Chapter 8 - The $900 Million ChildI spent the next hour furious at a dead man.
I counted those too.
Maybe counting had become a habit.
Or maybe once your life could change in four seconds, you started noticing how long everything took.
She picked up the operating agreement.
“You don’t understand what you own.”
“That seems to be everyone’s favorite sentence.”
“Elena.”
Adrian’s warning tone came from behind me.
I ignored him.
Serena flipped through several pages.
“You sell Northstar and hundreds of people lose protection.”
“Protection from whom?”
“Victor.”
There it was.
The first crack.
I leaned back.
“Interesting.”
Serena realized her mistake.
Adrian stepped forward.
“What protection?”
She looked at him.
“You know.”
“No.”
“Adrian—”
“Tell me.”
Her composure returned piece by piece.
“It isn’t only money.”
“What is it?”
Serena looked toward me.
“Northstar owns the distribution network Carlo used before you cleaned it.”
I knew Adrian’s shipping companies had once been connected to his father.
I didn’t know the extent.
Serena continued.
“Warehouses. Trucking routes. Port contracts. Storage sites.”
“For drugs?” I asked.
Adrian answered.
“Historically, some.”
Serena looked at him.
“Victor wants the routes back.”
“And you’re helping him?”
Her eyes flashed.
“You think I want Victor controlling Chicago?”
“Then why were you speaking to him?”
Adrian’s voice had gone dangerously calm.
Serena looked at me.
“So you told him.”
“I didn’t need to.”
Her face tightened.
Adrian stepped closer.
“I know you called Victor after I left the hotel.”
Serena went pale.
I looked sharply at Adrian.
He hadn’t told me that.
He held Serena’s gaze.
“Matteo’s phone was recording.”
For once, Serena had no answer.
Adrian continued.
“You asked Victor where Elena was.”
“No.”
“You said you were working on finding her.”
“That isn’t what it sounds like.”
“That phrase should be illegal.”
Serena stood.
“I was trying to keep Victor away from her.”
“By locating her for him?”
“No.”
“Explain.”
Serena stared at Adrian.
Then at me.
She looked suddenly exhausted.
“Victor has my brother.”
Silence.
I hadn’t known Serena had a brother.
Apparently neither had Adrian.
“What brother?” he asked.
She laughed bitterly.
“Exactly.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“You told me you were an only child.”
“I told everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because my father had another family.”
She sat again.
“His name is Jacob. He’s twenty-nine.”
“What does Victor want with him?”
“Leverage.”
Adrian stared.
“For how long?”
“Seven months.”
“You could have told me.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor said he would kill Jacob if you knew.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“And you believed him.”
“I watched him send me one of Jacob’s teeth.”
I felt sick.
Serena opened her purse.
Adrian reached for his weapon.
“Relax.”
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
A young man tied to a chair.
Bruised.
Holding a newspaper dated six days earlier.
I looked away.
“You helped Victor access my medical records because of your brother?”
Serena’s eyes filled for the first time.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You knew I was pregnant.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Victor told me.”
Adrian’s hand curled into a fist.
“And you didn’t warn us.”
“I was supposed to keep you distracted.”
The truth landed.
I looked at Adrian.
“So the call…”
Serena closed her eyes.
“Was intentional.”
Something inside me clenched.
Not because Adrian had chosen her.
Because she had manipulated the exact moment.
“How did you know when I was telling him?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then how?”
“Victor told me to call at eight fifteen.”
I remembered.
Dinner at eight.
I had waited through appetizers.
I told Adrian at 8:14.
The phone rang seconds later.
Pure chance.
A vicious coincidence.
Serena looked at me.
“I didn’t know what you were saying to him.”
“But you knew something was happening.”
“No.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“I left my wife because of a scheduled distraction.”
Serena looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
I stood.
Needed space.
My stomach rolled.
Adrian moved toward me.
I raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
At least he had learned that much.
Serena spoke softly.
“Elena, Victor said he would kill Jacob if I didn’t cooperate.”
“So you helped him threaten my baby.”
“No.”
“You helped him access Adrian.”
“Yes.”
“You called whenever he told you.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
She looked down.
