Chapter 6 - The Man Behind the Family
Adrian moved in front of me.
Carlo laughed.
“Still playing husband?”
The gun remained pointed toward us.
My father’s face was swollen.
One eye nearly closed.
But when he saw me, anger replaced pain.
“Elena, run.”
Carlo struck him across the back of the head.
“Dad!”
Salvatore dropped to one knee.
Adrian’s voice became almost gentle.
“Carlo.”
I knew that tone.
The colder Adrian became, the more dangerous he was.
His uncle smiled.
“I taught you that voice.”
“You taught me many things.”
“Clearly not gratitude.”
Michael shifted slightly toward the window.
Carlo noticed.
“Don’t.”
A second man appeared behind him.
Then a third.
Armed.
We were trapped.
Carlo extended his hand.
“The ledger.”
I held it against my chest.
“What happens after I give it to you?”
“You leave.”
“Do you really expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
His honesty was almost refreshing.
He looked toward my stomach.
“But perhaps I let the child leave.”
Adrian moved.
Carlo pointed the gun directly at him.
“Take one more step and your son grows up without a father.”
Adrian stopped.
I saw murder in his eyes.
Carlo smiled.
“This is why family makes men weak.”
My father laughed painfully.
“You spent your whole life trying to belong to one.”
Carlo’s expression flickered.
“Quiet.”
“You were always jealous of Vittorio.”
Carlo hit him again.
Adrian’s fists clenched.
I looked at my father.
“Did you know?”
He understood.
“Not at first.”
“About The Circle.”
“Your mother suspected.”
“And you ignored her?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Yes.”
One word.
One confession.
A lifetime inside it.
“Why?”
“Because I thought she was afraid.”
“She was right.”
“Yes.”
“You let me marry into this family.”
Salvatore looked at Adrian.
“So did Maria.”
I froze.
“What?”
Carlo’s smile returned.
“Oh. He never told you that part?”
My father closed his eyes.
“Dad?”
He looked at me.
“Your marriage to Adrian wasn’t my arrangement.”
I stared.
“Then whose was it?”
“Your mother’s.”
Nothing made sense anymore.
Mom had died years before I married Adrian.
“She knew him?”
“When he was young.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
“You knew Maria?”
My father gave him a tired look.
“She saved your life.”
Carlo’s face hardened.
“Enough.”
“No,” I said. “I want to hear this.”
Carlo raised the gun toward me.
Adrian stepped farther in front.
“If you point that at her again, this ends badly.”
“For whom?”
“For everyone.”
Carlo’s men shifted.
Even they understood what Adrian meant.
If I died, Carlo would not leave the room alive.
Maybe none of us would.
My father continued.
“Vittorio brought Adrian to our house after an assassination attempt when Adrian was sixteen. Maria treated the wound.”
I looked at Adrian.
He seemed stunned.
“I remember a woman.”
“She made Vittorio promise that if anything ever happened to our family, you would protect Elena.”
My chest tightened.
Adrian whispered, “Maria.”
“You didn’t remember?”
“I never knew her name.”
Carlo rolled his eyes.
“Beautiful family moment. Ledger.”
I looked down at it.
Then at Michael.
An idea formed.
A terrible one.
“Why does The Circle need the original?” I asked.
Carlo smiled.
“Because copies can be denied.”
“But the original has handwriting, fingerprints, signatures.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel Mercer’s.”
Michael’s face was stone.
Carlo looked at him.
“And many others.”
“Did Daniel order my mother killed?”
Carlo hesitated.
The first hesitation I had seen.
“No.”
Michael moved slightly.
“Who did?”
Carlo looked at my father.
Salvatore’s jaw tightened.
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“Dad?”
“Elena.”
“Who killed Mom?”
He looked at me.
Tears filled the eyes of a man I had seen cry only once in my entire life.
“I did.”
The room disappeared.
No.
“No.”
“I didn’t know what would happen.”
“You just said you did it.”
“I gave the order to disable her car.”
My breath caught.
“Why?”
“She was leaving.”
“Leaving you?”
“Leaving Chicago.”
“Because of The Circle?”
“Yes.”
His voice broke.
“She had the ledger. She was going to take you and Gabriel and disappear. I was furious. I told one of my men to make sure her car couldn’t leave the estate.”
I understood before he finished.
“The brake line.”
“I ordered the battery removed.”
Carlo laughed softly.
Everyone looked at him.
