CHAPTER 2: THE DEAD MAN’S SECRET
The ballroom erupted.
Guests backed away as investigators surrounded Adrian. Phones appeared everywhere, recording the powerful businessman sprawled among broken chairs.
Roman crossed the room and helped Evelyn stand.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine.”
She looked down at her swelling wrist.
“I will be.”
Adrian was pulled to his feet and handcuffed. His nose was crooked, his expensive tuxedo stained dark beneath it.
Yet he continued smiling.
“Roman never told you, did he?”
Evelyn looked at her brother.
Roman’s jaw tightened.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Adrian leaned toward her as an officer pushed him past.
“He came home the night your father died. He entered the study at 11:43 p.m. Your father was dead before midnight.”
Roman lunged forward, but Evelyn caught his arm.
Adrian laughed again.
“There he is. The loyal brother who disappeared before the funeral.”
The officers dragged him away.
For several seconds, Evelyn could hear nothing but the pounding of her own heart.
Their father, Charles Hart, had supposedly suffered a fatal heart attack six years earlier. Roman vanished three days later without explaining why.
Evelyn had spent years believing grief had driven him away.
Now she wondered whether grief had been the only reason.
State Investigator Lena Torres approached them.
“We have enough to hold Adrian on assault charges,” she said. “The recordings Evelyn collected may also support coercion and financial abuse.”
“May?” Roman asked.
“His attorneys are already working.”
Evelyn watched Adrian disappear through the doors.
The trap had closed, but not tightly enough.
Outside the hotel, reporters shouted questions while Adrian was placed inside an unmarked vehicle.
Before the door shut, he turned his head toward Evelyn.
His lips formed four silent words.
Check the security footage.
Roman saw it too.
“Evelyn, we need to leave.”
She pulled away from him.
“Were you at the house that night?”
Roman said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word landed harder than Adrian’s hand ever had.
“Why?”
Roman looked toward the investigators, then at the reporters surrounding them.
“Not here.”
“When?”
“When we’re somewhere Adrian can’t hear us.”
Evelyn’s anger sharpened.
“He’s in custody.”
Roman’s face remained grim.
“That has never stopped him before.”
At that exact moment, every light inside the Ashford Grand went dark.
Then Roman’s phone vibrated.
A message appeared from an unknown number.
THE GALA WAS ONLY THE FIRST ACT.
May you like
Beneath the words was a live photograph of Evelyn and Roman standing outside the hotel.
Someone was still watching them.
