Chapter 5 - What Our Parents Hid
My mother had been dead for eleven years.
Or so I thought I knew.
The letter from her lawyer said something else.
She had left instructions.
If Victor Hale ever returned, the truth had to be given to me.
The lawyer's office was on the Upper West Side.
Adrian insisted on coming.
I didn't argue.
We met a seventy-year-old attorney named Robert Hayes.
He looked at Adrian and immediately stood.
“Dante's son.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“You knew my father.”
“Yes.”
“And Emily's mother?”
“Yes.”
Robert sighed.
“Then it's time.”
He opened a safe.
Inside was a small metal box.
My name was written on it.
Emily.
My hands shook.
I opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
My mother.
My father.
A younger Victor.
And Adrian's mother.
All together.
There was also a letter.
My daughter,
If you are reading this, then the life I built to protect you has failed.
I need you to know one thing.
I never abandoned you.
I hid you.
Because your father discovered what Victor Hale had done.
Victor had been stealing from both families.
But he had done more than steal.
He had created a private network that answered to no one.
Your father found the records.
Adrian's father tried to stop him.
Then everything broke.
I looked at Adrian.
He was reading over my shoulder.
“My mother knew yours.”
“Yes.”
“She helped hide you.”
I nodded.
“Why?”
Robert answered.
“Because your father trusted Dante Moretti.”
Adrian's eyes darkened.
“My father was involved?”
“Not willingly.”
Robert continued.
“Dante discovered Victor had ordered the murder of several people inside his organization.”
“Why didn't he go to the police?”
“Because half the men around him were compromised.”
I closed my eyes.
My mother's letter continued.
Your father hid the evidence.
Victor came for him.
He died before he could expose everything.
Dante tried to recover the evidence.
Victor had him killed too.
I realized I was crying.
Adrian touched my shoulder.
The letter ended with one sentence.
The proof is in the place where your father taught you to look for the stars.
I remembered.
A house in Connecticut.
My father had taken me there when I was eight.
There was a telescope in the attic.
We drove there that afternoon.
The house was empty.
Dust covered everything.
The telescope was still there.
Under the wooden floor beneath it was a locked compartment.
Inside was a drive.
Adrian held it.
“We should leave.”
“Why?”
“Because this is what Victor wanted.”
I stared.
“We have the evidence.”
“Exactly.”
We took it to a federal investigator through one of Adrian's contacts.
The files contained names.
Accounts.
Recordings.
Photographs.
Enough to destroy Victor.
But one file was encrypted.
Marked A.M.
Adrian.
I looked at him.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You think your father left it?”
“Yes.”
He opened it.
A recording appeared.
Dante Moretti sat at a desk.
He looked exhausted.
His voice shook.
“If you're watching this, Adrian, I failed you.”
Adrian froze.
“I wanted you away from this life.”
The recording continued.
“Victor has a weakness. He believes everyone has a price. He believes fear is the strongest weapon.”
Dante looked directly into the camera.
“He is wrong.”
The recording ended.
Adrian stared at the screen.
I touched his hand.
“He loved you.”
Adrian shook his head.
“My father wasn't good.”
“Maybe not.”
I squeezed his hand.
“But he wanted you to be better.”
He looked at me.
“You're always trying to find something good in people.”
“Not always.”
His expression softened.
“Only in me?”
I smiled.
“Mostly.”
For a moment, neither of us moved.
Then he kissed me.
Not as part of the arrangement.
Not for his mother.
Not because someone was watching.
Just once.
Softly.
He pulled away almost immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“That wasn't part of the deal.”
I looked at him.
“Maybe the deal needs changing.”
He stared.
My heart was racing.
Then his phone rang.
The moment shattered.
Victor had sent another message.
Seven days ends tomorrow.
Bring Emily.
Or Elena dies.
Adrian's face became unreadable.
I looked at him.
“No.”
He looked at me.
“We're not trading anyone.”
“Then what do we do?”
He took my hand.
“We end this.”
By Friday morning, the Moretti family was gathered at Elena's house.
Everyone was there.
Sofia.
Luca.
Adrian's uncles.
Friends.
Security.
The room felt like a battlefield.
Luca stepped toward me.
“I owe you an apology.”
I frowned.
“For what?”
“For doubting you.”
“You thought I was after Adrian's money.”
“Yes.”
“I understand.”
He smiled.
“You should know something.”
“What?”
“Victor isn't just after the money.”
“What, then?”
Luca looked toward Adrian.
“Control.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
That night, we discovered Elena had left a hidden message.
She had not been kidnapped.
She had gone willingly.
Because she believed Victor would never stop coming after Adrian.
She was trying to lure him into the open.
Adrian looked furious.
“She should have told me.”
I smiled sadly.
“She is your mother.”
“She thinks sacrifice solves everything.”
“Maybe she learned it from you.”
He went silent.
Then he laughed softly.
“That's unfair.”
“Accurate, though.”
He took my hand.
“Emily.”
“Yes?”
“If tomorrow goes wrong—”
“No.”
“I need you to hear me.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“I love you.”
The world stopped.
Three words.
No contract.
No money.
No audience.
Just truth.
I swallowed.
“I love you too.”
He closed his eyes.
Then pulled me into his arms.
May you like
The fake relationship had ended before the birthday party had even begun.
But neither of us knew that Saturday night would force us to prove it.
