Chapter 12 - The Toast No One ExpectedSixteen months later, nobody recognized the Marchetti mansion.
That saved her.
Dennis expected shock.
He expected her to reach for the hidden transmitter.
Instead, she laughed.
“You’re lying.”
Dennis’s smile faded.
“Am I?”
“Yes.”
“You trust Marco?”
“No.”
That answer surprised him.
“I barely trust anyone anymore.”
Dennis leaned forward.
“Smart.”
“Show me.”
He tapped Peter’s phone.
An audio recording began.
Marco’s voice.
Clear.
“Peter, you follow the plan exactly. Glass twelve. Midnight.”
Peter answered.
“I said I’m done.”
“You’re done when this is finished.”
Adeline’s heart stopped.
Marco continued.
“No mistakes.”
The recording ended.
Dennis watched her.
“Still think I’m lying?”
Adeline’s mind raced.
Audio could be manipulated.
But the voice sounded real.
“Why would Marco kill Enzo?”
Dennis smiled.
“Because Marco doesn’t work for Enzo.”
“Who does he work for?”
“Luca.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“No?”
Dennis stood.
“Luca knew he might die. Before the lake, he gave Marco instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“If Salvatore protected Dominic, expose everything.”
“Marco didn’t.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Luca added one more instruction.”
Dennis walked around the table.
“Protect Enzo until Enzo was strong enough to burn the family empire down himself.”
Adeline frowned.
“That still doesn’t explain poisoning him.”
“Exactly.”
Dennis smiled.
“The recording is edited.”
Her eyes narrowed.
He laughed.
“You really are smarter than they think.”
“Then why show me?”
“Because Peter believed it.”
“Who edited it?”
“Victor.”
“So Peter thought Marco ordered the poisoning.”
“Yes.”
“And you knew he didn’t.”
“Yes.”
“Then who did?”
Dennis’s expression changed.
“Dominic.”
“You said no.”
“I said Peter’s recording doesn’t show Dominic.”
He tapped the phone again.
A video appeared.
Dominic and Victor arguing.
Victor said, “Peter won’t do it.”
Dominic answered, “Then Dennis will.”
Adeline felt sick.
Dennis smiled faintly.
“There.”
“You poisoned the glass.”
“Yes.”
“Why pretend otherwise?”
“I never pretended.”
“You said Peter was forced.”
“He was. To attend. To carry the vial. To make it look like he did it.”
“But you put the poison in.”
“Yes.”
Adeline stared at him.
“You killed Peter.”
Dennis looked away.
That was answer enough.
“How?”
“His inhaler.”
Adeline’s stomach turned.
Peter had asthma.
Dennis had replaced his medication.
“He died because he was going to confess.”
“Yes.”
“You poisoned Noah.”
“Yes.”
“You broke into my mother’s house.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
Dennis looked at the phone.
“Because Victor and Dominic are going to blame me for everything.”
“You did most of it.”
“No.”
His voice sharpened.
“I cleaned up what they created.”
“You killed people.”
“I survived.”
“By making sure others didn’t.”
His jaw tightened.
“You think wealthy men like Victor go to prison because employees tell the truth?”
“Sometimes.”
“You think Dominic stayed free twelve years because nobody knew?”
“No.”
“People knew.”
Dennis stepped closer.
“Police knew pieces. Inspectors knew pieces. Lawyers knew pieces. Everyone took money.”
Adeline glanced toward the door.
Dennis noticed.
“No police.”
“I came alone.”
“You’re not that stupid.”
“No.”
His eyes dropped toward her shoes.
Damn.
“Take them off.”
“What?”
“Shoes.”
Adeline’s heartbeat accelerated.
“Dennis—”
“Now.”
She slowly slipped them off.
He picked up the right shoe.
Found the transmitter.
Smiled.
Then crushed it beneath his heel.
Outside, nobody knew whether she was safe.
Dennis picked up the gun.
“Now we can talk honestly.”
Adeline kept breathing.
“What do you want?”
“Protection.”
“From me?”
“From Enzo.”
“You just tried to kill him.”
“Because Dominic ordered it.”
“That won’t make Enzo forgiving.”
“I don’t need forgiveness.”
“What?”
“I need money.”
There it was.
“Peter’s phone contains evidence.”
“Yes.”
“You want to sell it.”
“Yes.”
“To Enzo?”
“Fifty million dollars.”
Adeline laughed.
Dennis raised the gun.
“Something funny?”
“You think he’ll pay you?”
“For the original files? Yes.”
“You don’t know him.”
“And you do?”
Adeline paused.
More than she had expected.
Not enough.
But she knew one thing.
“He’ll let the empire burn before paying you.”
Dennis’s face tightened.
