Chapter 7 - Serena’s SecretSerena stared at the document for eleven seconds.
That was his instinct.
Hide the terrible thing.
Control the information.
Protect me by keeping me ignorant.
I saw the decision happen behind his eyes.
So I stepped backward.
“If you lie now, I leave.”
“Elena.”
“I mean it.”
His jaw worked.
Rain hammered the windows.
Rebecca came upstairs after hearing our voices and read the message.
When she reached the final sentence, her face changed.
“You know?” I asked.
She looked at Adrian.
“That’s his story.”
“No.”
I folded my arms.
“It became my story when somebody threatened my baby with it.”
Adrian sat on the bench beneath the hallway window.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked less like a crime boss and more like a tired boy carrying something too heavy.
“My mother’s name was Isabella.”
I knew that.
There was one photograph of her in Adrian’s study.
Dark hair.
Beautiful smile.
Adrian had her eyes.
“She died when I was thirteen.”
“Car accident.”
“That’s what I told you.”
I went cold.
“What really happened?”
“My father killed her.”
The words fell softly.
Violently.
Rebecca looked away.
I sat across from him.
“Why?”
“She tried to leave.”
Of course.
I couldn’t breathe for a moment.
Adrian continued.
“My mother learned Carlo was laundering money through businesses registered in her name. She wanted out. She took me and planned to leave Chicago.”
“What happened?”
“My father found us before we reached the airport.”
Adrian stared at his hands.
“I woke up two days later in the family house. They told me there had been an accident.”
“And your mother?”
“Dead.”
I felt sick.
“How did you learn the truth?”
“Years later. One of my father’s drivers confessed before he died.”
I covered my stomach.
“And you became him anyway.”
Adrian flinched.
I regretted the cruelty immediately.
But he nodded.
“In some ways.”
“You never hurt me.”
“No.”
“You never threatened me.”
“No.”
“But you built the same cage.”
His eyes met mine.
“Yes.”
The honesty disarmed me.
He didn’t defend himself.
He didn’t explain.
He simply accepted it.
“When you married me,” I asked, “did you think keeping me surrounded by guards meant you were doing something different?”
“Yes.”
“And putting companies in my name?”
“I thought financial independence would protect you if I died.”
“But you never told me I had it.”
A bitter smile touched his mouth.
“I can see the contradiction now.”
I almost laughed.
“Progress.”
Rebecca walked toward the window.
“The message isn’t random.”
Adrian looked up.
“No.”
“Whoever sent it wants Elena connecting herself to Isabella.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor was there when Isabella died.”
Adrian stood.
“What?”
Rebecca turned.
“You didn’t know?”
“No.”
“I found his name in sealed litigation documents years ago.”
Adrian went very still.
“Show me.”
“I don’t have them here.”
“Rebecca.”
“They’re in secure storage.”
He paced once.
Then stopped.
“My mother tried to expose Carlo.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor helped stop her.”
“Probably.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Now Victor wants Northstar.”
“And your child.”
The words made every instinct in me sharpen.
“No.”
Adrian came closer.
“He won’t touch either of you.”
“Stop saying that like you can promise it.”
His face tightened.
“You can’t promise safety,” I said. “Not anymore.”
“What do you want me to do?”
That question changed something.
Adrian rarely asked.
He decided.
He instructed.
He protected.
Now he asked.
I took a breath.
“I want to stop hiding.”
Rebecca turned.
“That may not be wise.”
“I didn’t say go public with everything.”
I looked at the papers downstairs.
“Victor wants Northstar because he thinks killing me gives him control.”
“Yes.”
“So we make that impossible.”
“It already is,” Rebecca said. “We changed the trust.”
“But Victor doesn’t know.”
Adrian understood first.
“You want him to come after it.”
“I want him to expose himself.”
“No.”
I looked at him.
“You asked what I wanted.”
“I’m allowed to think what you want is suicidal.”
“Then think quietly.”
Rebecca hid a smile.
Adrian glared at her.
I continued.
“We announce a Northstar board meeting.”
Rebecca’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
“Public filing.”
“Yes.”
“What agenda?”
“Transfer of controlling interest.”
