Chapter 2 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER EXPECTED QUESTIONSVictor Moretti laughed.
It was the wrong reaction.
Adrian knew men who laughed when they were afraid. Some became loud. Some became insulting. Some started explaining things nobody had asked them to explain.
Victor belonged to the third category.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” he said. “Is this what this is about?”
Elena stood beside the window with both arms wrapped around herself.
Adrian remained between her and Victor.
“What exactly do you think this is about?” Adrian asked.
“My daughter has always been clumsy.”
Elena lowered her eyes.
Victor continued.
“She rides horses. She trips over furniture. She bruises if somebody looks at her too hard.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“A remarkable medical condition.”
Victor smiled.
“You’re making something out of nothing.”
“Then you won’t object to a doctor examining her.”
Elena’s head snapped up.
Victor’s smile disappeared.
“She doesn’t need a doctor.”
Adrian looked at him.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“I asked Elena.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Exactly.”
Silence.
Victor’s expression hardened.
“You married into my family six hours ago, Vale. Don’t suddenly pretend you understand my daughter better than I do.”
“I don’t.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“That’s why I’m asking questions.”
Victor lowered his voice.
“This marriage exists because our families need each other.”
“Business can wait.”
“No, it can’t.”
“Then perhaps you should have considered that before delivering your daughter to my house looking like someone used her as a punching bag.”
Elena flinched at the words.
Adrian regretted them immediately.
Not because they were inaccurate.
Because her reaction reminded him this conversation involved her, not just Victor.
He turned.
“Elena, would you like your father to leave?”
She glanced at Victor.
Her father stared back.
The threat in his face was almost invisible.
Almost.
Adrian saw it.
Elena swallowed.
“Yes.”
Victor’s head jerked toward her.
“What did you say?”
Adrian moved before Elena could shrink.
He stood directly in Victor’s line of sight.
“She said yes.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Dante.”
The door opened immediately.
Victor looked over Adrian’s shoulder.
“You had him listening?”
“No. I have men who recognize when my patience is running out.”
Dante entered with another guard.
“Escort Mr. Moretti downstairs.”
Victor stared at Elena.
“We’ll discuss this tomorrow.”
“No,” Adrian said.
Victor ignored him.
“Elena.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“You will not give her instructions in my home.”
Victor’s eyes turned cold.
“She is my daughter.”
“She is twenty-six.”
“And my daughter.”
“She asked you to leave.”
Victor’s mouth tightened.
Then he smiled.
“You think you’re rescuing some frightened little princess?”
Elena’s face changed.
Victor noticed.
That smile widened.
Adrian felt the room become dangerous.
“You know nothing about her,” Victor said. “Nothing about what she’s capable of.”
“Take him downstairs.”
Dante put a hand near Victor’s arm.
Victor jerked away.
“Touch me and every arrangement between our organizations disappears.”
Adrian shrugged.
“So disappear.”
Victor stared at him.
That answer genuinely surprised him.
Men like Victor understood leverage.
They did not understand people willing to lose money to protect a principle.
Adrian had discovered years ago that unpredictability was often more powerful than brutality.
Victor finally walked out.
The door closed.
Elena remained motionless for several seconds.
Then her knees gave way.
Adrian reached toward her.
She recoiled.
He stopped.
“Sorry.”
She sat against the side of the bed, breathing too quickly.
Adrian crouched several feet away.
“Elena.”
“I’m fine.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“He’ll punish them.”
“Who?”
She realized what she had said.
Her eyes closed.
Adrian waited.
When she opened them again, they were wet.
“My brother.”
“Luca?”
She nodded.
“And Rosa.”
“Who is Rosa?”
“Our housekeeper.”
Adrian frowned.
“She’s been with my family since I was little.”
“What does your father have over them?”
“My brother has debts.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“What kind?”
Elena gave him a tired smile.
“The kind my father created.”
That was more useful than she realized.
Adrian sat in the chair opposite her.
“He controls Luca financially.”
“Yes.”
“And Rosa?”
“Her daughter works for one of his companies. Immigration sponsorship. Apartment. Everything.”
“So your father builds cages.”
Elena stared at him.
“You understand quickly.”
“I’ve met men like him.”
“You are a man like him.”
The words hung between them.
Adrian did not react defensively.
Perhaps he deserved them.
“What have you heard about me?”
“That you had Michael Ferraro thrown from a bridge.”
“He is alive.”
She blinked.
“That is your defense?”
“No. My defense is that he actually jumped while running from the police.”
A tiny sound escaped Elena.
Almost a laugh.
She seemed startled by it.
Adrian leaned back.
“What else?”
“That you broke a man’s hands for stealing from you.”
“That one is true.”
Her expression closed again.
Adrian added, “He kidnapped one of my employees’ children to force the employee to help him.”
