Disguised Boss Ordered Coffee in His Own Bar — Then Froze at the Waitress’s 3 Words!
Chapter 7
The old basement had been covered by a wall for fifteen years.
Adrian found the hidden door behind a row of storage shelves.
The key fit.
The lock clicked.
Cold air rushed out.
Mia turned on her flashlight.
“Why would your father build this?”
“I don’t know.”
They descended.
At the bottom was a narrow corridor lined with old wooden boxes.
At the end stood a metal locker.
Adrian inserted the key.
Inside was a stack of files.
A cassette recorder.
And a photograph of his father with two women.
One was Adrian’s mother.
The other was a woman he had never seen.
Mia picked up the photograph.
“Who is she?”
Adrian turned it over.
No name.
Only a date.
Three months before Michael died.
Behind the photograph was another document.
A birth certificate.
Adrian read it.
Then stopped.
The child’s name was Lucas Bennett.
Mia’s face went pale.
“What?”
Adrian handed it to her.
Lucas had not been born a Bennett.
His original surname was Cole.
Mia stared.
“That can’t be right.”
Adrian read the document again.
Lucas Bennett was the biological son of Michael Cole’s younger sister.
Adrian’s aunt.
His family.
Mia stepped away.
“My brother is your cousin?”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“Apparently.”
She looked toward the stairs.
“So Lucas was investigating his own family.”
“Yes.”
“And somebody wanted him dead.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
He found the cassette.
Pressed play.
Michael’s voice filled the room.
“If you’re hearing this, then I’ve failed to protect the people I love.”
Mia closed her eyes.
Michael continued.
“The money is only the surface.”
Static.
“The real crime is what Richard and Victor did after my sister discovered the accounts.”
Adrian looked at the photograph again.
His aunt.
Lucas’s mother.
Michael’s sister.
“What happened to her?”
Michael continued.
“They forced her to disappear.”
The recording ended.
Mia was crying.
“My mother…”
Adrian looked at her.
“Her name was Eleanor Cole.”
Mia shook her head.
“She always told us our father abandoned us.”
Adrian stared at the document.
“Maybe she was trying to protect you.”
Suddenly, footsteps echoed above them.
Mia froze.
Adrian switched off the flashlight.
A door slammed.
Someone was upstairs.
Adrian whispered:
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“Mia.”
“I’m coming.”
They climbed quietly.
The Blue Lantern was empty.
But the front door stood open.
A glass had been smashed.
Adrian’s mother’s bag was on the floor.
He ran toward the back office.
Empty.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
A man’s voice said:
“Your mother is alive.”
Adrian froze.
“Where?”
“You know where.”
“What do you want?”
“The files.”
“I don’t have them.”
The man laughed.
“You’ve had them for twenty minutes.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“You’ve been watching us.”
“Yes.”
“Who are you?”
A pause.
Then:
“Ask Richard.”
The call ended.
Mia looked at Adrian.
“Your uncle?”
Adrian shook his head.
“No.”
He stared at the basement door.
“There is someone else.”
He remembered Michael’s recording.
Someone inside the company.
Someone neither Richard nor Victor.
Adrian whispered:
“Someone who has been there since my father’s time.”
Mia asked:
“Who?”
Adrian couldn’t answer.
Then he saw movement through the front window.
A car parked outside.
The same black sedan they had seen before.
The rear window lowered.
A voice called:
“Mia.”
Lucas’s voice.
Then the car drove away.
