Chapter 8 - The Betrayal No One Saw Coming
Rachel Mercer was furious.
“How did Vittorio get Adrian out of protective custody?”
No one answered.
Because the answer was worse than incompetence.
Someone inside the federal protection detail had helped.
The old network had not disappeared.
It had merely changed uniforms.
Lucien stood over a map.
“Location?”
“Nico is working on it.”
Evelyn stared at the frozen image of Megan and Adrian.
“How many times can one assistant be kidnapped before she quits?”
Lucien looked at her.
“That is your concern?”
“It’s one of them.”
Humor was easier than panic.
Barely.
Megan had returned to work because she refused to “let rich psychopaths ruin her health insurance.”
Now she had been taken again.
Evelyn would never forgive herself if—
No.
She stopped.
That was another form of arrogance.
Vittorio made choices.
Warren made choices.
Their crimes did not become Evelyn’s because she existed near the victims.
Her father had understood that too late.
Maybe they all had.
Nico found the location through background noise in the video.
A ferry horn.
Industrial ventilation.
A rail crossing.
Queens waterfront.
Three possible warehouses.
Lucien prepared to leave.
Mercer stopped him.
“You are not conducting a private rescue.”
“My people were taken.”
“So were federal witnesses.”
“Then move faster.”
“You are under investigation.”
“And still somehow more competent.”
“Lucien.”
Evelyn stepped between them.
“Arguing wastes time.”
Mercer looked at her.
“What do you suggest?”
“A controlled rescue.”
Lucien opened his mouth.
Evelyn held up one finger.
“Do not say no before I finish.”
His mouth closed.
Mercer almost smiled.
Evelyn continued.
“Vittorio expects Lucien to come with Moretti men.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t.”
Lucien frowned.
“He expects violence,” Evelyn said. “Give him government.”
Mercer shook her head.
“He’ll kill the hostages if he sees agents.”
“Then he doesn’t see them.”
Nico identified the warehouse forty minutes later.
It belonged to a defunct event rental company.
Evelyn stared at the name.
“Wait.”
She searched her old contracts.
She had rented staging equipment from them four years earlier.
She knew the building.
Again.
Her world of flowers, loading docks, caterers and event spaces kept intersecting with theirs.
People underestimated ordinary knowledge.
That made it powerful.
“There’s a roof hatch above the main storage bay,” she said.
Nico looked skeptical.
“How do you know?”
“We hung a chandelier through it.”
Lucien rubbed his temple.
“I will never mock event planners.”
“You never did.”
“I was considering it.”
At eleven forty-three, Lucien entered the warehouse alone.
Vittorio waited.
Warren stood beside him.
Evelyn watched from an adjacent service office with Mercer.
Federal tactical officers waited outside the building.
Megan and Adrian remained tied to chairs.
Lucien stopped.
“You wanted me.”
Vittorio smiled.
“I wanted my nephew.”
“You never treated me like family.”
“No. Your father made that impossible.”
Lucien’s eyes hardened.
“My father wanted you out of the criminal operations.”
“He wanted to become respectable.”
“He wanted his children alive.”
Vittorio’s smile vanished.
“Same thing to cowards.”
Warren stepped forward.
“Enough family therapy.”
Lucien looked at him.
“You still think you control him.”
Vittorio turned sharply.
Warren’s jaw tightened.
There.
A crack.
Lucien saw it.
So did Evelyn.
“Tell him,” Lucien said.
Warren laughed.
“Tell me what?”
Lucien continued.
“Tell Vittorio where the offshore accounts are.”
Silence.
Vittorio looked at Warren.
“What accounts?”
Warren’s face changed.
Lucien almost smiled.
“Daniel Vale found them.”
“Found what?”
“Your money.”
Vittorio’s attention shifted fully to Warren.
“My money?”
Lucien spoke softly.
“For fifteen years Warren diverted a percentage of every operation you ran.”
Warren snapped, “He’s lying.”
Lucien removed a folded document from his jacket.
Bank transfers.
Copies.
Vittorio took them.
His face changed.
The alliance cracked.
“You stole from me?”
Warren backed away.
“We built that together.”
“You stole from me.”
“And you would be dead without me.”
