Chapter 5 - HER FATHER’S NAMEElena had believed her father died in a car accident when she was twelve.
Adrian’s voice cut through the darkness.
She dropped instantly.
Luca drew his weapon.
Emergency lights should have activated.
They didn’t.
That frightened Adrian more than the alarm.
Someone had disabled backup power.
“East stairwell,” Luca said into his radio.
Static answered.
Adrian grabbed Elena’s wrist, then immediately remembered how she had recoiled earlier.
He loosened his grip.
“Can you move?”
“Yes.”
“Stay beside me.”
Glass shattered somewhere downstairs.
Then came three muffled impacts.
Not gunshots.
Suppressors.
Elena recognized them anyway.
Her breathing changed.
Adrian heard it.
“Look at me.”
“I can’t see you.”
“Then listen.”
She did.
“Nobody is taking you tonight.”
“How can you promise that?”
“I don’t make promises I can’t keep.”
Footsteps rushed toward the library.
Luca raised his weapon.
A shadow entered.
“Boss!”
Marco.
Luca lowered the gun.
“They breached through the kitchen service elevator,” Marco said. “Two intruders down. Maybe four more.”
“Staff?”
“Moving to the safe room.”
“Elena goes with them.”
“No.”
Adrian looked at her.
She shook her head.
“If they’re here for me, putting me with everyone else makes them targets.”
She was right.
Adrian hated that she was right.
“Private office,” he decided.
They moved through the dark corridor.
Two guards joined them.
Adrian’s penthouse had been designed with hidden security routes, but only a handful of people knew them.
Which meant whoever planned the attack had serious information.
An inside leak.
Again.
Elena stumbled.
Adrian caught her.
For half a second she froze against him.
“Okay?” he asked.
She nodded.
He let go immediately.
They reached a paneled wall.
Adrian pressed a hidden latch.
A narrow passage opened.
Elena stared.
“Of course you have secret hallways.”
Adrian almost laughed.
“Bad time?”
“Possibly.”
They entered.
Luca followed.
Marco remained outside with two men.
The panel closed.
Silence.
They moved through the narrow passage toward Adrian’s office.
Elena whispered, “Where does this go?”
“Several places.”
“You’re not telling me.”
“No.”
“Because you don’t trust me?”
“Because if you get kidnapped, I don’t want someone torturing the floor plan out of you.”
She stopped walking.
Adrian turned.
“That was supposed to be reassuring?”
“No.”
“It wasn’t.”
“I gathered that.”
Even Luca looked amused.
Then a violent explosion shook the wall.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Elena flinched.
Adrian pulled her forward.
“Move.”
They reached the private office.
Luca locked the concealed entrance.
Emergency power suddenly returned.
Monitors flickered to life.
Adrian accessed security feeds.
Two hallways were empty.
The kitchen showed broken furniture and shattered glass.
The service corridor camera was dead.
Then another camera appeared.
A masked man.
Adrian froze the image.
“Zoom.”
Luca did.
A black crown tattoo showed beneath the man’s ear.
Elena’s knees weakened.
“That’s him.”
“Nico?”
“Yes.”
Adrian stared at the screen.
Nico Salerno had entered Adrian Moretti’s home personally.
That wasn’t intimidation.
It was desperation.
“He needs her dead,” Luca said.
“No,” Elena whispered.
Both men looked at her.
“He could have killed me before.”
“What do you mean?” Adrian asked.
“The man who grabbed me six months ago had a gun. He didn’t shoot. He tried to force me into a van.”
“So they need something from you.”
Elena nodded slowly.
“I think so.”
Adrian’s gaze sharpened.
“What?”
“I don’t know.”
“Think.”
She tried.
Daniel Voss.
Parking garage.
Rain.
The gunshot.
The killer.
Then something else.
Before Voss died, he had been carrying a leather messenger bag.
When he fell, it spilled.
Documents.
A phone.
Keys.
And—
Elena’s eyes widened.
“He gave me something.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“What?”
“I forgot.”
“Elena.”
“I was terrified.”
“What did he give you?”
She pressed her fingers against her forehead.
“When I ran past him, he wasn’t dead yet.”
Adrian waited.
“He grabbed my ankle.”
Her voice shook.
“He put something into my shoe.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
“A small metal object.”
“Where is it?”
“I threw away everything I wore that night.”
Adrian’s disappointment was immediate.
“No,” Elena said suddenly. “Wait.”
She remembered.
“I didn’t throw away the shoes.”
“Why?”
“They belonged to my mother.”
“Where are they?”
Elena looked at him.
“In a storage locker in Connecticut.”
A phone rang.
All three men jumped.
It was the internal secure line.
Adrian answered.
“Moretti.”
A familiar voice responded.
“Adrian.”
Adrian’s face changed.
Uncle Dominic.
“Are you all right?” Dominic asked. “I heard there was an attack.”
Adrian looked at Luca.
How did Dominic know already?
The attack had started less than ten minutes ago.
Adrian’s voice remained calm.
“We’re handling it.”
“Where’s the girl?”
Elena went cold.
Adrian’s gaze locked onto hers.
“What girl?”
A pause.
Then Dominic chuckled.
“Your new housekeeper.”
“How do you know about her?”
Another pause.
“People talk.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“No, Dominic. People don’t talk to you about my housekeeping staff at two in the morning.”
Silence.
Then Dominic said, “Be careful, nephew.”
The line disconnected.
Adrian slowly lowered the phone.
Luca spoke first.
“He knows.”
Adrian nodded.
About Elena.
Possibly about the locker.
Possibly everything.
A security monitor suddenly switched views.
Nico Salerno stood in Adrian’s living room.
He had removed his mask.
He looked directly into the camera.
Then raised his phone.
Adrian’s secure line rang again.
This time Adrian answered on speaker.
Nico laughed.
“You always did like strays, Moretti.”
Adrian’s expression remained still.
“What do you want?”
“The maid.”
“No.”
“She doesn’t belong to you.”
“She doesn’t belong to anyone.”
Elena looked at Adrian.
Nico laughed again.
“She has something that belongs to my family.”
“What?”
“Ask her.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
She shook her head.
Nico continued.
“You have until sunrise.”
“For what?”
“Give her to me.”
“And if I don’t?”
“Then I tell her exactly what you did to her father.”
Elena stopped breathing.
Adrian’s eyes widened.
“My father?”
Nico smiled into the security camera.
“Oh.”
He had achieved exactly what he wanted.
“She doesn’t know.”
Elena turned toward Adrian.
“What is he talking about?”
Adrian said nothing.
Nico’s smile grew.
May you like
“Ask your husband.”
The line went dead.
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