Chapter 4 - THE WATCH IN THE DRAWER
I stared at the drawing until the words blurred.
“That's my handwriting.”
Adrien nodded.
“But you don't remember writing it.”
“No.”
Marcus looked uneasy.
“What?”
Adrien asked.
Marcus pointed to the corner of the drawing.
“That's the Viscari crest.”
I looked.
A tiny symbol had been drawn on the black car.
Adrien's family crest.
“Why would my father be watching my house?”
Adrien didn't answer.
He took the drawing.
Then he looked at the old photograph.
“My father wasn't watching you.”
“Then who was?”
“My uncle.”
“Alessandra?”
“No.”
His jaw tightened.
“My father's older brother. Stefano.”
Marcus whispered, “Stefano Viscari died in 2004.”
Adrien looked at him.
“Another dead man.”
The room became silent.
I sat down.
Too many people in my life were supposedly dead.
My mother.
Adrien's father.
Alessandra.
Stefano.
Yet every one of them seemed connected to me.
Adrien walked to the fireplace.
“There was a family archive my father kept.”
“Where?”
“He never told me.”
I looked at the drawing.
“The watch.”
Adrien turned.
“What?”
I pointed.
In the drawing, the little girl was holding something.
A watch.
I remembered it.
“I've seen that before.”
“When?”
“My mother kept it in a locked drawer.”
Adrien immediately looked at his security chief.
“Find the nearest antique dealer open tonight.”
Within minutes, a man arrived with tools.
Adrien stayed beside me as the locked drawer from my mother's old belongings was brought into the room.
I had carried the drawer for years.
I'd never opened it.
Adrien handed me the key.
My hands shook.
Inside was a silver watch.
Old.
Heavy.
Engraved with the Viscari crest.
Adrien picked it up.
The second hand was frozen at 2:16.
“That's not a normal watch.”
He opened the back.
A tiny photograph was hidden inside.
My mother.
Adrien's father.
And me.
I was twelve.
Not seven.
Standing beside a burning house.
I felt sick.
“Why would my mother keep this?”
Adrien turned the photograph over.
A message was written on the back.
If Lena remembers the fire, they will kill her.
I looked at him.
“Who are they?”
Adrien's face hardened.
“That's what we're going to find out.”
Marcus suddenly spoke.
“There was another person at the fire.”
“Who?”
“Your boyfriend.”
I stared.
“Marcus?”
He shook his head.
“No.”
He looked ashamed.
“Your father.”
I couldn't breathe.
“My father died before I was born.”
Marcus nodded.
“That is the lie.”
Adrien stared at him.
“You're telling me Lena's father was alive in 2004?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he now?”
Marcus looked away.
“I don't know.”
Adrien grabbed him.
“You've known all this time?”
“I knew pieces.”
“You dated her.”
“I was ordered to.”
I froze.
Adrien released him.
“By whom?”
Marcus looked at me.
“Your mother.”
My heart shattered.
“You were using me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because she wanted to know if you remembered.”
I stepped backward.
“All those years?”
Marcus nodded.
“She was terrified of one thing.”
“What?”
“That you would remember who your father was.”
Adrien's phone rang.
He answered.
Then went completely still.
“What happened?”
He listened.
His face hardened.
“Bring it here.”
Five minutes later, a guard entered carrying a metal box.
He placed it on the table.
“Found this in the Viscari family archive.”
Adrien opened it.
Inside was a passport.
The photograph showed a man I had never met.
But the name was familiar.
Daniel Hart.
My father.
Adrien looked at me.
“Lena.”
I couldn't speak.
Because beneath the passport was a second document.
A marriage certificate.
Daniel Hart.
And Margaret Hart.
My mother.
The date was 1997.
But beneath their names was another handwritten note.
Marriage was arranged to hide the daughter.
Then Adrien found one more object.
A small brass key.
Engraved with a number.
17.
He looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
Before I could answer, the door opened.
A woman stood there.
Gray hair.
Green coat.
The same face I remembered from the hospital.
Alessandra Viscari.
She looked at Adrien.
Then at me.
“I have ten minutes.”
Adrien raised his gun.
“Start talking.”
She looked at him sadly.
“Your father didn't die.”
Adrien froze.
“He has been alive all these years.”
May you like
Then she looked at me.
“And your mother knows exactly where he is.”
