Chapter 11 - The Loyal ManAdeline did not react.
Barely.
Doctors identified the toxin quickly enough to begin treatment before irreversible damage occurred.
Adeline sat beside his bed until sunrise.
When he finally opened his eyes, she cried harder than she had during the entire previous week.
“You look terrible,” Noah whispered.
She laughed through tears.
“You almost died and you’re insulting me?”
“Keeping priorities.”
Ruth kissed his forehead.
Enzo stood outside the room.
He did not enter until Noah looked toward him.
“You sent the food?”
“No.”
“I know.”
Enzo blinked.
Noah managed a weak smile.
“My sister would’ve punched you already.”
Adeline rolled her eyes.
“I considered it.”
Enzo stepped inside.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“My family brought this to your door.”
Noah looked at him.
“Then fix your family.”
It was the simplest instruction anyone had given Enzo.
He nodded.
“I intend to.”
Detective Ramirez spent the morning reconstructing Peter Vale’s life.
His mother, Teresa, had worked briefly for Salvatore Marchetti twenty-three years earlier.
Peter was born the following year.
Salvatore paid quietly for housing, schooling, and medical expenses.
He never acknowledged Peter publicly.
Dominic knew.
So did Victor.
Peter grew up knowing who his father was.
Enzo had not known Peter existed.
Luca may have.
The investigators recovered encrypted emails from Peter’s apartment.
One was addressed to Dominic six months earlier.
YOU SAID HE STOLE EVERYTHING FROM ME.
Another:
YOU SAID ENZO KNEW.
And one from Dominic:
YOUR FATHER CHOSE HIS REAL FAMILY. ENZO STILL LIVES ON WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOURS.
Adeline read the emails beside Enzo.
“They used him.”
“Yes.”
“They made him hate you.”
“Yes.”
“Why would Peter agree to poison you?”
Enzo looked exhausted.
“Because he thought I knew he existed and chose to keep him hidden.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Ramirez entered with another folder.
“We found something else.”
“What?”
“Peter withdrew from the plan.”
Enzo looked up.
“How do you know?”
“A message to Victor the morning of the engagement party.”
She read:
I WILL NOT DO IT. I WANTED HIM SCARED. I WANTED HIM TO KNOW I EXISTED. I DIDN’T AGREE TO MURDER.
Adeline frowned.
“Then why was he at the party?”
Ramirez continued.
“Another message.”
I’M GOING TO TELL ENZO EVERYTHING.
Enzo stared.
Peter had gone to the mansion not to poison him.
But the poisoned glass existed.
“So who put cyanide in it?” Adeline asked.
Ramirez shook her head.
“Peter may have carried the vial originally. But evidence suggests someone else forced him to finish the job.”
“Who?”
“We think the same person who poisoned Noah.”
A surviving conspirator.
Someone outside custody.
Someone with access to Dominic, Victor, Peter, and the Marchetti household.
Marco entered.
His expression was grim.
“I know who.”
Enzo turned.
Marco placed a photograph on the table.
Dennis Cole.
Former Bellavita manager.
Adeline’s old boss.
The man who had offered her money to delete photographs.
“We thought he left the country three years ago,” Marco said.
“He didn’t?”
“He changed his name.”
“To what?”
Marco slid another photograph across the table.
Adeline stared.
The man looked older.
Shorter beard.
Different hair.
But she knew him.
She had seen him the night of the party.
Not in a waiter’s uniform.
In security.
One of the Marchetti contractors.
“He was inside the house.”
Enzo swore.
Marco nodded.
“He joined the external security company eight months ago.”
“Using what name?”
“Daniel Cross.”
Adeline remembered.
The dark SUV outside her apartment.
The break-in.
Noah’s poisoned food.
Dennis knew her family.
He had been cleaning up Victor and Dominic’s mistakes for years.
And now both his employers were in custody.
“What does he want?” Adeline asked.
“Survival,” Ramirez said.
Enzo shook his head.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“He could disappear.”
“He may still.”
“He had false identity documents. Access to money. He could have left after the engagement party.”
“But he didn’t,” Adeline said.
Enzo nodded.
“Because he wants something.”
“The records?”
“Maybe.”
Adeline thought about the message left after Noah’s poisoning.
LUCA WASN’T THE LAST BROTHER.
Dennis had known about Peter.
Maybe Peter had told him something.
Ramirez said, “Peter’s phone is missing.”
“Dennis has it.”
“Likely.”
“What’s on it?”
“No idea.”
Adeline remembered Peter’s warning gesture from the ballroom.
One finger to his lips.
She had interpreted it as a threat.
What if it wasn’t?
What if Peter had been warning her to stay quiet because Dennis was watching him?
