Chapter 4 - DAVID'S LIE
I didn't call David.
I wanted to.
Every part of me wanted to hear him explain the photograph.
But Adrian stopped me.
“Don't.”
“Why?”
“Because if he's involved, he needs to think you don't know.”
“And if he's not?”
“Then he'll survive one unanswered call.”
I hated that he was right.
We went back to the library.
Adrian's security chief, Marcus, joined us with a laptop.
He showed me records from the clinic.
David had visited three times in the previous month.
Each time, he had used a different name.
My hands went cold.
“What was he doing?”
“Accessing patient scheduling.”
“Why?”
“We don't know.”
Marcus brought up another file.
“There's more.”
A transfer of $18,000 had been made to an account connected to David.
My mouth went dry.
“That's impossible.”
Adrian looked at me.
“You don't owe him money?”
“I owe him nothing.”
“He owes you.”
“Exactly.”
I stared at the screen.
Then remembered something.
“David once asked me if Adrian Moretti had a girlfriend.”
Adrian looked up.
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“I thought he was jealous.”
“Were you dating?”
“No.”
“Did he know you were coming here?”
I hesitated.
“I told him I was working late.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“Yes.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“Then he knew.”
A terrible thought entered my mind.
“The dare.”
“What about it?”
“What if it wasn't random?”
Marcus stopped typing.
Adrian stared at me.
“I was the one who walked to your booth,” I said. “But David had been texting me all night. Calling me baby. Asking me for money.”
I remembered every message.
Then I remembered the coworkers laughing.
The five hundred dollars.
The stranger in the corner.
My stomach dropped.
“What if someone knew you'd be there?”
Adrian's eyes sharpened.
“Marcus.”
“Already checking.”
We spent the next hour reconstructing the night.
One of the coworkers had posted a photo of the bar earlier that evening.
The corner booth was visible.
Adrian's face wasn't.
But the caption mentioned him.
A private social media account had reacted to the post.
The account belonged to David.
He had known.
Adrian stood.
“Where is your phone?”
I handed it over.
He checked the messages.
“Don't delete anything.”
“I wasn't going to.”
He gave it back.
Then my phone rang.
David.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“At home.”
“Can I see you?”
“Why?”
“I need to explain.”
I looked at Adrian.
He shook his head once.
“Tomorrow,” I said.
“No. Tonight.”
“Why?”
“Because you're in danger.”
My pulse jumped.
“How do you know?”
Silence.
Then David said, “Because Victor knows where your brother is.”
The call ended.
I stared at the screen.
Adrian's expression had gone completely cold.
“He just admitted he knows Victor.”
“What do I do?”
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Mara.”
“My brother is at home.”
“Your brother is with my security.”
I froze.
“You moved him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“While we were talking.”
I should have been furious.
Instead, relief almost knocked me over.
Then Marcus rushed into the room.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“We found the original payment records.”
“And?”
Marcus placed a file on the table.
“Victor Hale wasn't paying David.”
I looked at the document.
My breath caught.
“David was paying Victor.”
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
“From whose money?”
Marcus hesitated.
“From an account belonging to the Onyx Club.”
My stomach dropped.
Someone inside the club had financed David.
Someone who knew about the dare.
Someone who knew Adrian would be in Booth Four.
Someone who wanted Mara close enough to become leverage.
And when Adrian looked at me, I realized something terrifying.
The kiss had never been the beginning.
It had been the plan.
David called again that evening.
I answered because I needed to hear him lie.
“Mara.”
“Why were you at the clinic?”
Silence.
Then, “I can explain.”
“Good.”
“I was helping someone.”
“Victor?”
Another silence.
“You're with Adrian, aren't you?”
I looked at the clock.
“How do you know?”
“Because you're asking questions.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“I wanted money.”
“I know.”
“I owed Victor.”
“Why?”
“He helped me after my business failed.”
“You don't own a business.”
“I did.”
“No, David. You told me you did.”
He swore under his breath.
“Listen to me. I never wanted you hurt.”
“You knew about the dare.”
“I knew they wanted you to approach Adrian.”
My throat tightened.
“Why?”
“To get his attention.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You're lying.”
“I swear.”
“Then tell me who paid you.”
He didn't answer.
I heard another voice in the background.
