Chapter 11 - Adrienne stood frozen.The woman looked about thirty-five.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
A thin scar across her cheek.
She held Mia's hand.
Mia ran toward Adrienne.
“Daddy!”
Adrienne caught her.
He pressed his face against her hair.
She was warm.
Alive.
He almost cried.
Then he looked at the woman.
“Who are you?”
She answered:
“Isabella Moretti.”
Adrienne frowned.
“My father had no daughter.”
Isabella smiled.
“That was the point.”
Sofia stared at her.
“You survived.”
Isabella looked at Sofia.
“So did you.”
Adrienne slowly understood.
Three women.
One family.
Three generations hidden by the same man.
“Why are you here?”
Isabella looked at Mia.
“Because Anthony wants her.”
“Why?”
“Because she's the final heir.”
Adrienne shook his head.
“The trust can be challenged.”
“Not this one.”
She handed him a document.
Adrienne read it.
His father's signature.
The trust was irrevocable.
The entire Moretti empire would legally transfer to Mia at age eighteen.
Unless she died.
Then control would pass to Isabella.
Unless Isabella died.
Then it would pass to Anthony.
Adrienne stared.
“Your father designed a chain of heirs.”
Isabella nodded.
“He wanted the family to destroy itself.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed power could only survive through fear.”
Adrienne looked at her.
“And Anthony?”
“He changed the rules.”
Isabella's voice dropped.
“He wants Mia dead.”
Mia squeezed Adrienne's hand.
“Daddy, where's Bruno?”
Adrienne turned.
The dog wasn't beside them.
His heart stopped.
“Bruno?”
They looked around.
No dog.
Isabella whispered:
“He followed someone.”
“Who?”
A door slammed upstairs.
Adrienne ran.
Bruno was standing in the hallway.
At the end of the hall was Anthony.
He was holding a gun.
Bruno growled.
Anthony smiled.
“Come here, boy.”
Bruno didn't move.
Adrienne stepped between them.
“You've lost.”
Anthony laughed.
“No.”
He raised the gun.
“I've won.”
Adrienne's security team surrounded the hall.
Anthony looked at them.
Then pressed a button.
The entire mansion erupted in flames.
Fire raced along the curtains.
Sprinklers failed.
Smoke filled the corridor.
Adrienne grabbed Mia.
“Sofia!”
“I'm here!”
“Get out!”
Anthony disappeared into the smoke.
Bruno barked.
Adrienne looked back.
The dog had run toward the library.
“No!”
He followed.
The ceiling cracked.
Adrienne reached Bruno just as a beam crashed down.
Bruno was pinned.
Adrienne dropped beside him.
“Come on.”
The dog whined.
Adrienne lifted the beam.
It barely moved.
Tony rushed in.
Together they pushed.
Bruno crawled free.
But then Adrienne saw something.
The dog's collar was broken.
Inside was a tiny metal tube.
He opened it.
A rolled paper fell out.
Adrienne unfolded it.
It was a map.
Of the cemetery where his mother had been buried.
A single grave was marked.
Not his mother's.
His father's.
Adrienne stared.
His father's grave had been opened six months earlier.
Tony looked at the map.
“Boss…”
Adrienne's voice was cold.
“He's been using the cemetery.”
They escaped the burning house.
Firefighters arrived.
As the mansion filled with smoke, Adrienne stood outside with Mia, Sofia, Bruno, and Isabella.
Tony approached.
“The fire was deliberate.”
“Anthony?”
“No.”
Tony handed him a photograph.
“This.”
Adrienne looked.
The person entering the house before the fire was Vivien.
Adrienne turned toward her.
Vivien was standing twenty yards away.
But she wasn't running.
She was crying.
“Adrienne.”
He walked toward her.
“You started the fire?”
Vivien shook her head.
“No.”
“Then why are you on camera?”
“I was looking for Mia.”
“After the house was burning?”
Vivien whispered:
“I knew Anthony would come.”
Adrienne narrowed his eyes.
“What aren't you telling me?”
Vivien looked at Bruno.
Then at Mia.
Finally, she spoke.
“Anthony isn't the last person you should fear.”
Adrienne waited.
Vivien pointed toward the cemetery.
“Your father is.”
May you like
Adrienne looked at her.
“Your father is alive.”
