Chapter 6 - Sophia Was No Longer the Biggest Problem
I did not celebrate Sophia’s disappearance.
That surprised Hannah.
“You can hate someone and still not want them murdered,” I told her.
“Very mature.”
“Don’t sound disappointed.”
“I wanted one dramatic champagne toast.”
Instead, I sat in Maya’s office while investigators tried to determine whether Sophia had fled voluntarily.
Blood analysis returned.
Sophia’s.
Small amount.
Could be injury.
Could be staged.
Hotel cameras showed Nathan entering at 11:08 p.m.
He left at 11:41.
Sophia never appeared afterward.
Adrian believed Romano had taken her.
Marcus believed Nathan had.
I believed Sophia knew more than either man wanted investigators to learn.
At midnight, I received an email.
No sender.
Subject line:
YOU WERE RIGHT ABOUT ME.
Attached was an audio recording.
Sophia’s voice.
“Claire, if you're hearing this, Nathan found out I talked to you.”
My body went cold.
“I don't know if I'm going to get another chance.”
She sounded frightened.
Real fear.
Not tears deployed at a dinner table.
“I need you to know something.”
A breath.
“The money wasn't the worst part.”
I sat straighter.
“Nathan has been giving Romano Moretti shipping routes for two years.”
We already knew that.
Then—
“But the reason Romano wanted access wasn't cargo.”
My stomach tightened.
“They were tracking Adrian.”
I stopped breathing.
Sophia continued.
“They planned to kill him and blame federal investigators.”
I immediately called Adrian.
No answer.
I called Marcus.
He answered.
“Claire?”
“Where is Adrian?”
“Meeting.”
“With who?”
Silence.
“Marcus.”
“Shipping executives.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse District.”
My blood went cold.
“Get him out.”
“What happened?”
I forwarded the recording.
Marcus cursed.
I listened to the rest.
Sophia’s voice continued.
“Nathan told Romano Adrian would be at Dock Twenty-Eight Friday night.”
Friday.
Today.
“He thinks once Adrian is dead, Moretti businesses will fracture.”
My hands shook.
“There’s something else.”
A pause.
“Adrian thinks Thomas Lane died betraying Romano and changing his mind.”
I leaned closer.
“He didn't.”
Sophia began crying.
“He was working for Alessandro Moretti the entire time.”
What?
“My father pretended to cooperate with Romano to expose their people. Nathan found partial records and misunderstood them. I let him believe the worst because it gave me leverage.”
My stomach turned.
Sophia had known Adrian’s guilt was based on incomplete truth.
Again.
“Thomas did take the bullet for Alessandro.”
Her voice broke.
“And he did ask Adrian to protect me.”
I closed my eyes.
That did not excuse anything.
But it changed something.
Sophia continued.
“I used that promise.”
At least she admitted it.
“I knew exactly what I was doing with Claire.”
My breath stopped.
“I kept asking for things because Adrian kept giving them.”
Tears burned my eyes.
“I wanted proof I still mattered more.”
There it was.
No excuses.
No innocence.
“I told myself Claire was rich, beautiful, loved, and strong enough not to care.”
Sophia sniffed.
“But she cared.”
My throat tightened.
“I knew she cared.”
Silence.
“I’m sorry.”
The recording continued.
“Nathan has a ledger.”
A location followed.
Old cold-storage facility near the river.
“Everything is there. Payments. Romano names. Police contacts.”
Then Sophia whispered—
“If Adrian survives tonight, tell him my father’s last promise wasn't supposed to become my whole life.”
The recording ended.
I called Marcus again.
No answer.
Then Adrian.
Nothing.
I called 911.
Explaining that Chicago's most feared alleged Mafia boss might be attacked at a warehouse produced an interesting response.
I gave them the dock.
Then grabbed my coat.
Hannah blocked the door.
“No.”
“I’m not going to the dock.”
“Where?”
“The ledger.”
“No.”
“It can stop Romano.”
“Claire.”
“If they kill Adrian, the records may be the only evidence connecting it.”
Hannah stared.
“You're divorcing him.”
“I know.”
“You still love him.”
I looked away.
“That isn't relevant.”
“It's the only relevant thing.”
I left anyway.
Not alone.
Maya insisted on sending her investigator, former detective Samuel Ortiz.
We drove to the cold-storage building.
Police were already en route.
The place appeared abandoned.
Ortiz hated everything about it.
