Chapter 2 - THE BOX BENEATH THE FALSE BOTTOM
The overnight bag belonged to Julian.
Elena had bought it for him in Milan on their tenth anniversary.
Serena tried to stop her.
"Elena, don't."
Elena lifted the bag onto an empty chair.
"Why?"
"There are personal things inside."
Elena almost laughed.
"His mistress is explaining marital privacy to me."
Serena's face reddened.
Elena opened the bag.
Clothes.
A charger.
Medication.
A silver toiletry case.
Nothing unusual.
Then she remembered Serena's eyes.
Not at the bag itself.
At the bottom.
Elena removed everything.
The lining seemed slightly raised.
She pressed it.
A rigid shape sat beneath the leather panel.
Julian had never been particularly skilled at hiding things from her.
He had simply relied on her trusting him.
Elena pulled at the seam.
A false bottom lifted.
Underneath lay a narrow metal box.
Serena stepped backward.
"No."
Elena looked at her.
"What is it?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
"I swear."
Elena removed the brass key from her pocket.
It fit perfectly.
The lock clicked.
Inside were three folders.
One blue.
One black.
One red.
There was also a flash drive, two passports, a photograph, and a folded letter sealed inside a plastic sleeve.
The photograph showed three men standing beside a private aircraft.
Julian.
His father, Arthur Vance.
And a third man Elena immediately recognized despite having seen only childhood photographs.
Daniel.
Julian's dead brother.
Except he was not a child in this photograph.
He was approximately thirty.
The timestamp printed on the back was dated eight years after the supposed boating accident.
Elena stared.
"This is impossible."
Serena looked like she might faint.
"You knew."
"No."
"You knew something."
"I knew Julian was hiding money."
"How much?"
"I don't know."
Elena opened the blue folder.
Hotel receipts.
Wire transfers.
Property leases.
Photographs of Julian and Serena.
The affair.
Almost disappointingly ordinary.
The black folder contained corporate documents.
Companies Elena had never heard of.
Northhaven Clinical Holdings.
Marrowridge Capital.
Vesper Patient Services.
All three were connected through nominee directors.
All three had received transfers from Vance Meridian accounts.
Millions.
The red folder was different.
Medical records.
Confidentiality agreements.
Private surgical reports.
Psychiatric evaluations.
And pages containing coded patient numbers instead of names.
Elena flipped through them.
One phrase appeared repeatedly.
Continuity Protocol.
She had no idea what it meant.
Serena whispered, "Close it."
Elena looked up.
"What?"
"Close the box."
"Why?"
"I don't know, but Julian told me once that if I ever saw a red folder, I should leave immediately."
Elena studied her.
"When did he tell you that?"
"Three months ago."
"And you stayed."
Serena lowered her eyes.
"I thought he was being dramatic."
Elena returned to the documents.
Then Julian's phone vibrated inside the property bag.
A message appeared on the locked screen.
UNKNOWN NUMBER:
HOSPITAL EVENT CONFIRMED.
A second message.
RECOVER THE KEY BEFORE SHE OPENS THE BOX.
Elena felt the air leave her lungs.
Serena saw it too.
"Oh God."
Elena took a screenshot with her own phone.
Then another message appeared.
IF THE CFO HAS THE FILES, PROTOCOL 9 IS ACTIVE.
Serena whispered, "What's Protocol 9?"
Elena's eyes remained on the screen.
"I don't know."
At that moment, Julian began waking.
A nurse called for Dr. Harris.
Elena closed the box.
Serena grabbed her wrist.
"You can't let him know you opened it."
Elena looked directly into her eyes.
"Why?"
"Because whoever sent those messages already knows you have it."
That was the moment Elena understood the affair was no longer the most dangerous thing in the room.
Julian had betrayed her.
May you like
But someone else was watching.
And they were close enough to know exactly where he had been taken.
