Chapter 2 - THE MAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Adrian did not move for several seconds.
“Did someone threaten our baby?”
Claire’s hand remained against her stomach.
“Yes.”
The word barely left her mouth.
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
It showed him standing outside a restaurant in Manhattan, his hand around another woman’s waist, his face turned toward hers.
They appeared to be kissing.
Claire had been carrying that photograph long enough for the edges to soften.
Adrian held out his hand.
“Give me the picture.”
Claire hesitated.
Then she handed it over.
He studied it carefully.
The woman was Elena Voss.
Adrian knew her.
Everyone in his industry knew her.
She was a senior executive at Meridian’s largest European competitor, Voss Continental.
But Adrian had never kissed her.
He remembered the night immediately.
It had been six months earlier.
He had attended a private infrastructure conference in New York, and Elena had cornered him outside the hotel after a meeting.
She had been upset about a collapsed acquisition and had grabbed his lapel while arguing with him.
A photographer had captured the moment from an angle that made it look completely different.
Adrian turned the photograph over.
There was handwriting on the back.
He chose her. He will choose her again.
Claire watched his face.
“You know her.”
“Yes.”
“Were you with her?”
“No.”
“You're sure?”
Adrian looked directly at her.
“I have never cheated on you.”
Claire's lips trembled.
“I wanted to believe that.”
“You did believe it.”
“I did.”
She reached into the suitcase and pulled out a small envelope.
Inside were six more photographs.
Adrian spread them across the floor.
Each showed him with Elena.
Some were from the conference.
Others were from meetings he vaguely remembered.
One showed Elena sitting beside him in a conference room.
Another showed them entering the same building.
The final photograph was different.
It showed Claire.
She was standing outside her obstetrician's office.
Someone had circled her stomach in red ink.
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“How long?”
Claire looked down.
“Four months.”
“Four months of what?”
“Pictures.”
She swallowed.
“Messages. Notes. Packages.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because the first message said that if I told you, you would die.”
Adrian went silent.
Claire wiped her cheek.
“I thought it was someone trying to frighten me. Then they sent me a picture of you sleeping.”
Adrian's eyes lifted.
“What?”
Claire nodded.
“It was taken inside our house.”
The room suddenly felt colder.
Adrian looked toward the bedroom door.
Their security system was one of the most sophisticated private systems money could buy.
Cameras covered every exterior entrance.
The staff underwent background checks.
No one entered without authorization.
“Show me.”
Claire opened her phone.
The image appeared.
Adrian was asleep in their bed.
The photograph had been taken from inside the bedroom.
But there was something wrong.
The angle was low.
Near the floor.
Adrian stared at it.
Then he noticed the reflection in the mirror.
A dark shape.
Someone had been standing behind the bedroom door.
He zoomed in.
Claire whispered, “That's when I started sleeping with the lights on.”
Adrian closed his eyes for one second.
Then he asked, “Who else knew about the baby?”
“Everyone close to us.”
“Names.”
“Adrian…”
“Names.”
She gave him five.
Her doctor.
His chief of staff, Marcus Bell.
Their house manager, Evelyn.
Claire's sister, Nora.
And Adrian's mother, Margaret.
Adrian's expression barely changed.
Then Claire said something that made him look up.
“There was one more.”
“Who?”
Claire reached into her coat pocket.
She pulled out a small silver bracelet.
It had belonged to Adrian's father.
Adrian recognized it immediately.
His father had worn it for thirty years.
After his death, Adrian had kept it locked in a study drawer.
“What is that doing here?”
Claire's voice cracked.
“They left it on my pillow.”
Adrian stared at the bracelet.
He remembered exactly where it had been.
Locked inside the old study.
He had not opened that drawer in years.
Someone had entered a room even Adrian rarely entered.
Someone with access to the house.
Then the bedroom lights went out.
Claire gasped.
Adrian immediately moved between her and the dresser.
The darkness lasted three seconds.
Then the emergency lights came on.
The gun was gone.
Adrian looked toward the dresser.
His blood went cold.
The weapon had disappeared without the bedroom door opening.
Claire whispered, “Adrian…”
He was already reaching for his phone.
A message appeared on the screen.
One sentence.
You finally looked in the right place.
Then another message arrived.
Now ask your wife why she was at the hospital the night your father died.
Claire's face went white.
Adrian turned slowly toward her.
“Claire?”
She closed her eyes.
“I was trying to tell you.”
May you like
Before he could ask another question, the house alarm screamed.
And from somewhere downstairs came the sound of breaking glass.