Adrian stared.
“To whom?”
“Unknown until the meeting.”
Rebecca slowly smiled.
“He’ll think Elena intends to move the assets out of his reach.”
“Which forces Victor to act before the meeting.”
Adrian looked between us.
“I hate this plan.”
“Excellent,” I said.
His eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Forty-eight hours.”
Rebecca shook her head.
“Too fast.”
“That’s the point.”
Adrian paced toward the window.
“If Victor reacts, he’ll use someone close.”
“Serena,” I said.
He stopped.
That name still hurt.
But differently now.
Less jealousy.
More suspicion.
Adrian nodded.
“I’ll contact her.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“You don’t get to meet her alone.”
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“What are you planning?”
I smiled for the first time in two days.
“Invite her to me.”
Adrian looked horrified.
“Absolutely not.”
“Again with the orders.”
“Elena.”
“She thinks I’m pregnant, scared, and emotionally devastated because my husband chose her.”
His expression winced.
I continued.
“She probably thinks I hate her.”
“You do.”
“I dislike her.”
“You hate her.”
“Not relevant.”
Rebecca folded her arms.
“Elena has a point.”
Adrian muttered something in Italian.
“What did you say?” I asked.
“That my life was easier when none of you cooperated.”
“Your life was easier because everyone obeyed.”
He looked at me.
“Also true.”
By morning, the plan was set.
Northstar Holdings would file notice of an emergency board meeting scheduled for Friday at noon.
The agenda:
Restructuring of controlling ownership and succession rights.
At nine thirty, the filing went live.
At nine forty-two, Rebecca’s burner phone rang.
Unknown number.
She handed it to me.
“Could be anyone.”
I answered.
“Elena Vale.”
Silence.
Then Serena.
“You finally found your voice.”
I looked at Adrian.
His entire body tightened.
“Apparently.”
“I heard you left.”
“I heard you called.”
Serena laughed softly.
“So that’s what this is about?”
“No.”
“What is it about?”
“My child.”
Silence.
Then:
“Congratulations.”
The word sounded poisonous.
“Thank you.”
“You shouldn’t be making corporate moves right now.”
I smiled.
“Why not?”
“Stress isn’t good for the baby.”
My grip tightened.
“How touching.”
“I mean it.”
“Then come tell me in person.”
Adrian shook his head.
I ignored him.
Serena paused.
“Where?”
I gave her the address of a private conference suite Rebecca had arranged downtown.
“Eleven.”
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“You have no idea what you’re doing.”
I looked directly at Adrian when I answered.
“That’s what everyone keeps assuming.”
I disconnected.
At 10:59, Serena Keller stepped into the conference room.
She wore white.
Of course she did.
Perfect hair.
Perfect makeup.
No sign that twenty-four hours earlier she had apparently been attacked.
Her eyes moved past me to Adrian.
“You brought him.”
“No,” I said.
“He brought himself.”
Adrian remained near the wall.
Serena looked at me.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
“About?”
“You and my husband.”
Adrian stiffened.
Serena’s lips curved.
“Are we really doing this?”
“Yes.”
She sat.
Crossed her legs.
Then smiled at me.
“All right.”
My heartbeat increased.
She looked straight into my eyes.
“I’ve loved Adrian since I was sixteen.”
The room went completely still.
Then she added:
“And if you had never existed, he would have married me.”
I expected pain.
Instead, I felt something better.
Clarity.
“Maybe,” I said.
Serena’s smile faltered.
“But I did exist.”
She studied me.
“And he still left you for me.”
“No.”
I leaned forward.
“He left me because you created an emergency.”
Her expression changed slightly.
“And now I want to know why.”
Serena said nothing.
I placed a photograph on the table.
Matteo Rinaldi.
Her face changed.
Adrian noticed.
“So here’s the deal,” I said.
“You tell me why Victor Vale knew I was pregnant before my husband did…”
I put my hand over my stomach.
“…or Friday, I sell Northstar to a company the Vale family will never control.”
Serena’s composure finally cracked.
“You can’t.”
I smiled.
“Actually, Serena…”
May you like
I slid the operating agreement across the table.
“…I’m the only person who can.”
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