Chapter 2: The Secret Behind The Sleepless Nights
Adrian did not move.
For three years, he had trained himself to recognize danger before it arrived.
A change in breathing.
A hesitation before someone answered.
A hand moving too quickly toward a pocket.
A glance that lasted half a second too long.
He had survived because he noticed everything.
But he had never expected the danger he feared most to stand quietly in his bedroom wearing a familiar face.
Dominic Moretti.
His younger brother.
The boy he had carried home after their parents died.
The boy he had protected from every enemy, every betrayal, every ugly truth hidden inside their family empire.
And now Lily Carter was pointing at him.
A three-year-old girl.
The only person in the house who had managed to make Adrian sleep.
“Adrian,” Dominic said slowly, “you’re misunderstanding.””
Adrian’s eyes stayed on the photograph attached to Dominic’s jacket.
“Am I?””
His voice was calm.
That was what scared people the most.
Adrian never shouted when he was angry.
He became quieter.
Dominic swallowed.
“Lily found an old picture. She doesn’t understand what it means.””
Lily looked between them.
“Yes, I do.””
Both brothers turned toward her.
The little girl held her stuffed rabbit tightly.
“That picture made you sad.””
Adrian looked down at her.
“Why do you think that?””
“Because when you looked at it, your face changed.””
Nobody had ever noticed that before.
Not doctors.
Not his closest employees.
Not the men who had spent years studying him to find weakness.
But Lily had.
Dominic stepped forward.
“Adrian, listen to me.””
“No.””
The single word stopped him.
Adrian picked up the photograph.
The edges were worn.
The colors had faded.
But he recognized it immediately.
A hospital corridor.
A younger Adrian standing beside Dominic.
And behind them, hidden in the corner of the frame, was a man wearing a dark coat.
A man Adrian had spent three years believing was dead.
His fingers tightened around the picture.
“Where did you get this?””
Dominic looked away.
That was enough.
Adrian’s jaw clenched.
“Where did you get this, Dominic?””
“I found it.””
“Where?””
“In the old house.””
“The old house burned down.””
Silence.
A heavy, dangerous silence.
Adrian stared at his brother.
“You told me everything inside burned.””
Dominic’s expression changed.
Just slightly.
But Adrian saw it.
“You lied.””
“I protected you.””
Adrian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“Protected me?””
The word echoed through the room.
“You know what I’ve spent three years doing?””
Dominic lowered his voice.
“Adrian—”
“I stayed awake every night because I remembered that hospital.””
His grip tightened around the photograph.
“I remembered Dad dying.””
A pause.
“I remembered you screaming.””
Another pause.
“And I remembered seeing someone walk away from that room.””
Dominic looked pale.
“Stop.””
“No.””
Adrian stepped closer.
“For three years, I thought I failed because I wasn’t fast enough.””
His voice cracked slightly.
“I thought if I had stayed awake, if I had watched more carefully, if I had been stronger, maybe none of it would have happened.””
Dominic looked at the floor.
But Adrian continued.
“You knew something.””
“I knew something would hurt you.””
“You don’t get to decide what hurts me.””
The door behind them opened slightly.
Clara stood there.
She had clearly heard enough.
“Mr. Moretti…”
Adrian looked at her.
“Did you know?””
Clara froze.
That answer came too quickly.
He saw it.
“Clara.””
Her eyes filled with fear.
“Sir…”
“Did you know about this picture?””
She looked at Dominic.
Then at Lily.
Then back at Adrian.
“I knew Dominic had been searching for something.””
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“For something?””
Dominic interrupted.
“I was trying to find the truth.””
“Three years too late.””
“No.””
Dominic’s voice suddenly became emotional.
“Three years too late would mean I stopped caring.””
The room went quiet.
Adrian stared at him.
Dominic stepped forward.
“You think I slept peacefully after that night?””
Adrian said nothing.
“You think I didn’t see what happened?””
