Chapter 5 - For several seconds, nobody moved.Adrienne stared at Elena.
“No.”
“She is.”
“No.”
His voice became louder.
“Mia's father was my brother.”
Elena shook her head.
“Your brother isn't her father.”
Adrienne's mind raced through memories.
Mia's birth certificate.
The hospital.
The sudden disappearance of a woman named Sofia.
The strange way Vivien had always kept Mia close.
He looked at Vivien.
“You knew.”
Vivien lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because you would have taken her.”
“She is my daughter.”
“She was supposed to be killed.”
Adrienne froze.
“By whom?”
“Your father.”
Silence.
Elena stepped forward.
“Your father discovered your relationship with Sofia when you were nineteen.”
Adrienne's eyes widened.
Sofia.
A girl he had loved secretly.
A girl who disappeared before he left for college.
He had spent years believing she had abandoned him.
“She was pregnant?”
“Yes.”
Adrienne's throat tightened.
“When did she die?”
Elena looked away.
“She didn't.”
Adrienne stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Sofia survived.”
“Where is she?”
Elena shook her head.
“I don't know.”
Vivien finally spoke.
“They found her once.”
“Who?”
“Your father's people.”
“What did they do?”
“She escaped.”
Adrienne slammed his hand against the desk.
“And Mia?”
Vivien whispered:
“They took the baby.”
Adrienne looked at the ledger.
Everything suddenly made sense.
Mia was not a random child.
She was connected to the trust.
His father had hidden four hundred eighty-seven million dollars under a succession clause.
The beneficiary was his blood descendant.
Mia.
And the only thing preventing someone from controlling that fortune was Adrienne.
Tony looked at the ledger again.
“Boss…”
Adrienne turned.
“There are withdrawals.”
“From the trust?”
Tony nodded.
“Every month.”
“Who has access?”
Tony looked at the account information.
“One authorized signature.”
Adrienne waited.
Tony slowly raised his eyes.
“Vivien Romano.”
Vivien closed her eyes.
Adrienne's face hardened.
“You've been taking money.”
“I was keeping Mia alive.”
“How much?”
Vivien couldn't answer.
Tony checked the numbers.
“About thirty million.”
Adrienne stared.
“You stole thirty million.”
“I spent it on safe houses.”
“Where?”
Vivien looked toward the window.
“They moved Mia every few months.”
Adrienne grabbed the ledger.
“Where is Sofia?”
Vivien whispered:
“Ohio.”
Adrienne froze.
“She has been there for eleven years.”
“Why?”
“Because she believed you were dead.”
Adrienne laughed bitterly.
“I've been standing ten feet away from her daughter.”
Vivien shook her head.
“She believed your father killed you.”
Adrienne looked at the camera footage of Mia.
“Then we're finding her.”
Tony nodded.
But before they could move, every phone in the room buzzed.
One message.
From an unknown number.
A photo appeared.
Mia.
Alive.
Bruno beside her.
And a timestamp.
6:12 AM.
Adrienne stared.
That was the exact time he had walked into the foyer.
The message contained one sentence.
YOU CAME HOME EXACTLY WHEN WE NEEDED YOU.
Tony checked the metadata.
“Boss…”
“What?”
“The photo wasn't taken this morning.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Adrienne looked at Mia's face.
The child was wearing the same rabbit pajamas.
Two years ago.
Adrienne's blood ran cold.
Mia had been watched for years.
Then another message arrived.
THE DOG WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
Adrienne stared at the screen.
May you like
A second message appeared.
YOU WERE.
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