“You sound very confident.”
“I watched him do it yesterday.”
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Dennis looked toward the window.
Adeline did not.
Sirens might be unrelated.
Or police might have moved after losing the transmitter.
Dennis grabbed Peter’s phone.
“We’re leaving.”
“No.”
He pointed the gun at her.
“Yes.”
Then the rear door opened.
Marco stepped inside.
Alone.
Dennis froze.
“You.”
Marco raised empty hands.
“I know you disabled the signal.”
“How?”
“I built the system you tried to outsmart.”
Dennis laughed.
“Still loyal.”
“To people, Dennis. Not empires.”
Dennis pointed the gun at him.
“You ordered Peter to use glass twelve.”
“Yes.”
Adeline looked at Marco.
He continued.
“Because I believed he was helping us run a loyalty test on Victor’s catering security.”
Dennis smiled.
“Tell her the rest.”
Marco’s face filled with disgust.
“I did not know the vial contained poison.”
“But you gave Peter access.”
“Yes.”
“You helped create the opportunity.”
“Yes.”
Adeline could see guilt eating him.
Dennis raised the phone.
“And now Enzo gets to learn his favorite guard nearly killed him.”
Marco said quietly, “I already told him.”
Dennis blinked.
“What?”
“I told Enzo everything before coming here.”
“You’re lying.”
“No.”
“Then why are you alone?”
“I’m not.”
Glass shattered.
Dennis turned.
Enzo crashed through the side entrance.
Adeline screamed.
Dennis fired.
The bullet struck a metal cabinet.
Marco lunged.
Enzo hit Dennis from the side.
The phone flew.
Adeline dove for it.
Dennis and Enzo crashed onto the floor.
The gun slid under a table.
Marco reached it first.
“STOP!”
Dennis froze.
Police poured through both entrances.
Ramirez cuffed him personally.
Adeline stood clutching Peter’s phone.
Enzo looked at her.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“You?”
“Fine.”
His cheek was bleeding.
“That isn’t fine.”
“It’s fashionable.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
Marco lowered his weapon.
Enzo looked at him.
Silence.
Marco said, “I’m sorry.”
“You should have told me.”
“Yes.”
“You trusted Peter.”
“I thought he was helping me expose Victor.”
“You used him.”
“Yes.”
“And he died.”
Marco closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Enzo looked away.
Adeline watched two men who had trusted each other for years suddenly confront the cost of secrets.
Not all betrayal came from hatred.
Sometimes it came from deciding another person could not handle the truth.
Ramirez took Peter’s phone.
“This ends it.”
Dennis laughed while officers pulled him upright.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
He smiled through blood on his lip.
“You think the phone is the last copy?”
Ramirez’s face hardened.
“Where are the others?”
Dennis looked at Enzo.
“Ask your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes.”
Dennis smiled wider.
“But his confession isn’t.”
Police dragged him outside.
Peter’s phone contained the location.
A digital archive hidden through an old Marchetti legal trust.
Inside was Salvatore’s recorded confession.
Every crime.
Every cover-up.
Every name.
Including his own.
He admitted Luca had been murdered.
He admitted protecting Dominic.
He admitted helping Victor suppress investigations.
He admitted learning about Peter and refusing to recognize him publicly.
And at the end, he spoke directly to Enzo.
“If you ever hear this, I failed both my sons.”
Enzo sat alone when he listened.
Adeline waited outside.
When the recording ended, he remained in the room for nearly an hour.
Then he came out.
His eyes were red.
“What now?” Adeline asked.
He looked through the window at Chicago below.
“Now I tell everyone.”
“All of it?”
“All of it.”
“The company may collapse.”
“Some of it will.”
“People will hate your family.”
“Some already do.”
“You may lose half your fortune.”
He looked at her.
“Probably more.”
Adeline smiled faintly.
“Okay.”
“Okay?”
“You finally asked the right question.”
He frowned.
“What question?”
“What matters more than the Marchetti name?”
Enzo looked at her.
“And?”
“The people it hurt.”
He nodded slowly.
Then his phone rang.
Camilla.
Enzo answered.
Her voice was frantic.
“Enzo, turn on the news.”
He did.
A reporter stood outside the federal courthouse.
Behind her, cameras flashed.
Victor Ashford had agreed to cooperate.
In exchange for consideration in sentencing, he was giving prosecutors names.
Dozens of them.
Executives.
Inspectors.
Former police officials.
Politicians.
The scandal was exploding beyond both families.
Adeline stared at the television.
Enzo said quietly, “This is going to get ugly.”
She looked at him.
“No.”
“What?”
“It already was ugly.”
May you like
She nodded toward the screen.
“This is just everyone finally seeing it.”
