Chapter 5 - THE FACE BENEATH THE MASKVivian’s face lost all color.
“I disabled a faulty notification.”
Marc turned the security monitor toward Adrian.
The facial-recognition system had compared Sophie’s eyes and upper facial structure with photographs stored in the Beaumont family archive.
The match probability was 94.7 percent.
The notification was sent to three administrators.
Marc Delon.
Adrian Beaumont.
Vivian Laurent.
Adrian never received it.
His account record showed someone opened the alert from his private office computer and marked it as an error.
Vivian had access to that computer.
“Why did you disable the alert?” Adrian asked.
“Because Sophie is dead.”
“That does not answer the question.”
“I believed someone was trying to exploit the system.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were preparing the exhibition.”
Adrian’s voice became colder.
“You saw her photograph.”
Vivian glanced toward Sophie.
“I saw a masked cleaner with similar eyes.”
“You recognized me,” Sophie said.
“No.”
“You looked at me on my first day.”
Vivian laughed dismissively.
“I look at all staff.”
“You dropped your glass.”
A memory returned to Sophie.
Vivian standing near the gallery staircase.
Their eyes meeting.
The glass slipping from Vivian’s hand.
Then Vivian ordering the staffing manager to keep Sophie in the lower rooms away from private events.
Sophie believed it was a coincidence.
Now she understood.
Vivian knew before Chloe did.
Adrian turned toward Marc.
“Preserve every security record.”
“Already done.”
Vivian reached for Chloe.
“We are leaving.”
Chloe moved behind Sophie.
Adrian blocked Vivian.
“My daughter stays with me.”
“Our daughter was about to become mine too.”
The sentence hung in the room.
Vivian corrected herself.
“You know what I mean.”
Adrian did know.
He simply no longer trusted it.
Sophie touched the scar near her jaw.
“I did not come to take Chloe.”
Vivian looked at her.
“Then why are you here?”
“To know whether she was safe.”
“She was safe until you appeared.”
Chloe peeked around Sophie’s uniform.
“Vivian gets angry when I talk about Mommy.”
Vivian closed her eyes briefly.
“Because your father spent years grieving.”
“You told me Mommy didn’t love me.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“What?”
Vivian’s mouth opened.
Chloe continued.
“She said Mommy went into the fire because she wanted to leave us.”
“I never said that.”
“You did.”
Sophie covered her mouth.
Adrian knelt beside Chloe.
“When did she say this?”
“When I asked why Mommy didn’t come back.”
Vivian stepped closer.
“Children misunderstand complicated explanations.”
“What explanation could sound like that?” Adrian asked.
“I told her Sophie left the building alone that night.”
Sophie looked at her.
“How would you know?”
Vivian froze.
Official reports said Sophie entered the Beaumont restoration archive after business hours.
No one knew whether she had been alone.
Vivian had always claimed she was at a charity dinner across Paris.
Adrian slowly stood.
“You said you knew nothing about that night.”
“I read the report.”
“The report never said she entered alone.”
Vivian looked toward the closed gallery doors.
Adrian saw the calculation in her face.
She was deciding whether to run.
Marc discreetly signaled security to remain near the exits.
Sophie became unsteady.
Adrian reached toward her but stopped before touching.
“Are you all right?”
“The lights.”
“What about them?”
“The fire had red lights.”
She closed her eyes.
The gallery disappeared.
She remembered a private viewing room inside the restoration archive.
A painting covered with blue flowers.
Vivian holding a metal case.
An argument about forged ownership papers.
Then the alarm.
Sophie gripped the edge of a display table.
“The Blue Garden.”
Adrian looked across the gallery.
A large painting titled The Blue Garden hung on the far wall.
It had been recovered after the fire and restored.
Sophie walked toward it as if pulled by a thread.
She touched the lower corner of the frame.
“This wasn’t in the public archive.”
“It was found in a sealed storage room,” Adrian said.
“No.”
Sophie looked at Vivian.
“It was the reason she came that night.”
Vivian’s eyes filled with panic.
Sophie turned the frame slightly.
Something shifted inside it.
A small object fell onto the marble floor.
It was a hospital identification bracelet.
May you like
The printed name read:
ÉLISE MARTIN.
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