Chapter 6 - Adrienne refused to sleep.By noon, the estate had become a fortress.
Every entrance was locked.
Every employee was questioned.
Tony's team traced the trust accounts.
Nothing.
The money had moved through so many layers that the trail disappeared into offshore entities.
Adrienne sat in the library staring at the photograph of Sofia.
He couldn't stop remembering her.
The way she laughed.
The way she used to steal his jackets.
The night she told him she was pregnant.
The next morning, she disappeared.
His father had told him Sofia left willingly.
Adrienne had believed him.
For seventeen years.
Now he knew the truth had been buried under his own floorboards.
A knock sounded.
Tony entered.
“We found the route.”
Adrienne looked up.
“To Mia?”
“To the vehicle.”
Tony placed several photographs on the desk.
“We tracked the black car through toll cameras.”
“And?”
“It never went to Queens.”
“Where?”
Tony pointed at a map.
“An abandoned veterinary hospital in Newark.”
Adrienne stood.
“How far?”
“Forty minutes.”
“Let's go.”
Tony shook his head.
“You should stay.”
Adrienne gave him a look.
“My daughter is there.”
Tony nodded.
They drove.
The hospital was abandoned for almost a decade.
The front gate hung open.
Inside, the halls smelled of dust and chemicals.
Adrienne heard scratching.
“Bruno.”
They followed the sound.
A kennel door stood open.
Bruno was inside.
Alive.
Weak.
Adrienne ran to him.
A veterinary monitor showed his heart rate.
Someone had been treating him.
“Where's Mia?”
Bruno lifted his head.
Then looked toward the next room.
Adrienne opened the door.
Empty.
Only a chair.
Mia had been there.
Recent.
A blanket was still warm.
Adrienne looked around.
On the floor lay a child's drawing.
A house.
Three people.
A dog.
And a black car.
Tony picked it up.
“What does this mean?”
Adrienne turned the paper over.
There was writing.
MIA'S words.
“THE MAN WITH DAD'S FACE.”
Adrienne stared.
Tony looked at him.
“Boss?”
Adrienne said nothing.
A sound came from outside.
Car tires.
They rushed to the window.
A black sedan sped away.
Adrienne recognized the driver.
Carlo.
“Follow him.”
Tony called the team.
The chase lasted twenty minutes.
Carlo abandoned the car near the river.
They found him on foot.
He had been shot again.
This time badly.
Adrienne knelt beside him.
“Where is Mia?”
Carlo coughed.
“You should have stayed in Chicago.”
“Where is she?”
Carlo looked at him.
His eyes filled with fear.
“The man you call your father…”
Adrienne leaned closer.
“He isn't your father.”
Adrienne froze.
Carlo smiled weakly.
“He is your uncle.”
Then he died.
Tony looked up.
“Boss…”
Adrienne stood slowly.
“Check every relative my father ever had.”
Tony nodded.
Carlo's final words echoed in Adrienne's mind.
Not your father.
Your uncle.
He remembered the photograph.
Three brothers.
One liar.
Then he remembered his father's portrait.
There had always been a second man in the corner of an old family photo.
The same eyes.
The same jaw.
The same scar.
Adrienne suddenly understood.
His father had not built the empire alone.
There had been a brother.
A twin.
A man Adrienne had been told died as an infant.
He pulled out his phone.
“Tony.”
“Yes?”
“Find the Moretti birth records.”
Tony did.
Minutes passed.
Tony's face changed.
“There were two boys.”
Adrienne's heart pounded.
“Names?”
“Adrian Moretti.”
He paused.
“And Anthony Moretti.”
Adrienne stared at the screen.
Then Tony found the final record.
Anthony Moretti.
Status: deceased.
Date of death:
Twenty-two years ago.
Adrienne looked toward the river.
“No.”
Tony frowned.
“What?”
Adrienne whispered:
“My uncle didn't die.”
A voice came from behind them.
“No.”
They turned.
Vivien stood there.
“He died.”
Adrienne stared.
Vivien continued.
“But someone took his face.”
She lifted a trembling hand.
“Your father had a twin.”
Adrienne's eyes hardened.
“And he's alive.”
Vivien nodded.
“He has been living under another name for twenty-two years.”
“Which name?”
Vivien whispered:
“Anthony Cole.”
Adrienne went still.
The name hit him like a blade.
Because Anthony Cole was the man who now controlled the trust.
And three hours earlier, Anthony Cole had just sent Adrienne a meeting request.
May you like
For tonight.
At the Moretti estate.
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