Chapter 6 - THE DEAD BROTHER
Roman did not believe Ethan.
Not at first.
“Adrian drowned.”
“No body,” Ethan said.
“Boat recovered.”
“Yes.”
“Blood onboard.”
“His.”
Roman’s eyes hardened.
“Then?”
“He staged it.”
“Why?”
“To disappear before your father discovered the theft.”
Roman laughed without humor.
“My father ran background checks on people who delivered his groceries.”
“He loved Adrian.”
Roman went silent.
That landed.
Ethan continued.
“Adrian knew Vittorio would hide evidence before admitting his favorite son was stealing.”
Roman’s face changed.
I understood.
Adrian was the golden child.
Roman was the heir.
Different roles.
Different rules.
“Proof,” Roman said.
Ethan pulled a drive from his pocket.
“Seven years of transfers.”
Marco took it.
Roman did not.
“Why trust you?”
“You shouldn’t.”
Again, honesty.
Ethan looked at me.
“Megan shouldn’t either.”
“Good,” I said.
His face fell.
“Fair.”
We returned to Roman’s residence.
Ethan was searched.
Disarmed.
Guarded.
Leo remained upstairs asleep.
I refused to let Ethan see him.
Not yet.
“You don’t get to appear like a ghost and walk into his bedroom.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
His face crumpled.
“Yes.”
The drive proved something.
Adrian had controlled shell companies tied to the missing money.
But after his “death,” transactions continued.
He had used David’s restaurant operation.
Warehouses.
Construction accounts.
And dozens of properties technically owned by Roman’s organization.
“What was the goal?” I asked.
Roman answered.
“Build enough independent money to take control.”
“From you?”
“Yes.”
“Why wait seven years?”
Ethan looked toward Leo’s account file.
“He needed the original twenty-three million returned.”
“Why?”
“Because it contained something.”
I stared.
“Money contains something?”
“The first transfer carried a digital signature.”
Marco understood.
“Vittorio’s master access key.”
Roman’s face changed.
His father had apparently embedded authorization codes into major accounts.
With the key, Adrian could unlock old offshore holdings.
“How much?” I asked.
Roman was quiet.
Ethan answered.
“Maybe half a billion.”
I laughed.
Not because it was funny.
Because my son had become a key to five hundred million dollars.
Again.
I was beginning to hate rich men.
“Why Leo?”
Ethan looked ashamed.
“I created the trust because I needed an account no Duca would inspect.”
“You used our unborn child because he was invisible to them.”
“Yes.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Yes.”
“Then disappeared.”
“Yes.”
I stared.
“You protected us badly.”
“I know.”
That answer disarmed some of my anger.
Not all.
Never all.
Then Roman’s security alarm sounded.
Marco entered.
“Someone breached the outer gate.”
Roman stood.
“Who?”
Camera feed appeared.
A black car.
One man stepped out.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Gray eyes similar to Roman’s.
Roman stopped breathing.
“Adrian.”
Alive.
He walked toward the gate carrying no weapon.
Only a white envelope.
Then looked directly into the camera.
“Brother.”
Roman’s jaw tightened.
Adrian held up the envelope.
“Give me Ethan and the boy.”
My entire body went cold.
Roman stepped toward the screen.
“No.”
Adrian smiled.
“Then ask Megan why Ethan really disappeared.”
I turned.
Ethan’s face had gone white.
Adrian continued through the intercom.
“He didn’t leave because of me.”
Silence.
“He left because Megan’s husband hired him.”
I froze.
“My what?”
Adrian laughed.
“You never told her?”
Ethan closed his eyes.
I stared.
“I was never married.”
Ethan whispered:
“No.”
Then looked at me.
May you like
“But your son’s biological father was.”
And suddenly the ground disappeared beneath me.
