Chapter 3 - ROOM 417
The hotel key led Adrian to a room that had been cleaned too carefully.
He went without Marco.
That decision did not go unnoticed.
Daniel Cruz, one of the few security men Adrian still trusted independently, drove.
At the hotel, room 417 smelled faintly of bleach.
Bed made.
Trash empty.
No luggage.
Adrian stood in the center.
“Somebody got here first.”
Cruz checked the bathroom.
“Maybe housekeeping.”
“At five in the afternoon?”
Cruz said nothing.
Adrian inspected the room himself.
Matteo had taught him something when they were boys.
People hide valuable things where they believe nobody will touch.
Adrian opened the toilet tank.
Nothing.
Removed the vent cover.
Nothing.
Checked behind the curtains.
Then he noticed the alarm clock.
It was unplugged.
He lifted it.
A flash drive had been taped underneath.
Cruz whistled.
“Your brother?”
“Maybe.”
Back at the estate, Adrian used a laptop disconnected from every network.
Lily sat upstairs with Teresa.
Marco had been told Adrian was handling “family paperwork.”
He did not like being excluded.
Adrian could tell.
The flash drive contained folders.
BANK RECORDS.
FIRE.
DELUCA HOLDINGS.
MARCO.
Adrian stared at the last folder.
Then opened FIRE first.
The official report had always said the Yonkers warehouse fire began after an electrical failure ignited stored chemicals.
Inside the flash drive was surveillance footage from the night of the fire.
The timestamp began at 11:16 P.M.
Matteo entered.
Sofia arrived ten minutes later.
Then a third man.
Adrian leaned toward the screen.
Marco.
His Marco.
Twenty-one years beside him.
The security chief entered the building carrying a black duffel bag.
Adrian's hands went cold.
At 11:42, Marco left.
Alone.
Four minutes later, flames appeared through the east windows.
Cruz whispered, “Boss.”
Adrian kept watching.
At 11:51, a service door opened.
Matteo stumbled outside.
Sofia followed.
Alive.
A dark SUV drove into the camera frame.
Two unidentified men pushed Matteo and Sofia inside.
Then the footage ended.
Adrian opened the folder labeled MARCO.
Bank transfers.
Six years of payments from shell companies.
Names Adrian recognized.
Some were dead.
Some still worked for him.
One account sent Marco $250,000 three days after the fire.
“Who owns the shell company?” Cruz asked.
Adrian opened the registration.
He stopped.
The owner was listed through several layers.
Eventually, one name appeared.
Victor DeLuca.
Adrian's uncle.
His father's younger brother.
Victor had supposedly retired to Florida eight years ago.
He still called Adrian every Sunday.
Asked about business.
Sent Christmas wine.
Attended Matteo's funeral and stood beside Adrian at the grave.
Cruz looked sick.
Then Adrian found an audio file.
Sofia's voice.
“If you're hearing this, Adrian, I don't know whether I'm alive.”
A pause.
“Matteo survived the fire. So did I.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“We were taken before we could reach you. Matteo was injured. They kept us separated for three days.”
The recording crackled.
“Your uncle Victor ordered it.”
Adrian's jaw tightened.
“Marco helped him.”
Then Sofia said something that made Adrian sit perfectly still.
“But Marco isn't the reason I sent Lily to you.”
Adrian opened his eyes.
“If Lily reached your house, Marco may already be trying to protect her.”
Cruz frowned.
“What?”
Sofia continued.
“I told Lily not to leave with him because I couldn't know which Marco she would meet.”
Adrian stared.
“What does that mean?”
The answer came seconds later.
“Marco has been working for Victor for six years.”
A breath.
“And for Matteo for the last eighteen months.”
Adrian slowly leaned back.
Marco was either a traitor twice over—
or a man trapped between two sides.
Then Sofia's final sentence played.
“The person you absolutely cannot trust is the one who convinced you Matteo's dental records matched the body.”
Adrian went cold.
The dental identification had not come from Marco.
It had come from the DeLuca family's longtime physician.
Dr. Elias Romano.
May you like
A man Adrian had known since childhood.
And Elias Romano was inside the estate at that very moment, examining Lily upstairs.
