Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN LUCIA TRUSTED
Eleanor Russo looked nothing like the frightened old woman who had entered the Romano mansion hours earlier.
Her shoulders were straight.
Her hand did not shake.
The pistol pointed at the floor between Adrian and the hidden ledger.
“Move away from the case.”
Adrian didn't.
“You told me my mother was murdered.”
“She was.”
“You told me Vanessa was lying.”
“She is.”
“You told Emily her mother was alive.”
“She is.”
Eleanor's mouth tightened.
“The most effective lies contain mostly truth.”
Michael shifted toward his weapon.
Eleanor raised the gun.
“Don't.”
He stopped.
Evelyn stared at her.
“You were there.”
Eleanor's expression softened.
“Yes.”
“At the Rose Room.”
“Yes.”
“You helped them poison Lucia.”
“No.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Your voice gave the order.”
“My voice discussed a contingency.”
“What does that distinction buy you?”
“About thirty seconds, if you'd let the tape continue.”
Nobody trusted her.
But Adrian pressed PLAY.
Static.
Then Eleanor's recorded voice continued.
“If Lucia reaches the hospital, the contingency is immediate isolation. No medication from anyone outside Dr. Bennett's team. Richard has already compromised three physicians.”
A male voice cursed.
Carlo.
“You're protecting her.”
“I am preventing murder.”
Richard Cross spoke next.
“Then perhaps Lucia isn't the only Romano who needs replacing.”
The recording erupted into overlapping voices.
Eleanor lowered her gun.
“I was inside the Circle because Lucia asked me to be.”
Adrian stared.
“An informant.”
“Yes.”
“Why point a gun at us?”
“Because somebody followed you.”
Almost on cue, a bullet shattered the chapel window.
Eleanor fired toward the darkness.
“Down!”
Everyone moved.
Adrian dragged Emily behind the stone altar.
Michael returned fire.
Evelyn crawled toward the hidden steel case.
Another shot cracked against the pedestal.
Then Marco's voice came through the rear entrance.
“Romano security!”
The attack ended as quickly as it began.
A dark SUV fled through the cemetery.
One wounded attacker was left behind.
He refused to speak.
Adrian looked toward Eleanor.
“You might have started with 'sniper outside.'”
“I wasn't sure which one of you led him here.”
Michael laughed without humor.
“Still charming.”
Eleanor looked at him.
“You're still alive, unfortunately.”
Emily stared between them.
“Did everyone know everyone except me?”
“Pretty much,” Michael said.
They removed the ledger and returned to the farmhouse.
The document contained names dating back thirty years.
Judges.
Federal contractors.
Real estate developers.
Police officers.
Union officials.
Shipping executives.
But entire sections had been encoded.
Adrian turned pages until he found his father's handwriting.
At the bottom of one sheet appeared:
CROSS — SUCCESSOR PROTOCOL ACTIVE.
“What is successor protocol?” Emily asked.
Eleanor answered.
“A contingency allowing the Circle to rebuild after leadership losses.”
“Through Vanessa and Anthony.”
“Yes.”
Eleanor sat across from Adrian.
“Richard has spent eleven years rebuilding alliances quietly. Your engagement was the final piece.”
Adrian's expression hardened.
“I proposed to Vanessa.”
“Because she spent three years becoming exactly the woman you thought you wanted.”
That landed.
Emily watched his face.
He had not merely been deceived strategically.
He had been deceived intimately.
Eleanor continued.
“Her father's people studied you. Your routines. Preferences. The charities your mother supported. Even the music you dislike.”
Michael muttered, “Long con.”
Adrian stared at the ledger.
“What was Vanessa supposed to do after marriage?”
“Convince you to consolidate voting shares into a marital trust.”
“She suggested that six months ago.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Then once your financial structure changed—”
“Kill me.”
Nobody answered.
Adrian closed the ledger.
“Where is Vanessa now?”
Eleanor didn't know.
But the answer arrived twenty minutes later.
Marco came inside holding a phone.
“Boss.”
A video call.
Vanessa.
Adrian answered.
She appeared inside a dim room.
No makeup.
Red dress gone.
Hair pulled back.
For the first time, she looked exhausted rather than polished.
“Hello, darling.”
Adrian's voice contained ice.
“Where's your father?”
Vanessa smiled faintly.
“You finally know.”
“Where?”
“Alive.”
“I gathered.”
