Chapter 5 - The Girl in Oregon Who Carried the Moretti Blood
They escaped through a loading tunnel while gunfire tore through the warehouse.
Adrien carried the ledger under his coat.
Marcus drove.
Clare sat beside Adrien in the back.
Nobody spoke until they were three miles away.
Then Adrien asked, "How did Elias know about Lena?"
Clare answered.
"Because someone inside our organization gave him the files."
"Victor."
"Maybe."
"Who else?"
Clare hesitated.
"Isabella."
Adrien frowned.
"My aunt?"
"She knew about Lena."
"How?"
"She was the one who arranged the adoption."
Adrien's jaw tightened.
They landed in Portland before dawn.
The city was quiet under a pale winter sky.
Lena Brooks lived in a modest yellow house outside the city.
Adrien stood across the street.
A sixteen-year-old girl walked outside carrying a backpack.
She had Matteo's eyes.
He knew immediately.
Clare stood beside him.
"That's her."
Adrien watched her laugh with an older woman.
The scene looked painfully ordinary.
For the first time in years, he wanted to protect something that had nothing to do with the Moretti empire.
He approached alone.
The woman stepped onto the porch.
"Can I help you?"
"My name is Adrien."
Her face changed slightly.
"Adrien what?"
"Moretti."
The woman went pale.
Lena looked over.
"Mom?"
The woman whispered, "Go inside."
Adrien stopped.
"I'm not here to hurt her."
The woman stared at him.
"I know."
That surprised him.
"You know who I am?"
"Matteo told me."
Adrien's heart stopped.
"Matteo is dead."
The woman shook her head.
"He was alive when he gave me his daughter."
"When?"
"Sixteen years ago."
Adrien stepped onto the porch.
"Where is he?"
The woman looked away.
"He died three days later."
Adrien closed his eyes.
Clare approached.
Lena stared at her.
"Who are you?"
Clare smiled sadly.
"Someone who knew your father."
Lena looked confused.
"My father?"
Adrien took a breath.
"Your father was my brother."
Lena stared at him.
"No."
"I know this is impossible."
"My mother says my father was Daniel Brooks."
"Daniel Brooks raised you."
Clare corrected gently.
"He wasn't your biological father."
Lena looked at the woman behind her.
Tears filled her eyes.
"Mom?"
The woman nodded.
"I'm sorry."
Lena ran.
Adrien caught her before she reached the street.
She fought him.
"Let me go!"
"I'm not going to hurt you."
"You kidnapped me?"
"No."
"Then why are you here?"
"Because somebody dangerous knows where you live."
That stopped her.
"Who?"
"Elias Vale."
The older woman's face drained of color.
"You know that name?"
Adrien looked at her.
"You do."
She whispered, "He came once."
"When?"
"Last year."
Clare stepped closer.
"What did he want?"
"Lena."
Adrien's blood went cold.
The woman handed him an envelope.
"He said he would return."
Inside was a photograph of Lena as a child.
On the back:
My granddaughter belongs to the family that made her.
Adrien folded the photograph.
"We leave now."
Lena shook her head.
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
Adrien knelt.
"I don't expect you to trust me."
"Then why should I?"
"Because I don't want anything from you."
She frowned.
"You don't?"
"No."
Clare added, "He wants you alive."
Lena looked at them.
"And what do you want?"
Clare answered softly.
"For you to have the childhood we never had."
Lena looked down.
Then she asked the question that broke Adrien's heart.
"Why didn't anybody come for me?"
Adrien had no answer.
He said the only honest thing he could.
"We didn't know."
Lena looked at him.
"I did."
Adrien frowned.
"What?"
She reached into her backpack.
She pulled out a small metal box.
"My father left this."
Adrien opened it.
Inside was a key.
A photograph.
And a note.
For my daughter. If Adrien ever finds you, give him the key. Do not trust anyone who says they can control the red network.
Adrien looked at Clare.
The note continued.
Only she can shut it down.
Clare's face went white.
"What?"
Adrien read the final line.
And if she refuses, nobody can stop what comes next.
That night, their safe house was attacked.
Elias's men came through the roof.
Marcus defended the first corridor.
Adrien moved Lena into the basement.
Clare stayed behind.
"Come with us," Adrien said.
"I can slow them."
"You're not staying."
"I know how the network thinks."
"You are not a machine."
She looked at him.
"That's exactly why I have to go."
He grabbed her wrist.
"You're not sacrificing yourself."
She whispered, "Adrien."
"No."
Her eyes filled.
"You don't understand."
"I understand enough."
The attack grew louder.
Then someone called from upstairs.
"Claire!"
She froze.
Only one person called her that.
Elias.
"Come out."
Adrien raised his weapon.
The voice continued.
"I never stopped looking for you."
Clare's face hardened.
"Elias."
"I have your family."
Adrien's grip tightened.
"He's bluffing."
A gunshot came from upstairs.
Then Marcus's voice.
"Boss!"
Adrien pushed Lena toward the exit.
Clare grabbed his arm.
"Don't."
"What?"
"Elias wanted you to hear Marcus scream."
Adrien stopped.
A moment later Marcus appeared at the basement stairs.
No blood.
No wound.
He looked furious.
"That voice wasn't on the first floor."
Adrien turned.
The house's security screen flickered.
Elias appeared.
He was older than the photograph.
Gray hair.
Scar across his cheek.
Eyes exactly like Clare's.
He smiled.
"Hello, Claire."
She stared at him.
"My father is dead."
"No."
He touched the camera.
"Thomas was your father."
Then he smiled wider.
"But I am yours."
Clare froze.
Elias continued.
"And Adrien, I'm sorry."
Adrien raised his weapon toward the monitor as if bullets could travel through glass.
"For what?"
"For the fact that your father never told you the truth."
He leaned closer to the camera.
"Claire isn't the only child he hid."
The screen went black.
Adrien turned.
"What does that mean?"
Clare looked as if the ground had disappeared beneath her.
"I don't know."
But Lena spoke from the doorway.
"I do."
Everyone turned.
She held another photograph.
"My father wasn't Matteo's only secret."
She handed it to Adrien.
The photograph showed two infants.
One girl.
One boy.
May you like
On the back:
Twins.
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