Chapter 9 - Isabella’s GameAdrian read the note twice.
“She wants me chasing ghosts.”
“Maybe Daniel is alive.”
“I know.”
“You believe Toby.”
“I believe someone wants me to believe him.”
“Then what do you believe?”
He looked at me.
“I believe you’re in more danger than you understand.”
That answer annoyed me.
“I’m tired of being treated like a package.”
“You’re not a package.”
“Then stop moving me around like one.”
Silence.
He finally nodded.
“All right.”
“What?”
“You come with me.”
“To where?”
“To meet someone.”
An hour later, we arrived at an abandoned church in Lower Manhattan.
A man was waiting in the shadows.
Daniel Duca.
I knew immediately.
Same eyes as Adrian.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
Adrian raised his gun.
Daniel didn’t move.
“Put it down.”
“You’re dead.”
“I’m aware.”
“Why did you let me believe it?”
“Because our father wanted me buried.”
Adrian’s voice shook.
“Did you kill my mother?”
Daniel looked at me.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“Vincent.”
Adrian froze.
“Vincent worked for your father long before he worked for you.”
“That’s impossible.”
“No. What’s impossible is how well he fooled you.”
Daniel stepped closer.
“Your mother discovered a project called Black Ledger.”
“What is it?” I asked.
“An operation designed to control judges, politicians, police, hospitals, banks. Anyone who could destroy the Duca empire.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“Why come back now?”
“Because Black Ledger is active again.”
Daniel looked at me.
“And because Cara’s mother hid the final piece.”
I held up the silver locket.
Daniel stared.
“That.”
He reached toward it.
Adrian blocked him.
“No.”
Daniel sighed.
“Then open it.”
I turned it over.
There was a tiny seam I had never noticed.
I pressed it.
The locket opened.
Inside was a miniature photograph.
My mother.
And a baby.
I looked at Adrian.
“What?”
Daniel’s face changed.
“That baby is Adrian.”
The room went silent.
I looked again.
My mother was holding Adrian as an infant.
But Adrian’s own family records said his mother had died giving birth to him.
Daniel whispered:
“Your mother was his real mother.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Then the church doors slammed open.
Gunfire erupted.
Daniel pushed me down.
Adrian fired back.
May you like
And somewhere in the chaos, someone screamed:
“Get the girl!”
