Chapter 9 - THE EMPIRE CARLO NEVER WANTED ADRIAN TO KEEP
Carlo Bellandi had built two empires.
One was the Bellandi organization everyone feared.
The other was almost invisible.
Real estate.
Shipping.
Manufacturing.
Hospitals.
A network of legitimate companies separated from criminal money years earlier.
Continuity controlled the second empire.
And Carlo had named me its independent successor if Adrian ever became compromised.
Not widowed.
Not divorced.
Compromised.
Marco needed my voice because if I activated Continuity, every legitimate company would leave Bellandi operational control and move into an independent trust.
He would lose access to hundreds of millions.
So would Adrian.
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You expect me to believe your father made your wife successor to half your legitimate assets and never told you?”
“Yes.”
Mara raised an eyebrow.
Adrian almost smiled.
“I understand how ridiculous that sounds.”
The archive’s partial file explained why Carlo chose me.
I had no role in Bellandi operations.
No loyalty to captains.
No debts to cousins.
No reason to protect the organization over employees, hospitals, or ordinary businesses.
Carlo had wanted an outsider.
Someone Adrian loved enough to trust.
Someone independent enough to tell him no.
I hated how accurately that described our old marriage.
Before secrets consumed it.
Elena called.
“Theo remembered something.”
“What?”
“Marco isn’t keeping Rachel where the video was filmed.”
Mara stepped closer.
“How does he know?”
“The room has an old Bellandi crest behind her. That building was demolished six years ago. The video is prerecorded.”
Meaning Rachel might already be somewhere else.
Or dead.
Mara went pale.
Adrian immediately ordered a search.
Then Elena said something else.
“Nicholas contacted me.”
Everyone froze.
“What does he want?”
“To switch sides.”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“Now?”
“He says Marco plans to eliminate him after tonight.”
“Good instinct.”
“He wants immunity.”
“Not mine to give.”
That answer surprised Elena.
Old Adrian would have handled betrayal privately.
This Adrian was changing.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Nicholas offered a location.
A printing warehouse on the South Side.
Rachel was there.
So was Marco.
It looked too easy.
“It’s a trap,” I said.
“Yes,” Adrian replied.
“I’m going.”
“No.”
I stared at him.
He closed his eyes briefly.
Then corrected himself.
“I don’t want you to go.”
“Better.”
“Still not enough?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“What do you want?”
The question stopped me.
Not what are you doing.
Not what will you do.
What do you want?
“I want Rachel out.”
“So do I.”
“I want Marco exposed.”
“Yes.”
“And I want to be the person who decides whether my voice opens Continuity.”
Adrian looked at me for several seconds.
Then slid the black token across the table.
“It’s yours.”
Mara whispered:
“Well. Therapy may yet be possible.”
I ignored her.
Adrian said:
“If our marriage ends tomorrow, Marco still doesn’t get to use you tonight.”
My throat tightened.
Before we left, Elena caught my arm.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
“What?”
“The night I kissed Adrian…”
I almost walked away.
She continued.
“He stopped me.”
I looked back.
“Not immediately.”
“No.”
She didn’t protect him.
“For one second, he didn’t.”
I swallowed.
“But after that, he said your name.”
My chest hurt.
Elena’s eyes filled.
“He said, ‘I just destroyed the only good thing I ever earned.’”
I stared at her.
Then she added:
“And someone outside the study heard him.”
May you like
Nicholas.
Which meant Marco knew exactly how badly that kiss had broken Adrian before I ever left.
