Chapter 6 - THE CREST THAT DIDN’T BELONG TO ADRIEN
The Viscari crest had been copied.
That was Adrien’s conclusion after examining the note.
“Who can make it?”
“Anyone with a photograph.”
“That’s comforting.”
“It means someone wants us blaming my family.”
“Who benefits?”
Matteo answered.
“Reddick.”
Adrien looked at him.
“Too obvious.”
I crossed my arms.
“Maybe obvious works because men like you prefer complicated conspiracies.”
Both mafia bosses looked at me.
I shrugged.
“Sorry. Continue.”
Nora almost smiled.
The next break came from Henry Blake’s office.
Investigators working quietly for Adrien found a hidden safe.
Inside were seven years of surveillance photographs.
Me leaving college.
Me entering my first apartment.
Me buying coffee.
Me at my mother’s grave.
Me meeting Marcus for the first time.
That photograph destroyed something inside me.
Marcus stood outside a restaurant.
Smiling.
But Henry Blake had written on the back:
CONTACT SUCCESSFUL.
My relationship had been an assignment.
There were also recordings.
Marcus reporting details.
“She still wears the locket.”
“She remembers almost nothing before Evelyn died.”
“She has no contact with Moretti.”
“She trusts me.”
That last sentence hurt worst.
I left the room.
Adrien found me on the roof.
Rain had stopped.
New York glittered beneath us like a city pretending not to be cruel.
“You don’t have to stay near me.”
“I know.”
“Then why are you?”
He stood several feet away.
“Because you shouldn’t be alone after hearing that.”
I laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps telling me what I shouldn’t be.”
He absorbed it.
Then stepped back.
“You’re right.”
Silence.
I looked at him.
“Why do you care?”
His eyes met mine.
“About you?”
“Yes.”
“You ran into my club bleeding.”
“That’s pity.”
“No.”
“You knew my mother.”
“I knew her name.”
“Then why?”
Adrien looked toward the skyline.
“When I was sixteen, I saw a woman stand in front of my father and refuse him.”
My heart slowed.
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“That power without restraint turns men into cowards.”
I almost smiled.
“Sounds like her.”
“I never forgot it.”
He looked at me.
“And when Marcus followed you into my club and called you his, I remembered her.”
For the first time, his protection felt less like possession.
Then his phone rang.
Marco.
Adrien answered.
“What?”
Silence.
His face changed.
“We’re coming.”
“What happened?”
He looked at me.
“Marcus surfaced.”
My stomach twisted.
“Where?”
“St. Catherine’s Hospital.”
“Why?”
“He checked himself in.”
“For what?”
“Gunshot wound.”
We arrived under heavy security.
Marcus lay handcuffed to the hospital bed.
Pale.
Sweating.
He looked at me and started crying.
“Lena.”
I stopped six feet away.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t know.”
“What?”
“What they were going to do.”
“You watched me for years.”
“Yes.”
“You hurt me.”
His face collapsed.
“I know.”
“You threatened to kill me.”
“I was scared.”
That almost made me laugh.
Men always renamed cruelty after fear.
Adrien stood behind me.
Silent.
Marcus looked at him.
“Reddick is cleaning everyone up.”
“Where is he?” Adrien asked.
“I don’t know.”
“What do you know?”
Marcus swallowed.
“My father told me Lena was the key to an account system.”
“The ledger?”
“No.”
My pulse changed.
“What system?”
“Something Evelyn built.”
“What?”
Marcus looked at me.
“A dead man’s switch.”
Nora had mentioned a contingency.
Marcus continued.
“If Lena enters the wrong identity into the microfilm access, everything publishes.”
Adrien’s eyes sharpened.
“And the right identity?”
Marcus swallowed.
“Unlocks the hidden archive.”
“Which identity?”
He looked directly at me.
“Lena’s father’s name.”
My mouth went dry.
“Who is he?”
Marcus started to answer.
A monitor suddenly screamed.
His body jerked.
Dr. Bell shouted.
Nurses rushed in.
Someone had tampered with Marcus’s IV.
Adrien dragged me out.
Marcus died forty-three seconds later.
But before his heart stopped, he whispered one name.
“Reddick.”
Then another.
“Your father.”
Adrien froze.
May you like
Because Marcus was not looking at me.
He was looking at Adrien.
