Chapter 5 - THE FATHER
Vivienne stepped delicately over a slashed sofa cushion, her heels clicking against the cheap linoleum floor. She looked around the cramped apartment with a look of profound disgust, before resting her cold, green eyes on Nora.
“Such a tragic way to live,” Vivienne sighed, casually tracing a manicured finger over a broken picture frame on the wall. “No wonder your father tried to steal a better life for you.”
Nora slowly stood up, pushing Leo behind her. Her heart was hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird, but she forced her chin up. She refused to let this woman see her break.
“Don't talk about my father,” Nora spat, her voice shaking with rage.
Vivienne laughed softly. A hollow, terrifying sound. “Oh, sweet girl. Your father was a thief who got in way over his head. He thought he could outsmart my family. He thought he could leverage Adrian’s source code to buy his way out of his debts.”
She turned her gaze to Adrian, who stood rigidly between Vivienne’s armed guard and Nora.
“Adrian, darling,” Vivienne said, her tone mockingly sweet. “You look terrible. Hand over the watch, and I’ll have my men drive you to a very comfortable, very private facility where you can sign the company over to me properly.”
“You’re delusional, Vivienne,” Adrian said. His voice was a low rumble of thunder. “If you kill me, the encryption dies with me. You get nothing. Your father gets nothing.”
“I don’t need your encryption anymore, Adrian,” she smiled, her eyes flickering to the brass key still clutched in Leo’s trembling hand. “Because I finally found the original source code. The one Thomas Hayes stole three years ago.”
Nora felt the blood drain from her face.
The brass key.
Vivienne nodded toward the armed man. “Kill the waitress and the boy. Take the key. Bring Adrian to the car.”
The man raised the suppressed handgun, aiming it squarely at Nora’s chest.
“No!” Adrian roared.
In a fraction of a second, Adrian lunged.
He didn’t go for the gun. He grabbed the heavy cast-iron pan from the counter and hurled it with terrifying force.
The pan struck the gunman square in the chest, knocking him backward into the hallway wall. The gun went off with a muffled phut, the bullet shattering the kitchen window inches from Leo’s head.
“Run!” Adrian shouted, tackling the stunned guard to the floor.
Nora grabbed Leo’s hand. “Fire escape! Now!”
They bolted toward the living room window. Nora shoved it open, the rust screaming in protest. She pushed Leo out onto the slick, iron grating and climbed out after him.
“Adrian!” Nora screamed, looking back into the apartment.
Adrian was grappling with the guard, taking heavy blows to his ribs, but he managed to pin the man’s gun arm down.
Vivienne, completely unfazed by the violence, calmly picked up a heavy glass vase from a side table. She stepped behind Adrian and smashed it over the back of his head.
Adrian collapsed, his body going limp against the floorboards.
“Adrian!” Nora shrieked, gripping the iron window frame.
Vivienne looked out the window at Nora, stepping over Adrian’s unconscious body.
“I’ll find you, Nora,” Vivienne said softly, the rain blowing in and ruining her perfect hair. “And when I do, I’m going to make you watch your brother die.”
“Run, Nora!” Leo pulled her arm frantically.
Nora forced herself to turn away. Leaving Adrian felt like tearing her own heart out, but she had to protect Leo.
They scrambled down the rusted fire escape, slipping on the wet metal. They hit the alley below and ran blindly into the stormy night.
They didn't stop until they reached a 24-hour laundromat ten blocks away. It was empty except for a teenager asleep behind the counter.
Nora shoved Leo into the back corner, behind a row of humming dryers. She collapsed onto a plastic chair, her wet uniform freezing against her skin, her hands buried in her face.
She was sobbing. Violent, silent tears.
Adrian was gone. Taken. Because he saved her life.
“Nora?” Leo whispered, his voice small and terrified. He sat beside her, dripping wet, holding the brass key. “What is this? What did Dad do?”
Nora wiped her face, forcing herself to look at her little brother. He was nineteen, but right now, he looked like a terrified child.
She couldn’t lie to him anymore.
“Dad didn't abandon us, Leo,” she said, her voice thick. “He got caught up with terrible people. The Laurent family. They hired him to steal a computer drive from Adrian Blackwood. But Dad realized how dangerous they were. He hid the drive in a safety deposit box. He mailed you the key to keep it away from them.”
Leo stared at the brass key. “So... the Laurents killed him?”
Nora nodded slowly, a fresh tear tracking down her cheek. “Yes. And now they have Adrian. If they get the code from this key, they’ll kill him too.”
Leo looked down at his hands. He took a deep, shuddering breath. Then, something in his posture shifted. The terrified boy seemed to harden.
“Then we have to stop them,” Leo said.
Nora blinked. “Leo, we have to hide. We have to go to the police—”
“The police belong to Vivienne! You saw it!” Leo argued, his voice rising in anger. “Nora, Dad died to keep this out of their hands. Adrian just gave himself up to save us. We can't just run and hide.”
Nora stared at her brother. He was right. She had spent her whole life hiding. Trying to be invisible. Trying not to cause trouble.
And it had cost her everything.
“The bank,” Nora said slowly, staring at the key. “There’s a number on it. 402.”
Leo flipped the key over. “There’s a logo. First Manhattan Trust.”
Nora knew it. It was a private bank in the Financial District.
She reached into her apron and pulled out something she had kept hidden for years. A cheap, tarnished silver bracelet.
Leo looked at it, confused. “What is that?”
“Dad gave this to me the day before he disappeared,” Nora whispered. “He told me it was my mother’s. But my mother never wore silver. I never understood why he gave it to me.”
She turned the bracelet over. Etched into the inside band, almost too small to read, was a six-digit pin code.
“He didn't just give you the key, Leo,” Nora said, her eyes widening. “He gave me the passcode. He split the lock between us so they couldn't get it without both of us.”
Leo grabbed her hand. “It’s 6:00 AM. The bank opens at eight. We get the drive. And we use it to buy Adrian back.”
Nora looked at the cold determination in her brother’s eyes.
“No,” Nora said, her voice turning to steel. “We don't buy him back. We destroy Vivienne Laurent.”
She stood up. Her wet uniform was ruined, but she didn't care. She was done being the invisible waitress.
But as they walked out of the laundromat, a black town car slowly pulled up to the curb.
The back window rolled down.
Sitting in the backseat was an older man. He had silver hair and a patrician face.
May you like
He looked exactly like Vivienne.
“Hello, Nora,” Arthur Laurent said. He held up Adrian’s silver pocket watch. “Get in. We have a lot to discuss about your father.”
