Chapter 6 - THE FATHER ADRIAN SHOULD HAVE BURIEDVittorio Moretti did not flinch at the gun pointed toward his heart.
That frightened Daniel more than anything.
Men who feared death behaved predictably.
Men who believed themselves immortal did not.
Vittorio stepped into the mausoleum.
Six armed men appeared behind him.
Adrian counted them instantly.
Daniel had one pistol.
Adrian had six rounds remaining.
Bad odds.
Vittorio looked at the open crypt.
“Where is the ledger?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Emily Bennett?”
Still nothing.
Vittorio smiled.
“So Daniel told her.”
Daniel moved beside Adrian.
“You should have stayed dead.”
Vittorio’s gaze shifted.
“And you should have died properly.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
Vittorio tapped his cane.
“Do you know what disappointed me most about you, Daniel?”
“No.”
“You had talent.”
“I’ll survive the insult.”
“I gave you access to an empire.”
“You gave me access to evidence.”
“And you wasted it trying to become moral.”
Vittorio looked at Adrian.
“Your generation worships morality because it has never built anything.”
Adrian’s gun remained steady.
“You built fear.”
“I built power.”
“You bombed your own car.”
“I escaped a prison cell.”
“You let your wife bury you.”
Something flickered in Vittorio’s eyes.
Adrian saw it.
His mother.
Elena Moretti had died eighteen months after Vittorio’s supposed death.
Cancer.
She spent her final months grieving him.
“You watched Mother die believing you were gone.”
Vittorio’s expression hardened.
“Your mother was weak.”
Adrian fired.
The bullet struck Vittorio’s cane, exploding the silver handle.
Every gun behind him rose.
Vittorio’s eyes widened.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“Say that again.”
Nobody moved.
For the first time, Vittorio looked at his son differently.
Not as a child.
As a threat.
Then one of the guards rushed inside.
“Mr. Moretti, the woman escaped.”
Vittorio turned.
“What?”
“The shaft. She reached the west side.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Emily.
Vittorio noticed.
“You care for her.”
“No.”
“You were always a terrible liar.”
Vittorio gestured to his men.
“Take them.”
Adrian and Daniel were disarmed.
Outside, Adrian found two of his own guards unconscious but alive.
Michael stood beside a black SUV.
He could not meet Adrian’s eyes.
Adrian stopped in front of him.
“Look at me.”
Michael did.
Shame covered his face.
“How long?”
“Eight years.”
“Before my father died.”
“Yes.”
“You knew he survived.”
Michael swallowed.
“Yes.”
Adrian’s voice remained quiet.
“Why?”
“My younger brother.”
Adrian remembered Nicholas Russo.
Drugs.
Debt.
Disappeared at twenty-two.
Michael had told everyone Nicholas fled to Mexico.
“Vittorio had him.”
Michael’s eyes reddened.
“He said if I didn’t cooperate, he’d kill Nick.”
“Where is he now?”
Michael looked away.
“Dead.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“How long?”
“Six years.”
“And you kept working for him?”
Michael’s voice cracked.
“By then he had everything on me. Recordings. Payments. Crimes I committed for him.”
Adrian stared.
“You betrayed me because you were afraid of prison?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Michael’s voice dropped.
“He said he would kill you.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“So you protected me by helping the man who plans to kill me?”
“I fed Vittorio enough information to keep him satisfied, but I changed things. Routes. Meetings. Security. Every time he ordered something that would put you directly in danger, I redirected it.”
Adrian studied him.
“You expect gratitude?”
“No.”
“Good.”
They were forced into the SUV.
Meanwhile, Emily crawled through wet grass behind the cemetery.
Every breath hurt.
The red ledger was tucked beneath her coat.
She heard men searching behind her.
“Find her!”
Emily reached the tree line.
Her car was gone.
No phone.
No weapon.
Broken wrist.
She ran anyway.
The road lay half a mile ahead.
A truck appeared through the trees.
Emily waved.
The vehicle slowed.
Relief hit her.
Then she saw the driver.
Vanessa.
Emily turned.
Too late.
The truck stopped beside her.
Vanessa stepped out holding a gun.
“That book really is becoming annoying.”
Emily backed away.
Vanessa’s ivory dress was gone.
