Chapter 12 - The Chapel of Lies
The old Valente chapel smelled of damp wood and extinguished candles.
Silas stood near the altar, dressed in a dark suit. Karen waited beside him, holding Emma against her shoulder. The baby was awake, her tiny fingers curled around the collar of Karen's coat.
Adrian entered alone.
“Let her go.”
Silas smiled.
“You sound exactly like your father.”
“Don't mention him.”
“Your father begged me to protect the family. He trusted me, just as you trusted Karen.”
Karen's expression flickered.
Adrian noticed.
“You told me you loved Emma.”
“I do,” she whispered.
“Then why did you put her in a dumpster?”
“I didn't want her dead.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“That's a remarkable excuse from someone who left a seven-month-old child in the freezing rain.”
Karen looked down at Emma, and for the first time, her face showed something resembling shame.
Silas took a step toward Adrian.
“Karen made a mistake. She's always been emotional. But you and I understand what matters. Control. Legacy. Survival.”
“You killed Sofia.”
“I protected this family.”
“You murdered my wife.”
“She was going to destroy everything your father built.”
Adrian's hands shook, but he kept his voice steady.
“You stole money intended for sick children.”
“Money is only useful when someone controls it.”
“And Emma?”
Silas looked at the baby.
“Emma was an inconvenience.”
Karen flinched.
Adrian moved closer.
“You drugged her.”
“I followed orders,” Karen whispered.
“Whose orders?”
She looked at Silas.
That was answer enough.
Silas drew a gun and pointed it at Adrian.
“Enough. Give me the ledger.”
Adrian held up his empty hands.
“I don't have it.”
“Your father hid it.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Adrian said nothing.
Silas aimed the gun at Emma.
“Then perhaps we should ask the child.”
Karen screamed and pulled Emma away from him.
The gunshot shattered a stained-glass window.
Santos appeared at the side entrance with officers behind her.
“Drop your weapon!”
Silas fired toward the doorway.
Chaos erupted.
Dante tackled a guard, Adrian lunged toward Emma, and Karen stumbled behind the altar with the baby.
I had disobeyed orders.
I had followed them.
I entered the chapel just as Karen reached the rear door.
“Give her to me!” I shouted.
Karen turned, startled.
“You don't understand,” she said. “I had no choice.”
“You had a choice when you drugged her. You had a choice when you threw her away. You had a choice every second you watched an innocent child suffer.”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“I was promised money.”
“For what?”
“For Lucia's surgery.”
The words struck me like a physical blow.
Karen clutched Emma tighter.
“Silas said if the baby died, the Saint Fund would belong to him. He promised me enough money to pay for your sister's operation. I thought she would die quickly.”
I felt sick.
“You traded one child's life for another's.”
“I thought I could save both.”
Before I could answer, a second gunshot rang out.
Karen screamed.
May you like
Emma slipped from her arms.
And Silas, wounded but still standing, ran through the rear door with the ledger tucked beneath his coat.
