Chapter 5 - The Woman He Should Have Chosen
Bianca entered only after Elena checked the hallway twice.
For several seconds, neither woman spoke.
Then Bianca placed a flash drive on the table.
"What's that?"
"Everything I found."
Elena didn't touch it.
"Why help me?"
Bianca laughed bitterly.
"Because I spent years thinking Adrien belonged with me."
"And now?"
"Now I realize I never understood him either."
Bianca sat down.
"My father told me to marry Adrien once."
Elena's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
"To merge the ports."
"Business."
"Exactly."
Bianca looked down at her hands.
"I thought that meant he loved me."
"And did he?"
"No."
The answer came immediately.
"I loved the idea of him. Power, certainty, protection. I thought being beside him would make me untouchable."
Elena was silent.
"But then he met you."
Bianca looked up.
"You made him laugh."
Elena almost smiled.
"He doesn't laugh much."
"He didn't before you."
Bianca pushed the flash drive forward.
"My father kept copies of the old records."
Elena finally took it.
"What does Adrien's uncle want?"
"Control."
"Of what?"
"The entire Moretti network."
"And Carlo?"
"Carlo wants out."
That surprised Elena.
"Out?"
Bianca nodded.
"My father never wanted a war with Adrien. Vittorio did."
Elena plugged in the drive.
Documents filled the screen.
Payments.
Shell companies.
False reports.
Bribes.
A trail leading through multiple cities.
And one familiar name.
Luca Ferraro.
Elena looked at Bianca.
"He's working for Vittorio."
"Yes."
"Adrien doesn't know?"
"Not yet."
"Why are you telling me?"
"Because last night I watched Adrien stare at your empty chair as if the entire room had disappeared."
Bianca's voice shook.
"I finally understood that I had been standing in the wrong place for years."
Elena looked at the screen again.
"He still hurt me."
"I know."
"He chose you."
"I know."
Bianca rose.
"You don't owe him forgiveness."
Elena looked at her.
"Then why are you here?"
"Because he deserves the truth too."
When Adrien arrived in Philadelphia, Elena refused to meet him at the hotel.
Instead she sent him an address.
An old public library.
He entered alone.
Elena was standing between shelves filled with old books.
She looked beautiful.
And distant.
Adrien stopped several feet away.
"You look tired."
"So do you."
He almost smiled.
Then he saw her bare hand.
His expression changed.
"I'm sorry."
Elena said nothing.
"I should have stopped Bianca."
"Yes."
"I should have told her to leave."
"Yes."
"I should never have asked you to sit at that table."
"Yes."
His eyes lowered.
"I don't have an excuse."
"No."
Adrien looked at her.
"I don't want one."
Silence stretched between them.
"I thought I was protecting a business deal," he continued. "I was protecting my pride."
Elena's expression softened slightly.
"And you humiliated the woman who loved you because you were afraid of looking weak."
"Yes."
"That's not protection."
"I know."
She looked away.
"Why did you come?"
"Because you're the only person I trust with the part of me that isn't ruthless."
Elena swallowed.
"That's a dangerous thing to say."
"I know."
He stepped closer.
"But I mean it."
She turned toward him.
"Bianca came to see me."
Adrien stiffened.
"She told me about Vittorio."
"I know."
"She gave me evidence."
"So did Samuel Ortiz."
Elena's eyes widened.
"He's alive?"
"Yes."
"What did he say?"
Adrien explained everything.
When he finished, Elena showed him the note from his father.
Adrien read it.
His hands shook.
"He knew."
"Yes."
"He left this for me."
"Or for whoever he believed would stand beside you."
Adrien looked at her.
"That's why you're involved."
"I think so."
"And because you found the ledger, Vittorio sees you as a threat."
Elena nodded.
Adrien closed his eyes.
Then he said something she had never expected.
"I don't want you to marry me."
Elena stared at him.
"What?"
"Not like this."
Her heart tightened.
"I thought you wanted—"
"I want you."
He opened his eyes.
"But I don't want you to feel trapped by my world."
Elena stared at him.
"So what are you saying?"
"I am saying that the engagement is over until you decide otherwise."
She looked stunned.
"Why?"
"Because I finally understand that loving someone isn't enough if you keep making them prove they can survive you."
Tears burned in her eyes.
Adrien didn't move toward her.
He let her choose the distance.
Elena whispered, "I wanted you to fight for me."
"I will."
"Not by controlling me."
"No."
"Not by sending guards."
"No."
"Then how?"
Adrien looked directly at her.
"By changing what I can change."
That night, Adrien and Elena began working together.
They gave copies of the evidence to federal attorneys through an anonymous intermediary.
They contacted Carlo.
They brought Bianca into the meeting.
And for the first time, the Moretti, Russo, and Vale stories were no longer separate.
They were connected.
But Vittorio had one last card.
At midnight, Elena's phone rang.
A photograph appeared.
Mara, Elena's sister, leaving work.
The message beneath it was simple.
Come home.
Or your sister won't.
Elena's blood ran cold.
Adrien saw her face.
"What happened?"
She handed him the phone.
His expression turned to ice.
"Mara is being watched."
"Yes."
Adrien stood.
"We go back to New York."
Elena grabbed his arm.
"Together."
He nodded.
And for the first time since the engagement dinner, they walked side by side.
Not as fiancée and fiancé.
May you like
Not yet.
As partners.
