Chapter 5 - The Man Who Wanted a Five-Year-Old Child
Elena stopped breathing.
“No.”
Dante took the photograph.
Adrian read the message once.
Then again.
“Why Sophia?”
Nobody knew.
That made it worse.
Elena pulled her daughter against her.
Sophia looked confused.
“Is that my daddy?”
Every adult froze.
Elena had shown Sophia photographs before.
Very few.
She had always told her:
“Your father went away.”
Not dead.
Not bad.
Away.
“Yes,” Elena whispered.
Sophia studied the picture.
“He looks sad.”
Elena nearly broke.
Adrian crouched.
“Sophia, listen to me.”
The girl looked at him.
“Nobody is taking you anywhere.”
“Okay.”
She trusted him instantly.
Adrian looked at Elena.
“So do you.”
That was not a request.
For the first time, Elena didn't resent orders from a Moretti.
Dr. Reynolds was summoned under false pretenses.
He arrived believing Adrian had developed chest pain.
Security met him before he entered.
Dante took his phone.
Reynolds protested.
Then Adrian stepped from the study.
“You look surprisingly healthy.”
“You look surprisingly guilty.”
Reynolds tried to leave.
Titan blocked the door.
That ended the attempt.
Inside the library, Adrian placed Isabella’s video on the table.
Reynolds lost color.
“You knew she suspected you.”
He said nothing.
“You treated her before she died.”
Silence.
“What did you give her?”
“Nothing.”
Titan growled from the corner.
Adrian smiled faintly.
“He doesn't believe you.”
Reynolds finally cracked.
He had altered medical records.
But he denied killing Isabella.
“Vincent forced me.”
“Why?”
“He had evidence against my son.”
Reynolds’ son had been arrested for trafficking prescription medication.
Vincent buried the charges.
Then owned Reynolds.
“What about my poisoning?”
Reynolds looked terrified.
“That wasn't me.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You expect me to believe somebody copied your methods?”
“It wasn't my method.”
Reynolds looked at Elena.
“The toxin used on you came from a plant-derived cardiac compound.”
“So?”
“The same compound killed Isabella.”
Adrian’s face emptied.
Isabella had officially died in a car explosion.
Now Reynolds admitted she had been poisoned before the crash.
“She was already dying when the car exploded.”
Adrian sat slowly.
“Why explode the car?”
“To hide the toxicology.”
“And the body?”
Reynolds looked away.
“What?”
“The body wasn't hers.”
The room froze.
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“What did you say?”
“The dental records were switched.”
Elena covered her mouth.
“Isabella might be alive?”
“No.”
Reynolds shook his head quickly.
“I saw her die.”
“Where?”
“At a private clinic outside Boston.”
Adrian looked like someone had struck him.
“You watched my wife die.”
“I tried to save her.”
“Who poisoned her?”
Reynolds swallowed.
“Vincent brought her in.”
That confirmed part of the theory.
But not the mastermind.
“Why was another body placed in the car?”
“To make Adrian stop looking.”
Dante asked:
“Whose body?”
Reynolds whispered:
“A woman nobody would search for.”
Elena felt sick.
Then Reynolds said:
“Isabella asked me to do one thing before she died.”
Adrian’s fists tightened.
“What?”
“She made me take blood samples.”
“Why?”
“I didn't know.”
“Where are they?”
“Hidden.”
He looked at Sophia.
Then he added:
“She said one day a little girl might need them.”
Elena stared.
Sophia again.
“Why?”
May you like
Reynolds finally said the thing he had protected for six years.
“Because Isabella Moretti and Elena Castillo were sisters.”