Emily watched Vanessa's eyes move.
Someone stood behind the camera.
“Your father wants the ledger.”
Vanessa ignored Emily.
“You have something that belongs to us.”
Adrian laughed softly.
“My father's ledger?”
“The Circle's ledger.”
“Funny. Everyone seems to own it.”
Vanessa's expression changed.
“Bring it tomorrow at noon.”
“Where?”
“You'll receive the location.”
“And why would I?”
Vanessa looked off-camera.
A second video window appeared.
Emily stopped breathing.
Her father.
Thomas Parker.
Sitting in a wheelchair.
A man stood behind him.
The rehab facility room was unmistakable.
Emily grabbed the phone.
“Dad!”
Thomas looked terrified.
Vanessa continued.
“You were so busy chasing dead women, you forgot the living man.”
Emily's face went white.
Adrian looked at Marco.
Marco was already calling security.
Vanessa smiled.
“Don't bother. His room has been empty for seventeen minutes.”
Adrian's voice turned lethal.
“If he's harmed—”
“He won't be. Unless you disappoint my father.”
The call ended.
Emily stood frozen.
“This is because of me.”
Adrian immediately said, “No.”
“My father—”
“This is because of Richard Cross.”
“He wouldn't even be involved if I hadn't—”
Adrian stepped directly in front of her.
“Emily.”
She looked up.
He spoke quietly.
“Do not help these people by carrying their guilt for them.”
The words stopped her.
Evelyn looked away, emotional.
Adrian turned to Marco.
“Find the vehicle.”
Within thirty minutes, they reconstructed the abduction.
Fake ambulance.
Forged transfer order.
Two staff members paid.
One camera disabled.
But another camera captured the ambulance plate.
It belonged to a company called Meridian Patient Logistics.
Michael recognized the name.
“Front corporation.”
“For Cross?”
“For Anthony.”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“Good.”
He called his cousin.
Anthony answered on the fourth ring.
“Adrian. Hell of a party.”
“Where's Thomas Parker?”
Silence.
Then a sigh.
“You really did open the third floor.”
“Yes.”
“You should have left it shut.”
“Where is he?”
Anthony's voice changed.
“Give them the ledger.”
“Them?”
“I don't control Richard.”
“But you're working with him.”
“I made an agreement.”
“To inherit after I'm dead?”
Anthony went silent.
Adrian continued.
“You could have asked for a company division. Money. Territory.”
“You inherited everything.”
“You never told me you wanted more.”
Anthony laughed bitterly.
“That's the problem with kings, cousin. They think people should be grateful for crumbs because the table is expensive.”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“You toasted loyalty in my ballroom.”
“I learned that word from this family.”
Then Anthony lowered his voice.
“Listen carefully. Richard isn't planning an exchange.”
Adrian glanced at Emily.
“What is he planning?”
“He wants everyone connected to Lucia in one location.”
“Why?”
“To finish what Carlo couldn't.”
The call disconnected.
Adrian immediately called back.
No answer.
Marco entered.
“We found the ambulance.”
“Where?”
“Abandoned near the river.”
“Thomas?”
“No.”
“But there was blood.”
Emily closed her eyes.
Adrian grabbed his jacket.
Then Marco continued.
“And something written on the inside wall.”
“What?”
Marco showed him a photograph.
A shaky message had been scratched into the painted metal, probably with a key.
Emily recognized her father's uneven handwriting.
NOT NOON.
MIDNIGHT.
ROSE ROOM.
Evelyn stared.
“He knows where they're taking him.”
Adrian looked at Eleanor.
“Where is the Rose Room now?”
She slowly stood.
“The original one never moved.”
Michael frowned.
“You told me—”
“I lied.”
“Where?”
Eleanor looked at Adrian.
“Beneath Romano Shipping Warehouse Nine.”
Adrian's face changed.
Warehouse Nine was his largest riverfront facility.
Hundreds of employees.
Millions in cargo.
His property.
His security.
His empire.
And beneath it, apparently, sat the room where his mother's death had been planned.
Marco's phone buzzed.
He looked down.
“Boss.”
Adrian turned.
“What?”
“Warehouse Nine's fire alarm just activated.”
A second alert appeared.
Then another.
Emergency cameras came online.
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Onscreen, flames were already climbing through the loading bay.
And tied to a chair behind a glass office wall was Thomas Parker.
