Chapter 4 - The Woman Adrian Once Loved
Harper showed the message to Gabriel.
His expression turned murderous.
Marco looked less surprised.
“You knew,” Harper said.
“No.”
“You suspected her.”
“I suspect everyone.”
“Where would she take him?”
Marco paced.
“If Sofia is involved, she won't work alone.”
Gabriel was already calling people.
Harper looked again at the photograph.
Adrian appeared conscious.
No visible new injuries.
Behind him, a concrete wall.
One overhead light.
Nothing else.
Harper enlarged the image.
“What is that?”
Gabriel leaned closer.
A faded blue symbol was painted on the wall.
Marco recognized it.
“Pier Seventeen.”
Gabriel looked up.
“The old Moretti warehouse?”
“My father closed it five years ago.”
Harper grabbed her coat.
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
“I'm coming.”
“They used your name to lure him there.”
“Exactly.”
“You're a waitress, Harper.”
She stepped closer.
“And apparently I'm the only person in this family who hasn't spent twenty years lying to him.”
Marco had no answer.
They left.
The old warehouse stood near the waterfront, surrounded by rusted fencing and abandoned loading equipment.
Gabriel's men spread out.
Harper remained behind a vehicle until Marco disappeared around the building.
Then she followed.
Inside, Adrian sat beneath the hanging light.
Sofia stood several feet away.
Harper couldn't hear everything at first.
Then Sofia's voice became clear.
“You should have listened to me.”
Adrian looked exhausted but calm.
“You shot me because I wouldn't listen?”
“I didn't shoot you.”
“You arranged the meeting.”
“I arranged a conversation.”
“With gunmen?”
Sofia's face tightened.
“That wasn't supposed to happen.”
Adrian studied her.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I wanted you frightened.”
“Congratulations.”
“I wanted you to understand that dismantling your father's network has consequences.”
“People aren't a network, Sofia.”
“They depend on the Morettis.”
“Loan sharks depend on us. Corrupt officials depend on us. Smugglers depend on us.”
“And hundreds of legitimate employees.”
“I'm protecting them.”
“By changing things carefully.”
“You're destroying your father's legacy.”
“My father destroyed enough lives.”
Sofia slapped the table beside him.
“Your father protected this family!”
Adrian's eyes hardened.
“My father frightened this family.”
Harper saw movement behind Sofia.
A man emerged from the shadows.
Black knit cap.
The same man Harper had seen outside her apartment.
He removed it.
Harper recognized him from one of the photographs in the mansion.
Vittorio's longtime attorney.
Daniel Rourke.
Adrian looked at him.
“So there you are.”
Rourke smiled.
“You always were difficult.”
Sofia turned.
“This wasn't our agreement.”
“No,” Rourke said. “It wasn't.”
Something changed.
Sofia suddenly looked afraid.
Adrian saw it too.
“You thought he was helping you.”
Rourke laughed.
“Sofia thought we were teaching you a lesson.”
Sofia backed away.
“You said nobody would die.”
“I say many things.”
Adrian looked at her.
“The harbor?”
Sofia's eyes filled with horror.
“I arranged for men to stop you. Scare you. That's all.”
Rourke interrupted.
“I improved the plan.”
Harper understood.
Rourke wanted Adrian dead.
And he wanted Marco blamed.
“Why?” Adrian asked.
Rourke walked closer.
“Because your father understood something you never did. Power only works when people believe you'll use it.”
“You've been stealing from the organization.”
Rourke's smile disappeared.
Adrian continued.
“That's why you don't want the books opened.”
Rourke said nothing.
“I found discrepancies after my father died. Shell companies. Missing cash. Properties transferred through false trusts.”
Sofia stared at Rourke.
“You told me Adrian was stealing.”
“He was changing things.”
“You lied to me.”
Rourke shrugged.
“You wanted to believe it.”
Harper quietly moved behind a stack of crates.
Her phone was recording.
Rourke continued talking.
“For twelve years, Vittorio let me manage what he didn't want to see. Millions moved through my hands.”
“And when I started auditing,” Adrian said, “you panicked.”
“I adapted.”
“You turned Marco against me.”
“Your brother required very little encouragement.”