She wore black trousers and a leather jacket.
“You tried to kill me.”
“Yes.”
“At least you’re honest now.”
“I don’t have time to lie.”
Emily clutched the ledger beneath her coat.
Vanessa raised the gun.
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
“Do you think Adrian will save you?”
“I saved myself.”
Vanessa smiled.
“You think this is about Adrian?”
“It always seems to be.”
“No.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“This is about fathers.”
Emily frowned.
“My father spent thirty years doing whatever Vittorio wanted. He washed money, moved weapons, bought politicians.”
Her eyes grew colder.
“When I was seventeen, Vittorio promised me something.”
“What?”
“That if I married Adrian, the Carlisle family would become untouchable.”
Emily stared.
“So the whole relationship was arranged.”
“Every introduction. Every dinner. Every accidental meeting.”
“Does Adrian know?”
“He does now.”
Vanessa’s face twisted.
“I spent six years becoming exactly what Adrian Moretti wanted.”
Emily almost pitied her.
Almost.
“But he never loved you.”
Vanessa struck her.
Emily fell to one knee.
The ledger slipped partly from her coat.
Vanessa saw it.
She reached.
Emily grabbed dirt and threw it into Vanessa’s eyes.
Vanessa screamed.
Emily lunged.
The gun fired.
Birds exploded from the trees.
Emily hit Vanessa’s wrist.
The weapon fell.
They crashed onto the ground.
Vanessa clawed Emily’s injured ribs.
Pain blinded her.
Then Emily heard an engine.
Vanessa froze.
A dark pickup stopped.
Dorothy stepped out holding a shotgun.
Both women stared.
Dorothy cocked the weapon.
“I have spent seventy-two years avoiding vulgar language.”
She aimed at Vanessa.
“Do not make today the day I start.”
Vanessa slowly raised her hands.
Lucy appeared behind the truck window.
“Mommy!”
Emily nearly collapsed with relief.
“Stay inside!”
Dorothy moved closer.
“Kick the gun toward me.”
Vanessa obeyed.
Emily stood.
Dorothy looked at her.
“Get in.”
“How did you find me?”
“Adrian put a tracker in the rabbit.”
Emily stared.
“Lucy’s rabbit?”
“After the hospital attack.”
“That is both insane and brilliant.”
“Yes.”
They drove back toward the lake cabin.
Emily opened the ledger.
“I need to get this to federal authorities.”
Dorothy shook her head.
“Vittorio has federal authorities.”
Emily looked down at the names.
She understood.
“Then who can we trust?”
Dorothy was silent.
Lucy answered from the back seat.
“Mr. Adrian.”
Emily turned.
The child hugged her rabbit.
“Mr. Adrian promised.”
Emily’s eyes burned.
Yes.
He had.
At the same moment, Adrian and Daniel were brought into the Moretti estate ballroom.
The room was filled with workers decorating for the wedding.
White roses.
Crystal.
Gold candles.
Except these were not ordinary workers.
Every exit was guarded.
Vittorio walked toward the altar built for Adrian’s wedding.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Adrian said nothing.
“Tomorrow evening, five hundred powerful people will gather here.”
Vittorio turned.
“You will marry Vanessa.”
“No.”
“You will.”
“No.”
“You will announce that I survived.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“And then?”
“You will transfer control of Moretti Logistics to a private trust.”
“Yours.”
“Ours.”
Adrian laughed softly.
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“What amuses you?”
“You disappeared for seven years and somehow still think I’m fifteen.”
Vittorio stepped closer.
“You became powerful because I allowed it.”
“No.”
Adrian looked around the ballroom.
“I became powerful because people followed me after they believed you were dead.”
That landed.
Vittorio’s face darkened.
Adrian continued.
“They didn’t miss you.”
A muscle jumped in Vittorio’s jaw.
“They were relieved.”
Vittorio struck him.
Adrian’s head snapped sideways.
Daniel moved.
Two guards stopped him.
Adrian slowly looked back at his father.
Blood appeared at the corner of his mouth.
He smiled.
That smile unsettled Vittorio.
“Tomorrow,” Adrian said softly, “you’re going to walk into this room thinking everyone belongs to you.”
May you like
He leaned closer.
“And then you’re going to discover how lonely you really are.”