A woman.
“Give me the phone.”
David said, “Wait.”
Then the line went dead.
I stared at the screen.
Adrian had heard everything.
“Who was the woman?”
“I don't know.”
Marcus entered with a tablet.
“We found her.”
He showed me a photograph.
A blonde woman in a dark coat.
Clara Moretti.
My pulse jumped.
“She was with David?”
“Yesterday.”
“Where?”
“At a private club.”
Adrian's face hardened.
“My father used to own it.”
I looked at him.
“How many secrets did your father leave behind?”
“Enough to bury a city.”
I wanted to ask more.
Instead, my phone buzzed.
A photograph.
Eli walking out of the clinic.
The message beneath it read:
You can't protect everyone.
My hands shook.
Adrian took the phone.
His face became unreadable.
“Marcus.”
“Yes?”
“Find the sender.”
“Already working.”
I stood.
“I need to see Eli.”
“You're not going alone.”
“I know.”
We went to the apartment.
Eli was safe.
But his room had been searched.
Nothing was stolen.
That was the worst part.
Someone had opened his desk, moved his books, and left everything else untouched.
On the mattress was a single envelope.
My name was written across it.
I opened it.
Inside was a photocopy of a bank transfer.
The account belonged to the Onyx Club.
The recipient was my mother.
The date was three days before she died.
I stared at the amount.
$50,000.
“She never had fifty thousand dollars,” I whispered.
Adrian studied the document.
“This payment wasn't for her.”
“How do you know?”
“Because the account number is wrong.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“The last four digits don't belong to your mother.”
“Then whose?”
He looked at Marcus.
“Find out.”
Marcus checked.
His face changed.
“It's one of Victor Hale's accounts.”
I felt dizzy.
“So my mother didn't receive the money.”
“No.”
“Someone made it look like she did.”
Adrian nodded.
“To frame her.”
“Why?”
“Because if she were accused of stealing from my father's organization, nobody would believe anything she said afterward.”
I looked at the envelope.
There was one more page inside.
A handwritten sentence.
Your mother wasn't the thief.
She was the witness.
I read it again.
Then I understood.
Someone wasn't trying to erase the past.
They were rewriting it.
And my mother had left enough evidence to make the truth survive.
I spent the next morning going through every message David had ever sent me.
At first, they looked ordinary.
Where are you?
Can you help me?
I'm short this month.
Then I noticed the dates.
Several messages had been sent shortly before suspicious activity at the clinic.
One arrived ten minutes before my brother's appointment was canceled.
Another arrived the night of the dare.
Baby, can you come in early?
I had assumed he meant himself.
Now I wondered whether he had been testing where I was.
I forwarded everything to Adrian.
He called within minutes.
“You did the right thing.”
“I don't know what the right thing is anymore.”
“You don't have to know yet.”
“I do.”
“No.”
His voice was steady.
“You only need to know the next thing.”
“What is that?”
“Don't meet David alone.”
I laughed bitterly.
“You say that like I'm planning a romantic reunion.”
“I don't know what he's planning.”
Neither did I.
At noon, David appeared outside the restaurant where I was having lunch.
I hadn't told him where I was.
He stood across the street.
Watching.
I didn't approach.
I called Adrian instead.
“Don't move,” he said.
“I wasn't going to.”
Two of his men arrived within minutes.
David saw them.
He turned and disappeared into traffic.
I watched him go.
A strange sadness settled over me.
I had once loved that man.
Or perhaps I had loved the person I thought he could become.
Now I couldn't even recognize him.
Adrian joined me later.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
He looked at the untouched food.
“You haven't eaten.”
“I'm not hungry.”
He pushed the plate toward me.
“Eat.”
I stared at him.
“You're bossy.”
“Yes.”
“You admit it?”
“Yes.”
I took a bite.
He smiled.
“Better.”
I shook my head.
“You're unbelievable.”
“That's what people say.”
I laughed.
And for a few minutes, the fear lifted.
May you like
That was the moment I stopped thinking of the danger as something happening around me. It was happening to my family, and I had every right to know why.
I saved the photograph in my phone and then deleted the copy from the screen. I didn't know whether I was protecting myself or simply buying time, but for the first time since the dare, I wasn't running from the questions.
