Chapter 6 - The Second Child Was Living Inside the Moretti Family
The word stayed in the room.
Twins.
Adrien stared at the photograph until the edges blurred.
"Who is the boy?"
Lena shook her head.
"I don't know."
Clare whispered, "There was never supposed to be a boy."
Marcus looked at her.
"Why?"
"Because the records were altered."
Adrien looked at the photograph again.
Two babies.
The same hospital bracelet.
The same date.
One bracelet read L-16.
The other read M-16.
He looked at Clare.
"Matteo had twins."
She nodded slowly.
"Someone took the boy."
"Who?"
Clare touched the photograph.
"My father thought Elias took him."
Adrien looked toward the black monitor.
"And Elias claims my father hid him."
Marcus stepped forward.
"There is a simpler possibility."
Adrien looked at him.
"Someone inside the Moretti organization took him."
Silence.
The accusation landed heavily.
Marcus continued.
"If Matteo's children were valuable, someone could have hidden one inside the organization."
Adrien stared at the files.
Then he realized something.
The Moretti family had one person who had joined the organization under an unknown birth identity.
One person who had always had extraordinary clearance.
One person whose original records were missing.
Victor Hail.
Adrien's expression hardened.
"No."
Clare whispered, "Victor."
They returned to New York.
Victor was not at the tower.
He was at an abandoned Moretti residence in Staten Island.
Adrien confronted him there.
Victor stood alone in the kitchen.
No weapon.
No bodyguards.
Only a cup of coffee.
"You finally figured it out."
Adrien stopped.
"Are you Matteo's son?"
Victor smiled sadly.
"Not anymore."
Clare stepped forward.
"Who am I looking at?"
"Someone your father failed to save."
Adrien's voice was flat.
"You are the boy in the photograph."
Victor nodded.
"I was born Michael Moretti."
Adrien felt the room tilt.
"Why did you change your name?"
"Because Matteo died."
"And you?"
"Was told to disappear."
"By whom?"
Victor looked toward Clare.
"Thomas."
Clare stiffened.
"He saved me too."
Adrien clenched his jaw.
"Why work for my father?"
"Because I thought one day he'd come back."
"Who?"
"Matteo."
Adrien shook his head.
"He's dead."
Victor looked at him.
"Matteo isn't."
Adrien's blood ran cold.
"Don't play games."
"I'm not."
Victor walked to a cabinet.
He pulled out a file.
Matteo's fingerprints.
A hospital discharge form.
A photograph.
Matteo alive.
Older.
Scarred.
Living under another name.
Adrien grabbed the file.
"When?"
"Two years ago."
"Where?"
"Mexico."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because every person who knew where he was died."
Clare looked at Victor.
"How do you know he's alive now?"
Victor shook his head.
"I don't."
He looked at Adrien.
"But Elias does."
The lights flickered.
A phone rang.
Victor's face changed.
The red phone.
How could it be here?
Adrien answered.
"Elias."
The voice came through.
"Family reunions are always ugly."
Adrien tightened his grip.
"Where is my brother?"
"You still think this is about Matteo."
"What do you want?"
"I want my daughter."
Clare stepped forward.
"You had sixteen years."
"I gave you a life."
"You gave me fear."
"I gave you Thomas."
"He died protecting me from you."
Elias laughed.
"No, Claire."
His voice suddenly became cold.
"Thomas died protecting you from Adrien's father."
Adrien looked at Clare.
The voice continued.
"Ask her what happened in the basement."
Clare froze.
Adrien's expression hardened.
"What happened?"
She whispered, "I can't."
"Clare."
"I was nineteen."
"You said that."
"I saw your father shoot Elias."
Adrien stared.
"But Elias survived."
"Yes."
"And Thomas?"
"He tried to stop your father."
"And?"
Clare's voice broke.
"Your father shot him too."
Adrien closed his eyes.
The man he had worshiped had killed Thomas Bennett.
The man who raised Clare.
The man who had protected her.
The man who had erased her from Adrien's life.
He felt sick.
Elias's voice returned.
"Now you understand."
"Why tell me?"
"Because tonight the network activates for real."
Adrien looked at Victor.
"How?"
"At midnight."
Elias laughed.
"At midnight, every Moretti asset, account, safe house, and hidden agreement will be released."
Adrien's face hardened.
"You're bluffing."
"Your father's network was designed as a dead man's switch."
"Why?"
"Because he knew one day the Moretti family would become too dangerous."
Clare whispered, "The system was meant to destroy the empire."
Elias said, "Exactly."
Adrien asked, "And you can stop it?"
"No."
"Then why are you doing this?"
"Because I want Claire to choose."
"Choose what?"
"Power or family."
The line disconnected.
Victor looked at Adrien.
"At midnight."
Adrien nodded.
"We shut it down before then."
Clare shook her head.
"No."
Adrien looked at her.
"No?"
"You can't shut it down."
"Why?"
"Because the network is already awake."
She pointed toward the window.
Outside, dozens of black vehicles were surrounding the house.
Victor looked stunned.
"How did they find us?"
Clare answered.
"They didn't."
She looked at Adrien.
"They found me."
Her phone rang.
A message appeared.
MIDNIGHT. THE BRIDGE.
Underneath was an address.
Brooklyn Bridge.
Clare stared at it.
"I have to go."
Adrien stepped in front of her.
"No."
"They have Matteo."
"What?"
Elias sent another message.
A photograph.
Matteo tied to a chair.
Alive.
Bruised.
Adrien went still.
A final line appeared.
Bring Claire alone.
Or her brother dies.
Clare looked at Adrien.
"That's why."
Adrien shook his head.
"We don't bargain with kidnappers."
"You do when they have the only family you have left."
Adrien stepped closer.
"You have another family."
Clare's eyes filled with tears.
"Do I?"
"Yes."
He took her hand.
"You have me."
She stared at him.
Then she whispered the words neither of them had expected.
"I love you."
Adrien froze.
Clare pulled away.
"I am sorry."
She walked toward the door.
Adrien caught her.
"You're not going alone."
She looked at him.
"You'll die."
"Then we die together."
Victor picked up his weapon.
Marcus checked his magazine.
Lena stepped forward.
"I am coming too."
Adrien shook his head.
"No."
She looked at him.
"I've been hidden for sixteen years."
Her voice became steadier.
"I'm done hiding."
Adrien almost smiled.
"Fine."
May you like
The four of them left.
None of them knew that by midnight, one Moretti brother would return from the dead, one family secret would become public, and Clare would finally discover who had been controlling the red phone all along.