“Seven months.”
My entire marriage rearranged itself.
All those dinners interrupted.
Weekends ruined.
Adrian disappearing at strange hours.
Not all of it had been Serena demanding attention.
Some of it was Victor using her.
I didn’t know whether that made things better or worse.
Adrian did.
He crossed the room and stopped in front of Serena.
“Why didn’t you trust me?”
She looked up.
“Because every person who trusts a Vale eventually gets buried.”
The sentence silenced him.
Then Serena looked at me.
“You understood that before he did.”
I didn’t enjoy agreeing with her.
But I did.
Rebecca entered from the adjoining room.
She had been listening through the recording system.
“We can use this.”
Serena immediately stood.
“You recorded me?”
“Yes.”
“You’re insane.”
Rebecca smiled.
“I’m a lawyer.”
“Same thing.”
Adrian paced.
“Where is Jacob?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
“Victor moves him every few days.”
“Who guards him?”
“Different crews.”
“How do you contact Victor?”
“Burner phone.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Adrian stared at her.
Serena shook her head.
“If Victor senses anything, Jacob dies.”
“Then what do you propose?”
She looked at me.
“The board meeting.”
My eyes narrowed.
“What about it?”
“Victor will come.”
“In person?”
“Maybe.”
“Why?”
“Because Northstar is the one thing he wants more than Adrian dead.”
Comforting.
Serena continued.
“If he believes Elena is about to transfer control, he’ll have to intervene.”
Rebecca nodded slowly.
“So we make the meeting real enough that he has no choice.”
Adrian looked at me.
“No.”
I almost laughed.
Serena looked between us.
“Does he always do that?”
“Yes.”
“It’s exhausting.”
“Extremely.”
Adrian stared at both of us.
“This is not a bonding opportunity.”
Despite everything, Serena smiled faintly.
Then she looked at me.
“I’m sorry.”
The words were quiet.
“For the calls. For letting you believe what you believed.”
I crossed my arms.
“Did you want him?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
I appreciated the honesty.
“Do you still?”
Serena looked at Adrian.
For a long moment.
“Yes.”
My heart tightened.
Then she added, “But wanting someone doesn’t mean they belong to you.”
Adrian looked at me.
I refused to meet his eyes.
Serena continued.
“And he never did.”
That hurt in an entirely different way.
Because perhaps the woman I had spent years fearing knew something I hadn’t.
Adrian had never belonged to Serena.
But he hadn’t truly belonged to me either.
He belonged to his family.
His organization.
His obligations.
His fear.
Until that changed, there was no marriage worth saving.
Rebecca broke the silence.
“We need Victor to believe the ownership transfer happens Friday.”
Serena nodded.
“I can help.”
“How?”
“I tell him Elena is selling Northstar to an international consortium.”
“That’s risky.”
“He’ll believe I learned it from Adrian.”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
“He won’t believe I’m talking to you.”
Serena smiled sadly.
“He’s always believed you were weak where I’m concerned.”
Adrian looked at me.
“Apparently everyone did.”
I didn’t rescue him from that discomfort.
Rebecca started outlining logistics.
Boardroom.
Controlled entrances.
Federal financial investigators quietly notified.
Evidence secured.
Serena feeding false information.
The plan was dangerous.
But for the first time, it was ours.
Not Adrian’s.
Ours.
At the door, Serena stopped beside me.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Victor doesn’t only want your baby because of Northstar.”
Cold spread through me.
“What else?”
She hesitated.
“Carlo’s will.”
Adrian looked over.
“What about it?”
Serena swallowed.
“Carlo added a bloodline provision shortly before he died.”
Adrian’s face went white.
“What provision?”
“If Adrian has a legitimate biological child…”
Her eyes moved to my stomach.
“…that child inherits the Vale family’s remaining legitimate estate at birth.”
Rebecca whispered, “How much?”
Serena answered.
“About nine hundred million dollars.”
Nobody spoke.
My knees weakened.
Adrian caught my elbow.
This time I didn’t pull away.
Serena looked at me.
“Northstar isn’t the fortune, Elena.”
May you like
She swallowed.
“Your baby is.”
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