Chapter 3 - The Woman They Thought Was Invisible
Whitmore ran.
He made it three steps.
Adrian's guard caught him before he reached the door.
"Let me go!"
"No."
Adrian stood before the screen.
His mother had died six years earlier.
Officially, from complications following surgery.
Three weeks before Victor Kane's disappearance.
Yet the footage showed both of them alive together after the date listed on her death certificate.
Adrian turned toward Whitmore.
"My mother didn't die in that hospital."
Whitmore's silence answered him.
Mallory felt the entire story rearranging itself.
This wasn't merely a plot to steal a company.
It had started years ago.
Adrian demanded answers.
Whitmore finally cracked.
Adrian's mother, Eleanor Vale, had discovered that Victor was secretly using Vale Industries to move money through shell companies.
She threatened to expose him.
Victor retaliated.
But Whitmore insisted Eleanor hadn't been murdered.
"Then where is she?" Adrian demanded.
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I helped her disappear."
Adrian froze.
Whitmore continued.
"Your mother believed Victor would kill you if she exposed him openly. So she gathered evidence. She planned to disappear temporarily."
"Six years isn't temporary."
"Something went wrong."
Adrian looked toward the footage.
Mallory quietly studied the room.
Something bothered her.
Victor had escaped during the blackout.
Julian too.
But why leave behind evidence?
Unless they hadn't.
"Adrian."
He looked at her.
"This footage."
"What about it?"
"Who turned it on?"
Nobody answered.
Mallory approached the screen.
A small icon blinked in the corner.
REMOTE CONNECTION.
Someone outside the room was controlling it.
Someone wanted Adrian to see this.
Adrian's guard traced the signal to a server room downstairs.
Mallory knew the restaurant layout.
"I can take you there."
"No," Adrian said.
"You don't know the staff corridors."
"I'm not putting you in danger."
Mallory almost laughed.
"I think that decision was made when I corrected your translator."
He looked at her.
Then nodded.
They went together.
For the first time in her life, Mallory walked through the restaurant not as a server but as the person everyone followed.
They reached the server room.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, a laptop sat on a chair.
One video file was open.
Its title:
FOR ADRIAN.
He pressed play.
Eleanor Vale appeared.
Older.
Alive.
The recording had been made only four months earlier.
Adrian stopped breathing.
His mother looked directly into the camera.
"If you're watching this, Victor has finally come back."
Adrian gripped the desk.
Eleanor continued.
"Do not trust the merger documents. Do not trust the translation. And above all, do not trust the person who tells you I abandoned you."
Adrian's eyes filled, but he didn't look away.
Mallory stood silently beside him.
Then Eleanor said something unexpected.
"There is one person Victor will never notice. Someone outside his world. Someone he will underestimate."
Mallory frowned.
Eleanor held up a photograph.
It showed the restaurant.
This restaurant.
Mallory's restaurant.
Adrian looked at her.
The video ended.
A printer behind them suddenly activated.
One sheet emerged.
Mallory picked it up.
Her own name was printed across the top.
MALLORY REED.
Underneath were her address, work schedule, and photograph.
Adrian stared at it.
"This wasn't an accident."
Mallory felt cold.
Someone had known she would be serving tonight.
Someone had known she spoke French.
Someone had placed her at Adrian's table.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
One message.
YOUR MOTHER DIDN'T TEACH YOU FRENCH BY ACCIDENT.
Mallory stared at the screen.
Her mother had been dead for eleven years.
A second message arrived.
ASK ADRIAN WHAT ELEANOR VALE DID IN PARIS IN 1998.
Mallory looked up.
Adrian was already watching her.
"What?"
She showed him the message.
He read it.
His face changed.
"You know something," Mallory said.
Adrian didn't answer.
"What happened in Paris?"
He looked toward his guard.
Then back at Mallory.
"My mother lived there for three years."
"So?"
"She wasn't alone."
Mallory's phone rang.
Unknown caller.
Adrian said, "Don't answer."
Mallory answered.
"Hello?"
A woman's voice whispered in French.
"Mallory?"
Mallory's knees nearly gave way.
She knew that voice.
Impossible.
But she knew it.
"Mama?"
The line went silent.
Then came three words.
"Don't trust Adrian."
The call ended.
Mallory stared at the phone.
Adrian stepped toward her.
"What did she say?"
Mallory backed away.
For the first time that night, she wasn't sure which side of the room was safe.
Then the server-room door clicked shut behind them.
May you like
The lock engaged from the outside.
And someone began entering the access code.
