margaret handed her a sealed envelope.
"Isabella wanted you to have this."
Inside was a drawing made with colored pencils. It showed a little girl holding hands with a woman in a yellow coat. Behind them stood a dark house with a red door.
At the bottom, Isabella had written:
This is where Mama is.
Elena turned the paper over.
A street name was written in faint pencil.
It was the address of an abandoned property on the edge of the city.
May you like
And beneath it was one more sentence.
Uncle Victor took me there yesterday.
