Chapter 2
The Photograph
Naya couldn’t concentrate.
For the next three hours, she typed emails, organized meetings, and answered calls while replaying Adrian’s words.
Never ask me about your father.
It made no sense.
Her father had been dead for eight years.
As far as Naya knew, Elias Williams had never met Adrian Cole.
At least, that was what her mother had told her.
She finally found the courage to approach his office.
She knocked.
“Come in.”
Adrian was standing beside the window.
“Do you need something?”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“My father. How did you know him?”
“I told you not to ask.”
“And I want to know why.”
He turned.
“Naya.”
Hearing her first name in his voice made her heart skip.
“You don’t know anything about my father.”
“I know enough.”
“Then tell me.”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Naya folded her arms.
“You hired me knowing who I was.”
Adrian didn’t respond.
That was answer enough.
“You knew my name before I walked through that door.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
His eyes hardened.
“Go back to work.”
Naya stared at him.
“You’re unbelievable.”
She turned and walked out.
But she didn’t return to her desk.
Instead, she went into the small employee lounge and searched the internet.
Adrian Cole Elias Williams.
Nothing.
She searched again.
Still nothing.
Then she remembered the old box in her mother’s bedroom.
After her father’s death, her mother had kept everything that belonged to him.
Letters.
Photographs.
Documents.
Naya had never looked through them.
Until now.
That evening, she went home and waited until her mother fell asleep.
Then she opened the old storage box.
For nearly an hour, she found nothing.
Until she discovered a photograph hidden beneath several envelopes.
She picked it up.
Her breath stopped.
It was her father.
Standing beside a much younger Adrian Cole.
Adrian couldn’t have been more than twenty-four.
And between them stood another man Naya didn’t recognize.
On the back of the photograph were four handwritten words:
“The promise must remain.”
Naya’s hands trembled.
Then she noticed something else.
A date.
The photograph had been taken only three weeks before her father’s death.
She heard footsteps behind her.
Her mother stood in the doorway.
The color drained from her face.
“Naya…”
Naya turned.
“What promise?”
Her mother stared at the photograph.
Then tears filled her eyes.
“Where did you find that?”
“Who is Adrian Cole?”
Her mother didn’t answer.
“Mom?”
Her mother whispered,
“You need to quit that job.”
“Why?”
“Because that man has nothing but trouble waiting for you.”
Naya looked down at the photograph.
“What did Dad promise him?”
Her mother closed her eyes.
And whispered the words Naya would never forget.
“Your father promised Adrian that one day… you would belong to him.”
