Then he stopped near an old wooden wall.
“What is it?” Adrian asked.
Daniel touched the wood.
“This.”
“You remember it?”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“I don't know.”
His fingers moved over a small scratch.
“This was here before.”
Adrian stared.
The wall had been renovated many times.
“How could you know that?”
Daniel opened his eyes.
“I don't know.”
Adrian looked closer.
The scratch was shaped like a crooked line.
Then he remembered.
When they were children, Daniel had carved that mark into the wall with a spoon.
Their father had been furious.
Adrian smiled.
“You did that.”
Daniel looked at him.
“I did?”
“Yes.”
For the first time, something like recognition appeared in Daniel's eyes.
“I remember you laughing.”
Adrian's smile disappeared.
“What?”
“You were hiding behind the door.”
Adrian stared at him.
Then he laughed.
“That was because Dad was angry.”
Daniel laughed too.
It was a small moment.
But it was the first piece of the past that had returned.
The investigation, however, was producing something much darker.
The police records from twenty-five years earlier contained inconsistencies.
The original report claimed Daniel had disappeared after leaving the café alone.
But the investigator found a witness who remembered seeing Daniel get into a dark sedan that night.
The witness had never been interviewed in the original investigation.
The vehicle belonged to a man named Victor Bellini.
Victor had been their father's business partner.
Adrian remembered him.
He remembered the man standing beside his father at business meetings.
He remembered Victor bringing expensive gifts.
He remembered his father telling him never to trust a man who smiled too easily.
Adrian's father had died less than a year after Daniel disappeared.
Officially, it had been a heart attack.
But now the investigator found something else.
The Moretti family business had been under financial pressure before Daniel disappeared.
Victor had wanted to buy the café and surrounding property.
Adrian's father refused.
The property had become extremely valuable over the years.
If the Moretti family disappeared from the picture, Victor would have had everything.
Adrian felt a coldness settle over him.
He called his investigator.
“Find Victor.”
“He died eight years ago.”
Adrian's heart sank.
“Then find everyone who worked for him.”
One name appeared repeatedly.
Thomas Vale.
Former security contractor.
He had disappeared from the city shortly after Daniel's disappearance.
The investigator found him living alone in a small town several hours away.
Adrian drove there the next morning.
Daniel insisted on coming.
When Thomas opened the door, he looked at Daniel.
His face went pale.
He whispered one word.
“Impossible.”
Daniel stared back.
“Do I know you?”
Thomas's hands began shaking.
“I thought you were dead.”
Adrian stepped forward.
“You knew my brother.”
Thomas sat down heavily.
For several seconds he said nothing.
Then he covered his face.
“I should have told the truth twenty-five years ago.”
Adrian's voice hardened.
“What happened?”
Thomas looked at Daniel.
“Victor told us to scare your father into selling the property.”
Daniel frowned.
“Your father refused.”
“What did you do?”
“We followed Daniel that night.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Why?”
“Victor wanted leverage. He thought if something happened to Daniel, your father would give up.”
Thomas paused.
“But things went wrong.”
Daniel's breathing became shallow.
A memory flashed through his mind.
Headlights.
Rain.
A hand grabbing his shoulder.
Someone yelling.
Thomas continued.
“There was a crash.”
Adrian stared at him.
“Did you kill him?”
“No.”
Thomas shook his head.
“I couldn't.”
“Then what happened?”
“Daniel hit his head. He was unconscious. Victor told me to finish it.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Thomas continued.
“I couldn't do it.”
“So you left him?”
“I took him to an abandoned warehouse. I thought I could come back and get him away from Victor.”