“That isn’t what your man heard.”
My father turned.
“You changed the order.”
Carlo’s smile answered.
Salvatore lunged.
Bound hands or not, he nearly reached him.
Carlo’s men slammed him down.
“You killed her!”
Carlo shrugged.
“I improved your instruction.”
My father roared like an animal.
All these years.
He had believed his rage caused the accident.
Carlo had turned it into murder.
I felt Adrian’s hand touch mine behind his back.
Steadying me.
I didn’t pull away.
Carlo looked amused.
“Now. The ledger.”
I lifted it.
Then I looked at Michael.
“Catch.”
I threw it.
Not at him.
Out the open window.
Carlo shouted.
One of his men turned.
Michael attacked.
Chaos exploded.
Adrian slammed into Carlo.
The gun fired.
I dropped behind the bed.
My father kicked one man’s knee.
Michael tackled another into the wall.
Another gunshot shattered the mirror.
I crawled.
My belly made movement awkward.
Someone grabbed my ankle.
I kicked.
A man cursed.
Then Adrian was there.
He struck him once.
Hard.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“The baby?”
“Moving.”
“Stay down.”
He turned away.
“Adrian!”
He looked back.
Carlo stood near the window.
His gun was aimed at Adrian’s back.
I screamed.
My father threw himself sideways.
The shot fired.
Salvatore jerked.
Blood appeared across his shirt.
“Dad!”
Carlo fled through the doorway.
Adrian started after him.
Then stopped.
He looked at my father.
At me.
For years, Adrian would have chosen the enemy.
Tonight he chose us.
He dropped beside Salvatore.
“Pressure here.”
I pressed both hands against my father’s shoulder.
The bullet had gone high.
Blood everywhere.
Dr. Shaw’s medical bag was still in Michael’s car.
Michael appeared beside us.
“I’ll get help.”
“No police,” my father gasped.
“You need a hospital.”
“No.”
Adrian tore fabric from a sheet.
“Carlo will be gone in five minutes.”
Michael looked toward the window.
“The ledger.”
“Go.”
He disappeared.
My father gripped my wrist.
“Elena.”
“Don’t talk.”
“Listen.”
“You can tell me later.”
“No.”
His eyes told me he wasn’t sure there would be later.
“Your mother made copies.”
I stared.
“What?”
“The ledger. She never trusted one hiding place.”
“Where?”
“Gabriel knows.”
“Where is Gabriel?”
My father smiled faintly.
“Closer than you think.”
Then his eyes closed.
“Dad!”
“He’s breathing,” Adrian said.
Distant sirens approached.
Someone had heard the shots.
Adrian lifted my father.
“Can you walk?”
“Yes.”
“Then move.”
We descended through the tunnel.
Every step sent pressure through my abdomen.
Halfway down, I stopped.
Adrian turned.
“What?”
Warm liquid ran down my leg.
I stared at him.
“No.”
His face went white.
“Elena?”
Another contraction hit.
Hard this time.
I grabbed the wall.
Michael appeared from the darkness carrying the ledger.
“What happened?”
Adrian looked at him.
“Her water broke.”
I shook my head frantically.
“I’m only thirty-one weeks.”
Adrian’s fear became naked.
Not hidden.
Not controlled.
He reached for me.
“Elena.”
“I’m not having this baby here.”
“You’re not.”
Another contraction doubled me over.
This one hurt.
Above us, footsteps thundered inside the house.
Carlo’s men.
Police.
I didn’t know.
Michael looked down the tunnel.
“There’s another exit near the river.”
“How far?”
“Half a mile.”
Adrian looked at my face.
“She can’t walk that.”
“I can.”
“No.”
“I am not giving birth in a tunnel!”
That apparently settled it.
Adrian lifted me into his arms.
Under other circumstances, I would have fought him.
I didn’t have the energy.
He carried me through darkness while my father bled over Michael’s shoulder and the empire both men had spent their lives building collapsed somewhere above us.
Then my second phone vibrated again.
I pulled it from my coat.
One message.
Unknown number.
ELENA, IF YOUR WATER JUST BROKE, IT WASN’T NATURAL.
I stared.
Another message arrived.
THE DRUG WASN’T MEANT TO KILL YOUR BABY.
IT WAS MEANT TO MAKE HIM ARRIVE TONIGHT.
May you like
And then:
BECAUSE SOMEONE NEEDS HIS BLOOD.