The younger man’s eyes turned red.
“You think I forgot?””
The anger in his voice was different.
Not fear.
Pain.
“I was there too, Adrian.””
Adrian looked away.
Because that was the one thing he hated most.
Dominic wasn’t an enemy.
He was family.
And family was always harder.
Lily walked between them.
Both men immediately stopped.
She looked up.
“You are both being loud.””
Adrian blinked.
Dominic looked confused.
“You’re scared,” Lily continued.
Neither brother answered.
She pointed at Adrian.
“You’re scared because you don’t know the truth.””
Then she pointed at Dominic.
“You’re scared because you know the truth.””
The silence afterward was almost impossible.
Adrian slowly looked at Dominic.
“What truth?””
Dominic opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
A phone rang.
Everyone froze.
It wasn’t Adrian’s phone.
It wasn’t Dominic’s.
It came from the photograph.
Adrian looked down.
A tiny black device had been attached to the back.
A tracker.
And a phone.
The screen lit up.
Unknown number.
Adrian stared at it.
For three years, nobody had been able to contact him without being identified.
Nobody.
He answered.
“Who is this?””
Static.
Then a voice.
An old voice.
A voice Adrian knew.
His blood went cold.
“Hello, Adrian.””
The room disappeared.
The rain disappeared.
Everything disappeared.
Because that voice belonged to the man Adrian had watched die.
“Victor?””
Dominic stepped back.
The color drained from his face.
The voice on the phone laughed softly.
“You sound surprised.””
Adrian’s hand tightened around the phone.
“That’s impossible.””
“People say that a lot when they want something to be true.””
Adrian stared at the photograph.
The man in the background.
The hospital corridor.
The night everything changed.
“What do you want?””
The voice paused.
Then came the answer.
“You.””
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?””
“Because you finally slept.””
The room became still.
Adrian’s blood ran cold.
“How do you know that?””
Another quiet laugh.
“Because I’ve been watching you for three years.””
Dominic stepped forward.
“Adrian, hang up.””
But Adrian ignored him.
The voice continued.
“You always were predictable.””
“Who helped you?””
“Your brother.””
Dominic looked shocked.
“That’s a lie.””
The voice smiled through the phone.
“You should ask him why he kept the evidence hidden.””
Adrian slowly turned toward Dominic.
“Did you?””
Dominic looked away.
That was all Adrian needed.
A painful realization settled in.
The truth he had spent three years searching for had been inside his own house.
“You knew,” Adrian whispered.
Dominic’s face broke.
“I knew someone was alive.””
The words hit harder than any weapon.
Adrian stared.
“Who?””
Dominic looked at him.
And for the first time in years, Adrian saw real fear in his brother’s eyes.
Not fear of him.
Fear of what was coming.
“Adrian…”
The phone crackled.
The unknown caller spoke again.
“Ask your brother what happened seven minutes after your father died.””
Adrian froze.
Seven minutes.
A detail nobody knew.
Not the police.
Not the doctors.
Not even Adrian.
“How do you know that?””
The voice became colder.
“Because I was there.””
The call ended.
Adrian stood motionless.
Then slowly turned toward Dominic.
“What happened seven minutes after my father died?””
Dominic didn’t answer.
His silence was louder than a confession.
Lily looked up at both brothers.
Then she quietly hugged her rabbit.
“Adrian…”
He looked down.
“What?””
Her small voice trembled.
“The bad man isn’t outside.””
Adrian frowned.
“What are you talking about?””
She pointed toward the hallway.
Toward the rest of the house.
“He’s already here.””
At that exact moment, every security alarm in the Moretti estate turned on.
Red lights flashed.
The guards outside shouted.
And Adrian’s phone received one final message from the unknown number.
*LOOK BEHIND YOU.*
Adrian turned.
Slowly.
May you like
Because after three years of searching for the person who destroyed his family…
He realized the person might have been standing behind him the entire time.
