Chapter 4 - The bullet struck the wall inches from Adrienne's head.Tony fired back.
Carlo dove behind the doorway.
Glass shattered.
Guards rushed into the foyer.
Adrienne dropped behind a marble column.
“Don't kill him!”
Tony looked at him.
“He just shot at you.”
“I want him alive.”
Another shot rang out.
Then silence.
Tony moved first.
By the time they reached the doorway, Carlo was gone.
Only blood remained.
A trail led toward the service corridor.
Adrienne followed it.
The rear door was open.
Outside, the morning was gray.
No car.
No Carlo.
Tony crouched beside the blood.
“It's not much.”
Adrienne stared at the driveway.
“He's wounded.”
“Yes.”
“Then he'll leave evidence.”
Adrienne returned inside.
Vivien hadn't moved.
He looked at her.
“Where is the east house?”
Her face fell.
“There is no east house.”
Adrienne's expression hardened.
“Wrong answer.”
She swallowed.
“It's on the old property line.”
“How old?”
“Before your father expanded the estate.”
Tony pulled up architectural maps on his tablet.
“There was another structure here.”
He pointed.
“Foundation only.”
Adrienne looked at Vivien.
“Take me there.”
Vivien hesitated.
“I can't.”
Adrienne stepped toward her.
“You have five seconds.”
She finally nodded.
They crossed the woods behind the estate.
Twenty minutes later, they reached an overgrown stone foundation.
No building.
No doors.
Nothing.
Adrienne stared at Vivien.
“This is your east house?”
She pointed toward the ground.
“The entrance is underneath.”
Tony began clearing brush.
A rusted metal hatch appeared.
Adrienne opened it.
Stairs descended.
The tunnel was dry and recently used.
Fresh tire marks crossed the floor.
Adrienne followed them.
At the end was a small concrete room.
No Mia.
No Bruno.
Only a chair.
And another camera.
Tony switched on his flashlight.
“There.”
A child's stuffed rabbit lay on the floor.
Mia's rabbit.
Adrienne picked it up.
The rabbit had been cut open.
Something was hidden inside.
A small brass key.
And a folded note.
Adrienne unfolded it.
The words were written in his father's handwriting.
THE DOG KNOWS WHERE THE MONEY IS.
Adrienne stared.
“What does that mean?”
Vivien whispered:
“Bruno.”
Adrienne looked at her.
“He can't understand human secrets.”
“He can remember locations.”
Adrienne's mind raced.
Then he remembered something.
When he was seventeen, Bruno had always slept outside a certain room.
His father's study.
Adrienne had never understood why.
He turned to Tony.
“Search the old study.”
They raced back.
Adrienne entered the study.
Dust covered the furniture.
His father's desk remained exactly where it had been.
Tony searched every drawer.
Nothing.
Adrienne looked at the fireplace.
Then the old portrait above it.
His father stood there with one hand resting on Bruno's head.
Adrienne stared.
Bruno's eyes in the portrait were not looking at his father.
They were looking at a hidden panel behind the painting.
Adrienne pulled the frame away.
A steel box was embedded in the wall.
The brass key fit.
Inside was a ledger.
And a photograph.
Adrienne lifted the photograph.
His mother.
His father.
And another man.
Adrienne recognized him instantly.
The man had died fifteen years ago.
Or so everyone said.
Tony stared.
“Boss…”
Adrienne turned the photograph over.
Written across the back:
THREE BROTHERS. ONE LIAR.
Adrienne looked at the ledger.
Millions of dollars had been moved through companies he had never heard of.
Accounts.
Shell corporations.
Private trusts.
Payments.
Then one line stopped him.
MIA ROMANO.
Trust beneficiary.
Adrienne went still.
Vivien looked at the ledger.
“No…”
Adrienne turned.
“You knew.”
“I knew she was connected.”
“You knew she was a beneficiary.”
Vivien shook her head.
“I didn't know how much.”
“How much?”
Adrienne opened the final page.
A single number appeared.
$487,000,000.
Tony stared.
“Four hundred eighty-seven million?”
Adrienne looked toward the door.
Bruno.
Mia.
His father's secret.
Everything suddenly connected.
Then the study door opened.
Elena stood there.
She was crying.
“Adrienne.”
He turned.
“What?”
She whispered:
“There's something you need to know about Mia.”
Adrienne waited.
Elena's voice cracked.
“She isn't your niece.”
May you like
Adrienne's face went blank.
“She is your daughter.”
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