Chapter 2 - The Name That Didn't Exist
Nora spent the walk to Roman Blackmere’s study planning three different ways to escape.
The kitchen entrance was closest.
The greenhouse had a gate leading toward the woods.
And there was an old service staircase beside the west wing that most of Roman’s security men seemed to ignore.
She noticed exits automatically.
She had been doing it for four years.
Roman’s security chief, Elias Ward, walked several steps ahead of her without speaking. He was in his forties, broad-shouldered, gray beginning at his temples, and carried himself like a man who had spent years noticing threats before everyone else.
He stopped outside two enormous walnut doors.
“Mr. Blackmere is alone.”
Nora’s stomach tightened.
“Am I supposed to find that comforting?”
Elias studied her.
“No.”
At least he was honest.
He opened the door.
Roman stood beside the windows overlooking the snow-covered gardens.
Black suit.
White shirt.
No tie.
Morning light caught the tattoo climbing above his collar.
He turned.
Nora stopped just inside the doorway.
Roman noticed.
Noticed everything.
Especially the six feet she deliberately kept between them.
“Sit wherever you want,” he said.
She remained standing.
“All right.”
He did not order her again.
That unsettled her more than an order would have.
On the desk lay her personnel file.
Nora recognized the forged employment records immediately.
Roman touched nothing.
“Your name is Nora Vale.”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Her heartbeat stumbled.
Roman continued calmly.
“There was a Nora Vale born in Albany twenty-seven years ago. She died when she was six months old.”
Silence.
Nora felt cold spread through her chest.
Roman had found in hours what had taken her former employer nearly three years to discover.
“I don’t know what you mean.”
“You do.”
“I should leave.”
She turned.
Roman did not stop her.
That made her stop herself.
“You’re free to walk out,” he said. “But someone searched the employee parking lot last night.”
Nora slowly looked back.
“What?”
“A man arrived at 2:17 a.m. He avoided the main cameras, checked three cars belonging to female employees, then left when my patrol changed.”
Roman slid a photograph across the desk.
Nora did not want to look.
She did anyway.
The grainy image showed a tall man in a baseball cap standing beside her rusted Honda.
Her knees nearly failed.
Roman saw it.
“You know him.”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“I said I don’t.”
Roman’s expression hardened, but his voice remained controlled.
“I’m not asking because I want your secret. I’m asking because a stranger entered my property looking for one of my employees.”
Nora stared at the photograph.
Then at the windows.
Then the door.
Roman followed each glance.
“You’re counting exits.”
Her eyes snapped toward him.
“My mother used to do that.”
The words changed something.
Roman’s face did not soften exactly, but a shadow passed through his eyes.
“She spent years afraid of my father,” he continued. “So I recognize the habit.”
Nora swallowed.
Roman moved away from the desk.
Not toward her.
Away.
Giving her space.
“What do you want from me?” she whispered.
“The truth necessary to keep you alive. Nothing more.”
She almost laughed.
Men like Roman Blackmere did not give something for nothing.
“I’ve heard that before.”
“From him?”
Nora froze.
Roman had guessed.
He watched her carefully.
“Whoever taught you to cover your head when a man raises his hand.”
Her throat closed.
Roman’s jaw tightened.
For a second, Nora saw something dangerous behind his restraint.
Not directed at her.
That was somehow worse.
She looked at the photograph again.
“His name is Adrian Cross.”
Elias, standing outside the open doorway, went completely still.
Roman did too.
Nora noticed.
“You know him.”
Roman did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
“Who is he?” Nora demanded.
Roman looked toward Elias.
“Close the door.”
Panic exploded through her.
“No.”
Roman immediately lifted one hand.
“Leave it open.”
Elias obeyed.
Nora stared at Roman.
He had changed an order because she was afraid.
She did not know what to do with that.
Roman returned his attention to the photograph.
“Adrian Cross worked for my father.”
Nora’s mouth went dry.
“He told me he was a private security contractor.”
“He was.”
Roman paused.
“He also made people disappear.”
The room seemed to tilt.
Nora gripped the back of a chair.
Roman continued.
“Cross vanished four years ago after stealing something from my family.”
“What?”
“A ledger.”
Nora shook her head.
“I don’t know anything about a ledger.”
“I believe you.”
“You believe me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you looked confused instead of frightened.”
Nora almost hated how closely he watched her.
Almost.
Roman picked up another photograph.
This one was old.
A charity gala.
Roman looked younger, standing beside an older silver-haired man.
But Nora barely saw them.
She saw the person in the background.
A woman wearing a dark green dress.
Nora stopped breathing.
“No.”
Roman watched her face.
“Nora?”
She stepped closer without realizing it.
The woman had auburn hair.
A familiar smile.
A small crescent-shaped birthmark near her left ear.
Nora touched the same place beneath her own hair.
“That’s my mother.”
Roman’s expression changed.
For the first time since she entered, the feared Roman Blackmere looked genuinely shocked.
“That’s impossible.”
Nora looked at him sharply.
“Why?”
Roman turned the photograph over.
A date had been written across the back.
Eight years earlier.
Nora stared.
Her mother had supposedly died eleven years ago.
Roman spoke quietly.
“This photograph was taken inside Blackmere House.”
Nora could barely hear him.
“My mother was here?”
“Yes.”
“But she died three years before that.”
Roman’s eyes lifted to hers.
“Apparently she didn’t.”
Nora backed away.
Every memory she had spent eleven years forcing herself to accept suddenly fractured.
The funeral.
The closed casket.
Her father refusing to let her see the body.
Adrian appearing months later.
Adrian promising to protect her.
Then controlling her.
Then hurting her.
Then telling her that nobody else remained.
Nora looked again at the photograph.
“Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You own this house.”
“I didn’t eight years ago.”
“Your father did.”
Roman said nothing.
Nora understood.
“Ask him.”
“My father is dead.”
Her hope collapsed almost as quickly as it had appeared.
Then Elias stepped into the doorway.
His phone was in his hand.
“Roman.”
Something in his voice changed the room.
“What?”
“We identified Cross’s vehicle from last night.”
Nora turned.
Elias looked directly at her.
“He wasn't alone.”
He placed his phone on Roman’s desk.
Security footage showed Adrian climbing into a black SUV.
A second figure sat in the passenger seat.
Female.
Older.
Auburn hair threaded with gray.
Nora stopped breathing.
Even through the blurred windshield, she knew that face.
“Mom?”
Roman stared at the screen.
May you like
Elias said the words Nora would remember for the rest of her life.
“She’s alive.”