“You manipulated Sofia.”
“She volunteered.”
Sofia looked devastated.
Rourke pulled a gun.
Harper stopped breathing.
“Now,” he said, “Adrian Moretti disappears.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“No.”
Rourke pointed the weapon toward her.
“You've become inconvenient too.”
Harper's thumb hovered over Gabriel's number.
She sent her location.
Then a floorboard creaked beneath her boot.
Rourke spun.
“Who's there?”
Harper ran.
A shot cracked into the ceiling behind her.
Adrian surged against the chair.
“Harper!”
She ducked behind machinery.
Rourke shouted to two men.
“Find her!”
Harper's heart hammered.
Footsteps approached.
She remembered the warehouse entrance.
Twenty yards.
Maybe thirty.
A man appeared.
Harper grabbed a loose metal pipe and slammed it against a hanging chain.
The noise echoed from the opposite side.
The man turned.
Harper sprinted.
She reached Adrian instead of the exit.
“What are you doing?” he whispered furiously.
“Saving you again.”
“Terrible habit.”
She cut at the plastic restraint around his wrists with a utility knife she'd grabbed from a workbench.
“Faster.”
“I'm trying.”
Footsteps.
The restraint snapped.
Adrian stood.
Pain nearly dropped him.
Harper caught him.
“Can you walk?”
“Apparently that's our relationship now.”
Despite everything, Harper almost laughed.
They moved toward the rear exit.
Sofia appeared.
Harper froze.
Sofia held a gun.
Adrian stepped in front of Harper.
“Sofia.”
Her hand trembled.
Then she turned the weapon away from them.
“Go.”
Adrian stared.
“Sofia—”
“Go!”
Rourke appeared behind her.
His gun rose.
Sofia fired first.
The bullet struck a metal beam beside him.
Chaos erupted.
Adrian pulled Harper behind cover.
Seconds later, Gabriel and his men entered from both sides.
Rourke fled through a rear loading door.
Marco followed.
Police sirens approached.
Sofia dropped her weapon and raised her hands.
Adrian stared at her.
“You knew enough to stop this.”
Tears rolled down her face.
“I thought I was protecting what your father built.”
“You almost got Harper killed.”
Sofia looked toward Harper.
“I know.”
Detective Mercer entered with officers.
Rourke had escaped.
But Harper still had the recording.
She handed Mercer her phone.
“Everything he said is there.”
Mercer listened.
His expression changed.
“This could expose half the operation.”
Adrian nodded.
“That's the idea.”
Marco returned alone.
“He got away.”
Adrian studied him.
“You chased him.”
“He tried to kill my brother.”
Something passed between them.
Not forgiveness.
But perhaps the beginning of it.
Sofia was taken into custody for questioning.
Before leaving, she stopped beside Adrian.
“I did love you.”
Adrian looked at her sadly.
“I know.”
That seemed worse than anger.
After everyone left, Harper stood beside the waterfront.
Adrian joined her.
“You should go home.”
“Is my apartment still standing?”
“Probably.”
“Encouraging.”
He looked at her.
“You saved me twice.”
“You're keeping count?”
“I owe you.”
“No.”
“Harper—”
“I don't want your money.”
“I wasn't offering money.”
She looked up.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
The cold wind moved between them.
Adrian's hand lifted as though he intended to touch her cheek.
Then Gabriel interrupted.
“Boss.”
Adrian lowered his hand.
“What?”
Gabriel handed him a folder recovered from Rourke's abandoned vehicle.
Inside were bank records.
Property documents.
Photographs.
Then Harper saw one name.
Her own.
HARPER LANE.
Her address.
Her employment.
Her mother's name.
Everything.
Adrian turned pages faster.
Rourke had investigated Harper before the night of the shooting.
Before she rescued Adrian.
“That doesn't make sense,” Harper whispered.
Adrian stared at the date printed on the report.
It had been created three weeks earlier.
Harper looked at him.
“Why was he watching me before I ever met you?”
Adrian didn't answer.
Then he reached the final page.
A photograph was clipped there.
Harper's mother.
May you like
Standing beside Vittorio Moretti.
Twenty-three years earlier.
