Chapter 4 - SOFIA HAD BEEN CHOSEN BEFORE ADRIAN CHOSE HER
The recording lasted one minute and twelve seconds.
Long enough to destroy several lies.
Luca:
“Adrian’s weakness is that he thinks betrayal is personal. It isn’t. It’s structural.”
A man I did not recognize answered:
“And if Sofia refuses?”
Luca laughed.
“She won’t. She wants the life.”
Then:
“Once she’s pregnant, Bianca will do anything to protect an heir. Claire will be pushed out. Adrian will be distracted. We take the company.”
The file ended.
Adrian looked physically sick.
“Who was the other voice?”
Bianca whispered:
“Salvatore Russo.”
Sofia’s father.
Of course.
Adrian turned toward me.
“I didn’t know.”
I held up a hand.
“Do not say that like it changes what you did.”
His mouth closed.
Good.
Luca and Salvatore may have wanted Sofia near him.
Neither man had forced Adrian to sleep with her for six months.
The conspiracy explained access.
It did not erase consent.
I called Sofia.
She answered on the second ring.
“Claire?”
“Where are you?”
Silence.
“Safe.”
“That isn’t a location.”
“No.”
Fair.
“Did your father send you after Adrian?”
Sofia started crying.
Not loudly.
Tiredly.
“I knew he wanted me close to Adrian.”
“How close?”
“At first? Business close.”
“At first.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Luca told me Adrian was unhappy.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Did Adrian tell you that?”
“No.”
Good distinction.
“Did you sleep with him because your father told you?”
“No.”
Her voice strengthened.
“That part was me.”
Adrian flinched beside me.
I appreciated Sofia saying it.
No fake coercion.
No easy exit.
“I wanted him,” she continued. “I was jealous of you. I thought he would eventually leave you.”
“And the pregnancy?”
Silence.
“Was it planned?”
“Not by Adrian.”
That answer chilled me.
“By you?”
Another pause.
“I stopped taking birth control.”
Adrian stood so quickly his chair struck the wall.
“What?”
Sofia heard him.
“Adrian?”
He took my phone.
“You told me you were still on it.”
“Yes.”
His face became hard.
“You lied.”
Sofia shouted:
“And you told your wife you weren’t sleeping with me!”
Silence.
Ugly.
Accurate.
I took the phone back.
“Continue.”
Sofia cried.
“My father said a baby would make Adrian choose.”
“Choose you?”
“And give me security.”
“Did he tell you about the trust?”
“Yes.”
There it was.
“When?”
“Two months ago.”
“And you kept sleeping with Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“And stopped birth control.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked wrecked.
I felt no urge to comfort him.
Sofia’s deception mattered.
So did his.
Then she said:
“But I didn’t know Luca planned to remove Adrian.”
“What did you think would happen?”
“That the baby trust would protect me.”
“And now?”
“Now Luca wants me to sign proxies I don’t understand.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“Do not sign anything.”
Sofia heard.
“Who is that?”
“My lawyer.”
“Good.”
Then Sofia said:
“There’s something else on the drive I sent you.”
“What drive?”
“I left it with the hotel concierge under your maiden name.”
My stomach tightened.
“When?”
“An hour ago.”
“What’s on it?”
“Messages. Transfers. Recordings.”
Then her voice dropped.
“And proof Luca has been keeping files on Adrian for years.”
“What kind?”
“The kind that can send him to prison.”
Adrian looked at me.
This time, neither of us said anything.
May you like
Because the affair might cost Adrian his marriage.
But the flash drive waiting downstairs could cost him his freedom.
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