CHAPTER 2 — The Letter That Predicted the Future
I read the first paragraph three times.
The words refused to make sense.
Dear Adrian,
If Clare is with you, then everything happened exactly as I feared.
Please don't tell her who I really was until she finds the music box.
Only the music box contains the proof.
Bellamy slowly closed his eyes.
"My God..."
"You've read this before?"
"No."
"I've lived with it."
I looked at him.
"My grandmother predicted me?"
"No."
"She planned for you."
He stood and walked toward the fireplace.
"I met Juliet when we were eighteen."
"We dreamed of opening a bookstore in Marseille."
"No money."
"No power."
"No violence."
"Just books."
His smile disappeared.
"Then my family chose my future for me."
He never actually said the word.
He didn't need to.
Everyone knew the Bellamy name carried fear.
"I left France."
"I promised I'd return."
"But when I came back..."
His voice cracked.
"...Juliet had vanished."
I remembered something.
Grandmother had never spoken about France after sunset.
Never.
If anyone asked...
She changed the subject.
Every single time.
Bellamy reached into another drawer.
This time...
He removed newspaper clippings.
Missing Person.
Explosion.
Smuggling investigation.
Fire.
Every headline featured different names.
But one photograph remained constant.
Juliet Maro.
"Someone erased her life."
"They erased mine too."
Before I could ask another question...
A loud explosion shook the penthouse.
Glass shattered.
The lights died instantly.
The bodyguards drew weapons.
"Down!"
Bellamy threw himself across the table just as bullets tore through the library windows.
Wood exploded.
Books flew from the shelves.
Smoke filled the room.
I had never heard gunfire before.
Reality sounded much louder than movies.
Bellamy grabbed my wrist.
"Run!"
"No!"
"The letter!"
I reached for it.
A burning bookshelf collapsed between us.
Heat blasted my face.
The silver key disappeared beneath the flames.
"No!"
Bellamy ignored the fire.
Ignoring the bullets...
He walked straight into the burning room.
One bodyguard shouted,
"Boss!"
Another dragged me toward the hallway.
Bellamy emerged seconds later.
His suit sleeve burned.
Blood ran down one arm.
But inside his fist...
The silver key.
He looked directly at me.
"It matters more than I do."
Then...
He collapsed.
At the hospital...
Doctors surrounded him.
Reporters gathered outside.
The city believed Adrian Bellamy had survived another assassination attempt.
Only I knew the truth.
Nobody came for Adrian Bellamy.
They came...
For my grandmother's letter.
Hours later...
A nurse quietly handed me a package someone had left anonymously.
No return address.
Inside...
One tiny wooden music box.
Exactly as the letter described.
Attached was a note.
Don't let Adrian open it.
May you like
He isn't your greatest danger.
END OF CHAPTER 2
