Chapter 8 - ADELINE'S HIDDEN PAST
The entire mansion went into lockdown.
Security rushed through every hallway.
Doors were checked.
Windows were sealed.
But Adeline was gone.
Enzo felt something inside him break.
Not fear.
Anger.
Pure anger.
“Find her.”
Nobody moved.
Because everyone heard the warning.
The enemy was inside.
Hours passed.
Then Enzo found something.
A note hidden beneath the old staircase.
Only three words.
Your grandmother knew.
His heart stopped.
Adeline’s grandmother.
Margaret Croft.
The woman who had worked for his father.
The woman who disappeared.
The woman who knew the truth.
Enzo followed the clue to an old storage room beneath the mansion.
The door was locked.
Inside...
Adeline was sitting on the floor.
Alive.
But shaken.
“Adeline.”
She looked up.
“Enzo…”
He rushed toward her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Who took you?”
She looked away.
“I wasn’t taken.”
He froze.
“What?”
Adeline swallowed.
“I came here myself.”
The silence was painful.
“Why?”
She reached into her pocket and pulled out an old envelope.
“My grandmother left this for me.”
Enzo took it.
The name on the front made him stop.
Enzo Marchetti.
“It was meant for you.”
He opened the letter.
The handwriting was old.
But clear.
Enzo, if you are reading this, it means Victoria found out the truth.
His hands tightened.
The letter continued.
Your father trusted the wrong person. But he also trusted the right one.
Enzo looked at Adeline.
“Who?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Your father.”
A pause.
“He trusted my grandmother to protect something.”
“What?”
Adeline whispered:
“The evidence that proves who really killed him.”
Enzo looked down at the letter.
And then he saw the final line.
A sentence that changed everything.
The person who betrayed your father is not outside the family.
Enzo slowly looked toward the mansion above them.
Because suddenly he understood.
May you like
The enemy had never been trying to enter his home.
The enemy had been living there all along.