She told Ramirez.
The detective frowned.
“Did Peter look angry?”
“No.”
“Threatening?”
“I thought so.”
“But?”
Adeline closed her eyes, replaying the moment.
He had looked frightened.
Like her.
“No.”
She opened her eyes.
“He looked scared.”
Peter had been a trapped man.
Not an assassin.
At least not by the end.
The realization sickened her.
He might have gone to the mansion to confess.
Someone killed him before he could.
Enzo stood.
“We find Dennis.”
Police already were.
But Dennis found them first.
At 2:14 p.m., every television in Marchetti headquarters switched simultaneously.
Security monitors.
Conference displays.
Lobby screens.
A video appeared.
Dennis Cole sat in an unknown room.
Peter’s phone lay on the table.
“Enzo Marchetti.”
Employees stared.
Dennis continued.
“If you’re watching this, Victor and Dominic have probably told police I was the obedient employee.”
Enzo moved toward the screen.
Dennis smiled.
“They’re lying.”
He picked up Peter’s phone.
“This contains twenty-two years of messages, recordings, payments, and secrets.”
Ramirez whispered, “Jesus.”
Dennis continued.
“Enough to put half a dozen powerful people in prison.”
“Then release it,” Enzo said to the screen, though Dennis could not hear.
“But I won’t give it to police.”
Of course.
“I’ll give it to Adeline Croft.”
Every face turned toward her.
Adeline froze.
Dennis looked directly into the camera.
“You were always stubborn, Adeline.”
Her stomach twisted.
“Come alone to Bellavita.”
Ramirez said, “Absolutely not.”
Dennis continued.
“Not the restaurant that burned.”
Adeline frowned.
“The original.”
Enzo understood.
Bellavita had started as a small catering kitchen before moving downtown.
The original facility still existed.
Dennis gave an address.
Then said:
“If police come inside, Peter’s phone disappears.”
The video ended.
“No,” Enzo said.
Adeline looked at him.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You’re thinking.”
“I usually do.”
“You’re not going.”
Ramirez agreed.
“It’s a trap.”
“Obviously.”
“Noah nearly died.”
“I know.”
“He targeted your family.”
“I know.”
“You owe him nothing.”
Adeline looked through the ICU window at her brother.
“No.”
Her voice steadied.
“But Peter’s mother deserves to know why her son died.”
Enzo stared.
“And Luca deserves the truth.”
She turned toward him.
“So do you.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I’m not letting you walk into that building alone.”
Adeline stepped closer.
“You don’t let me do anything.”
His jaw tightened.
She softened.
“But I’m also not stupid.”
Ramirez studied her.
“What are you proposing?”
Adeline looked at Marco.
“Does Dennis know the old security systems?”
“Yes.”
“Then we don’t use Marchetti security.”
She looked at Ramirez.
“We use yours.”
The detective shook her head.
“He’ll watch for police.”
“Then don’t look like police.”
They built the plan in forty minutes.
Adeline would enter.
No visible wire.
No armed escort.
Police would remain outside the perimeter.
A tiny emergency transmitter would be hidden inside the heel of her shoe.
If she tapped three times, teams moved.
Enzo hated every second of it.
As Adeline prepared to leave, he stopped her in the hallway.
“You don’t have to prove anything.”
“I’m not.”
“Then why?”
“Because men like Dennis survive when everyone else gets too scared to look at them.”
“You could get hurt.”
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“How?”
He had no answer.
For several seconds, they stood close enough for Adeline to hear his breathing.
Then Enzo said quietly, “Come back.”
Not an order.
Not a command.
A request.
Adeline nodded.
“I plan to.”
She drove to the abandoned Bellavita kitchen alone.
The door was unlocked.
Inside, one light burned.
Dennis sat at a metal table.
Peter’s phone lay in front of him.
And beside it was a pistol.
“Hello, Adeline.”
She stopped ten feet away.
“Dennis.”
He smiled.
“You kept the phone.”
“You poisoned my brother.”
“Not three years ago.”
“Yesterday.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To make sure you came.”
“You could have killed him.”
“I calculated the dose.”
“You were always bad at math.”
His smile disappeared.
Good.
Adeline looked at Peter’s phone.
“Give it to me.”
Dennis leaned back.
“You haven’t asked the important question.”
“What?”
“Why you?”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
He pushed the phone forward.
“Peter recorded the person who actually ordered Enzo’s death.”
“Victor.”
“No.”
“Dominic.”
“No.”
Adeline’s pulse jumped.
“Then who?”
Dennis smiled.
“Marco Bellini.”
May you like
Outside, police waited for her distress signal.
And beside them stood Marco.