“Stay in the car.”
“For once, I agree.”
He entered.
Three minutes later, a man appeared behind the vehicle.
Dean Kovacs.
Again.
He smashed the passenger window.
I screamed.
Unlocked the driver’s door.
Ran.
Kovacs grabbed my coat.
I twisted free.
Ortiz emerged.
A struggle.
Kovacs pulled a gun.
I ducked behind a concrete barrier.
A shot.
Another.
Sirens approached.
Kovacs ran.
Ortiz was hit in the shoulder but conscious.
Police arrived.
Inside the building, they found the ledger.
And Sophia.
Bound to a chair in a refrigerated storage room.
Alive.
Barely.
Nathan was gone.
At almost the same time, Adrian’s meeting at Dock Twenty-Eight turned into an ambush.
Three Romano shooters opened fire from a neighboring warehouse.
Marcus got Adrian behind an armored vehicle.
Chicago police arrived because of my warning.
Two shooters were arrested.
One escaped.
Adrian suffered a graze along his side.
Nothing life-threatening.
I learned all of this from Maya while sitting outside Sophia’s hospital room.
Adrian arrived forty minutes later.
Blood on his shirt.
Fury in his eyes.
He saw me.
Stopped.
“What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too.”
“You went to the cold-storage facility?”
“I stayed outside.”
“Claire.”
“I called police first.”
“You could have been killed.”
“So could you.”
“That is different.”
“No.”
He stopped.
Old Adrian would have argued.
New Adrian caught himself.
“No,” he said quietly. “It isn't.”
That mattered.
Sophia survived hypothermia and a concussion.
She woke the following afternoon.
I was not in the room.
Adrian was.
For perhaps the first time since childhood, he looked at Sophia without seeing the girl he had promised to protect.
He saw an adult woman.
Someone capable of choices.
Good and bad.
“You knew Claire was unhappy.”
Sophia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“You knew Nathan used her signature.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was afraid.”
“Of Nathan?”
“At first.”
“And later?”
She cried.
“Of losing you.”
Adrian stared.
“You already lost me.”
Her eyes opened.
“Adrian—”
“No.”
His voice was calm.
“That doesn't mean I hate you.”
Sophia looked confused.
“It means the relationship we had is over.”
She began shaking.
“You promised my father.”
“Yes.”
“I have nobody.”
“You have yourself.”
The words sounded cruel.
Then he softened slightly.
“Which is what Thomas wanted for you.”
Sophia looked away.
“I loved you.”
Adrian remained silent.
“I think I always did.”
“You loved knowing I would come.”
She cried harder.
He understood because Claire had said almost the same thing.
“You wanted the option.”
Sophia covered her face.
“I’m sorry.”
“So am I.”
He stood.
“Investigators need your testimony.”
“Will you help me?”
Adrian looked at her.
“With legal counsel.”
Hope appeared.
“Thank you.”
“But I will not hide what you did.”
Her hope faded.
“And I will not ask Claire to forgive you.”
Sophia nodded slowly.
Adrian left.
He found me in the cafeteria.
I was drinking terrible coffee.
He sat across from me.
“You saved my life.”
“Technically Sophia did.”
“You sent the police.”
“She sent the warning.”
He nodded.
Then—
“I told her it's over.”
“What?”
“The relationship.”
I stared.
“You don’t need to tell me.”
“I know.”
“Then why?”
“Because three years ago I would have expected applause.”
I almost smiled.
“And now?”
“Now I understand it was something I should have done without reward.”
I looked at him.
“You really are learning.”
“Painfully.”
“Good.”
He almost laughed.
Then his face became serious.
“The divorce hearing is next Thursday.”
“I know.”
“I'll be there.”
I looked down.
“Good.”
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“I’m not going to ask you not to do it.”
My chest tightened.
“I know.”
He stood.
Then hesitated.
“Afterward…”
I looked at him.
“Could I take you to dinner?”
I stared.
“As what?”
“Two people who are no longer married.”
My heart did something inconvenient.
“Ask me after the divorce.”
Adrian nodded.
“Okay.”
For once, he accepted the answer without pushing.
Three days later, Nathan Lane was arrested trying to cross into Canada.
Victor Romano vanished.
The ledger implicated police officers, port supervisors, accountants, and executives.
The Moretti empire became the subject of multiple investigations.
May you like
And Adrian made the most dangerous decision of his life.
He decided to cooperate.