Vittorio pulled a gun.
Warren pulled one too.
Mercer whispered, “Now.”
Agents entered from three sides.
Chaos exploded.
Vittorio grabbed Adrian.
Warren grabbed Megan.
Lucien moved toward Megan.
Warren aimed at him.
“Stop!”
Everyone froze.
Warren pressed the gun to Megan’s head.
“Back.”
Lucien stopped.
Vittorio dragged Adrian toward the rear exit.
Then Adrian did something no one expected.
He twisted violently, took the gun barrel away from his head and drove his shoulder into Vittorio.
A shot fired.
Adrian fell.
Evelyn screamed.
Lucien lunged.
Agents moved.
Warren turned toward the sound.
Megan bit his hand.
He shouted.
Lucien hit him.
The gun slid across the floor.
Vittorio ran.
Evelyn did not think.
She left the service room.
Mercer shouted after her.
Adrian lay on the floor.
Blood spread across his shirt.
“Adrian.”
His eyes opened.
“Not as bad as it looks.”
“It looks terrible.”
“Then maybe it’s bad.”
She pressed both hands against the wound.
He gasped.
“Sorry.”
“You always did apologize at weird times.”
Tears blurred her vision.
“Don’t you dare die.”
“Bossy.”
“Adrian.”
His face softened.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“For leaving you.”
“Not now.”
“For making decisions for you.”
“Adrian.”
“I did love you.”
She looked at him.
For the first time, those words did not demand anything.
They were simply true.
“I know.”
“And him?”
His eyes moved toward Lucien.
Evelyn followed his gaze.
Lucien was helping Megan.
Warren was in custody.
Agents chased Vittorio.
Evelyn looked back at Adrian.
“Yes.”
A weak smile.
“Good.”
“Don’t be dramatic. You’re not dying.”
“Ruining the moment.”
Paramedics reached them.
Adrian survived.
The bullet missed his heart.
Warren Cross was arrested.
Charges included conspiracy, financial crimes, kidnapping and obstruction.
Additional charges remained likely pending the investigation into Daniel Vale’s death.
Vittorio escaped.
Again.
But his empire was gone.
His allies abandoned him when Warren’s accounts became public.
Money did what morality had failed to do.
It convinced criminals to cooperate.
Three days later, Lucien received notice.
A federal grand jury was reviewing evidence involving his own conduct.
Evelyn found him alone in his office.
“You knew this was coming.”
“Yes.”
“You still look like someone died.”
“My employees didn’t choose my past.”
“Your companies still operate.”
“For now.”
“You think they’ll remove you.”
“They should.”
Evelyn frowned.
“Do you believe that?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because accountability cannot be something I demand only from Warren and Vittorio.”
She sat across from him.
“What will you do if they indict you?”
“Fight charges that are wrong. Admit what is true.”
“Prison?”
“If necessary.”
Her chest tightened.
Lucien reached across the desk.
“Evelyn.”
“No.”
“What?”
“I know that voice.”
“What voice?”
“The one where you decide I need an honorable escape.”
A faint smile.
“You learn quickly.”
“You told me not to stay because I owed you.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not.”
He looked at her.
“I’m staying because I love you.”
The words surprised both of them.
Evelyn froze.
Lucien’s expression changed.
She could have laughed.
Instead tears filled her eyes.
“Well.”
He stood.
“Evelyn.”
“I had a better version in my head.”
“Say it again.”
“No.”
“Evelyn.”
She laughed through tears.
“You heard me.”
“I want to be certain.”
“I love you.”
Lucien walked around the desk.
He stopped before touching her.
“May I?”
She nodded.
He kissed her.
Slowly.
Then rested his forehead against hers.
“I love you too.”
She smiled.
“You sound annoyed.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
“Terrible timing.”
She laughed.
He did too.
Then the office window shattered.
Lucien pulled her down.
A bullet struck the wall.
Nico burst through the door.
“Roof across the street!”
Lucien covered Evelyn with his body.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Nico’s team moved.
Minutes later they found the sniper position empty.
One thing had been left behind.
A photograph of Lorenzo Moretti.
Lucien’s father.
Written across it:
May you like
ONE MORE FUNERAL.
Vittorio.
