Chapter 5 - MY BROTHER'S LAST WARNING
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I didn't sleep.
By dawn, I had emptied half the security division into the city.
Every warehouse was searched.
Every shipping lane monitored.
Every private airstrip locked down.
Nothing.
No Adrian.
No father.
No Bellinis.
Then Chloe disappeared.
For eleven seconds.
That was all.
Eleven seconds when a security camera glitched.
When it came back, Elena was screaming.
I found them in the east garden.
Chloe was hiding beneath a bench.
Elena was kneeling in the snow.
There was a small envelope beside them.
My name was written on it.
I opened it.
A single sentence.
You are not the man your father thinks you are.
No signature.
No threat.
Just those words.
Elena looked at me.
“Adrian wrote that.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he told me something before he disappeared.”
“What?”
“He said if you ever learned the truth, you'd choose Chloe.”
I stared at the envelope.
“Why?”
“Because you're not your father.”
That sentence stayed with me as I drove to the warehouse district.
Samuel sat beside me.
Marcus followed in another SUV.
We reached the abandoned building shortly after midnight.
The place looked empty.
Then a light switched on upstairs.
I entered alone.
Against every rule I'd ever created.
Inside, I found Adrian.
He was chained to a steel chair.
Blood covered one side of his face.
But he smiled.
“Hey, Vincent.”
My throat closed.
I cut the restraints.
He nearly collapsed.
I caught him.
For a moment, we were children again.
Then he whispered:
“Take Chloe and run.”
“What?”
“Dad isn't after the money.”
“I know.”
“No.”
He gripped my jacket.
“You don't understand.”
“Then explain.”
“He wants the family.”
“He already has the family.”
Adrian shook his head.
“He wants you.”
I stared at him.
“What does that mean?”
“He never wanted me to inherit.”
“What?”
“He wanted you to become the king.”
“Why?”
“So when the truth came out, everyone would blame you.”
I felt a chill.
“For what?”
Adrian's eyes filled with tears.
“For killing him.”
Silence.
Then the lights went out.
Gunfire erupted.
We dropped behind a concrete pillar.
Adrian grabbed my wrist.
“There's a second exit.”
We ran.
Outside, Elena stood beside the SUV with Chloe.
Then she screamed.
“Vincent!”
A black sedan was accelerating toward us.
I shoved Chloe behind me.
The vehicle stopped inches away.
The back door opened.
A woman stepped out.
I recognized her immediately.
Dominic Bellini's widow.
Maria.
She held no weapon.
Only a photograph.
“Your father wants to see you.”
I aimed my pistol.
“He can come to me.”
Maria smiled.
“He can't.”
“Why?”
“Because he's been dead for fourteen years.”
Adrian stared at her.
Maria turned the photograph around.
It showed a man lying in a hospital bed.
May you like
The face was my father's.
But the date on the image was tomorrow.
