Chapter 4 - THE MAN WHO OWNED MY RESTAURANT
Adrien Moretti had been paying attention to Rosie's Kitchen long before he tasted my gnocchi.
That realization made me furious.
I called him immediately.
He answered on the second ring.
"Emma."
I froze.
"How do you know it's me?"
A pause.
"Leo saved your number after we exchanged contact information with your attorney."
I hadn't realized the information had reached him.
I took a breath.
"Why is your signature on my restaurant's property records?"
Silence.
Then Adrien said, "Because Victor Bellini tried to take it."
My stomach tightened.
"What?"
"Seven years ago, after Rosa died, Victor filed a claim against the building."
I remembered that year.
I'd been twenty.
Grieving Grandma.
Barely keeping the restaurant open.
A lawyer had contacted me about an old family debt.
Then the claim disappeared.
I'd thought it was a clerical error.
Adrien continued.
"My legal team challenged it."
I stared at the kitchen wall.
"Why?"
"Because Rosa helped me when nobody else would."
My throat tightened.
"So you've been helping me without telling me?"
"Yes."
"That's not okay."
He sounded surprised.
"Emma—"
"No. You don't get to make decisions about my business because you feel guilty about my grandmother."
A long silence followed.
Then Adrien answered quietly.
"You're right."
I blinked.
I'd expected an argument.
A lecture about money.
Maybe a reminder of his power.
Instead, he said, "I should have contacted you."
I swallowed.
"Yes."
"I was afraid you wouldn't want anything connected to my family."
I almost laughed.
"That would have been a reasonable assumption."
He exhaled.
"Also true."
For a moment, the conversation became strangely ordinary.
Then I remembered the key.
"Adrien, do you know anything about a storage locker numbered 214?"
His tone changed immediately.
"Where did you get that number?"
My stomach dropped.
"Grandma left me a key."
"Emma, don't go there alone."
I froze.
"Why?"
"Because someone has been looking for the contents of that locker."
My heart hammered.
"Who?"
Adrien hesitated.
"Victor Bellini."
I gripped the phone.
"My uncle?"
"Yes."
"And?"
A long silence followed.
Then Adrien said, "He isn't the only one."
I looked toward the kitchen doorway.
Kevin was stacking clean plates.
Maria was rolling pastry dough.
Life continued around me as though nothing had changed.
"Adrien, what is in that locker?"
"I don't know."
"Then why are you warning me?"
"Because my father spent years searching for something Rosa hid."
My blood turned cold.
"The blue ledger?"
Silence.
Then Adrien whispered, "How do you know about that?"
I looked down at Grandma's letter.
"She left me instructions."
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Adrien said something that made my knees weaken.
"Emma, the blue ledger may explain why your father disappeared."
I swallowed.
"And?"
His voice became quiet.
"It may also prove my father didn't order Daniel's death."
May you like
Then he added the final detail.
"Because the man who gave the order was Victor Bellini."
