Chapter 4 - THE WATCH THAT TOLD THE TRUTH
Adrian's answer stayed with Nia as they left the hospital.
“You were the target?”
“Yes.”
“Because of Daniel?”
“Probably.”
“Probably isn't enough.”
“I know.”
They returned to the townhouse.
Security doubled within minutes.
Nia hated it.
Men stood outside the entrance.
A black SUV waited across the street.
Adrian checked every window himself.
He looked like the man she had fallen in love with.
Controlled.
Certain.
Dangerous.
But now she saw something beneath it.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For her.
“Tell me everything,” she said.
Adrian sat across from her.
“Daniel discovered that someone was stealing from the company.”
“Who?”
“He believed it was my uncle, Richard Cole.”
Nia frowned.
“You never told me you had an uncle.”
“He and my father built the original business.”
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“How?”
“Heart attack.”
Nia stared at him.
“Was it?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian took Daniel's watch from his pocket.
“This belonged to Daniel.”
“Why did Erin have it?”
“She said Daniel gave it to her before he disappeared.”
“Then why give it to you?”
“She didn't.”
Nia looked at him.
“Then who did?”
Adrian didn't answer.
He opened the watch.
Inside the back cover was a tiny engraving.
A series of numbers.
Nia leaned closer.
“What is that?”
“An account number.”
“Whose?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian called his financial director.
“Find this account.”
Twenty minutes later, the answer came.
“It belongs to a trust.”
Adrian frowned.
“Whose trust?”
The director hesitated.
“Your mother’s.”
Adrian went still.
“My mother died fifteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“Then why is the account active?”
The man on the phone was silent.
“Answer me.”
“There were deposits until three months ago.”
Nia looked at Adrian.
Three months.
That was when Erin had first appeared in his life.
“What kind of deposits?” Nia asked.
Adrian put the phone on speaker.
“Small amounts,” the director said. “Different sources. Hospital bills. Apartment rent. Food expenses.”
“For whom?”
A pause.
“Erin Vale.”
Nia stared.
Adrian slowly sat down.
His mother had been secretly paying Erin's expenses.
For years.
But why?
Adrian's mother had died long before Daniel disappeared.
There had to be something else.
The director continued.
“There is another beneficiary.”
“Who?”
The answer came quietly.
“Nia Cole.”
Nia's blood ran cold.
“What?”
Adrian stared at her.
“Your name is on the trust.”
“That isn't possible.”
“It is.”
“How long?”
“Since the day you married Adrian.”
Silence.
Nia looked at her husband.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
She believed him.
That frightened her more.
Someone had created a financial arrangement involving her without either of them knowing.
Then the front door opened.
A security officer entered.
“Mr. Cole.”
Adrian stood.
“What?”
“We found something in the garage.”
The officer handed him a small brown envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Nia and Adrian on their wedding day.
On the back was a date.
Two weeks before they met.
Nia stared.
“How could someone photograph us before we met?”
Adrian looked at the picture.
His face changed.
“That isn't our wedding.”
“What?”
He pointed.
“The church.”
Nia looked closely.
It was not their church.
But the woman beside Adrian looked like her.
Older.
Same dark hair.
Same eyes.
Nia's breath stopped.
“Who is she?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I don't know.”
The security officer spoke.
“There was another item.”
He handed Adrian a necklace.
A small gold pendant.
Nia recognized it.
She had seen it in the photograph of Adrian's mother.
Adrian opened the pendant.
Inside was a tiny photograph.
His mother.
Holding a baby.
The baby was not Adrian.
On the back was a handwritten note.
NOT EVERY COLE CHILD WAS RAISED AS A COLE.
Adrian stared at it.
Nia touched his arm.
“What does that mean?”
He didn't answer.
His phone rang.
This time, it was Erin.
Adrian answered.
Her voice was barely audible.
“Adrian?”
“Where are you?”
“I can't tell you.”
“Erin, listen to me.”
“I found Daniel.”
Adrian froze.
“What?”
“He's alive.”
Nia's heart stopped.
“Where?”
Erin whispered,
“He's coming back tonight.”
The line went dead.
Adrian looked at Nia.
Neither of them spoke.
Then a second message appeared on his phone.
FROM DANIEL:
Don't trust Richard.
Adrian stared at the screen.
May you like
Then whispered,
“Richard is dead.”