Elena studied him.
“You always have an explanation?”
“No.”
That answer surprised her.
“There are things I have done that I would not defend to you.”
“Why tell me that?”
“Because I want you to understand something.”
He leaned forward.
“I’m not asking you to trust me because I’m a good man.”
Her eyes met his.
“I’m asking you to judge what I do from this moment forward.”
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Adrian asked, “Will you let my doctor examine you?”
“No hospitals.”
“My doctor will come here.”
“Who?”
“Dr. Claire Bennett. She’s treated my family for twelve years.”
“Does she work for you?”
“No. She reminds me frequently that I’m unbearable.”
Elena almost smiled again.
“Will she tell anyone?”
“Only what you authorize, except where the law requires otherwise.”
That made Elena hesitate.
“What if I refuse?”
“Then you refuse.”
“You won’t get angry?”
“No.”
She looked genuinely confused by the concept.
Adrian hated Victor a little more.
Finally, she nodded.
“All right.”
Adrian texted Dante.
Twenty-five minutes later, Claire arrived carrying a medical bag and wearing jeans beneath a winter coat.
She was in her late forties, direct and unimpressed by wealth.
She entered the bedroom and immediately looked at Adrian.
“Out.”
Adrian nodded.
Elena looked alarmed.
He stopped at the door.
“I’ll be outside.”
She whispered, “Okay.”
It was the first time she seemed disappointed that he was leaving.
Adrian waited in the hallway.
Twenty minutes became forty.
Forty became fifty-five.
His men moved quietly through the estate.
Victor Moretti was still downstairs, furious.
Adrian did not care.
When Claire finally emerged, her face was unreadable.
“Can I speak freely?”
“Did Elena authorize it?”
“Yes.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
Claire closed the door behind her.
“The bruises are in different stages of healing.”
Adrian’s expression went flat.
“How long?”
“Some recent. Some older.”
“How old?”
“Several weeks.”
He looked toward the bedroom.
Claire continued.
“She also has an untreated fracture in one finger that appears several months old.”
Adrian said nothing.
“And scars.”
His jaw clenched.
Claire put a hand on his arm.
“Do not go downstairs angry.”
“I’m not angry.”
“That is exactly why I’m worried.”
Adrian met her eyes.
“Did she tell you who did it?”
“No.”
“Then I won’t assume.”
“Good.”
Claire lowered her voice.
“She asked me whether bruises could prove who caused them.”
“And?”
“I told her no.”
Adrian understood.
“She wants evidence.”
“I think she wants safety first.”
The door opened.
Elena stood there wearing one of Adrian’s oversized black shirts over pajama pants Claire had found in the guest closet.
She looked smaller without the wedding gown.
Younger.
But something had changed.
She was holding a folded piece of paper.
“Adrian.”
He turned.
“What is it?”
She looked down at the paper.
“If I tell you the truth, you have to promise me something.”
“What?”
“You don’t kill anyone.”
The hallway went silent.
Dante deliberately looked away.
Adrian studied her.
“That’s a difficult promise when I don’t know what I’m promising about.”
“Then I won’t tell you.”
He considered it.
“Fine.”
Her eyes widened.
“You promise?”
“I promise I will not kill anyone because of what you tell me tonight.”
She nodded.
Then she held out the paper.
It was a photocopy of a legal document.
At the top were the words:
MORETTI FAMILY HOLDINGS — IRREVOCABLE TRUST AMENDMENT.
Adrian read the first page.
Then the second.
By the third, he understood why Victor Moretti had been desperate to arrange this marriage.
And why Elena had been terrified to refuse.
The document stated that upon Elena’s marriage, controlling rights to a collection of companies inherited from her late grandmother would transfer into a joint marital trust.
A trust Adrian had supposedly agreed to.
Except he had never seen this document.
His signature appeared on the final page.
A perfect imitation.
Forged.
Adrian looked up.
“My father needs your name,” Elena whispered.
“For what?”
“To steal everything my grandmother left me.”
Adrian glanced at the valuation.
Nine hundred and forty million dollars.
“And the bruises?”
Elena began shaking.
“He said if I ruined the wedding, Luca would disappear.”
Adrian felt the blood drain from his face.
She continued.
“And if I told you anything…”
Her voice broke.
“…he said you’d think I was damaged goods and send me back.”
Adrian folded the document carefully.
Then he looked toward the staircase.
Victor was somewhere below them.
Probably pouring himself a drink.
Probably still convinced money protected him.
Adrian handed the papers to Dante.
“Scan every page.”
Dante nodded.
“Then send copies to Harrison.”
“Elena’s father’s attorney?”
“No.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“My attorney.”
Elena stared at him.
“What are you going to do?”
Adrian walked toward the stairs.
He stopped beside her.
“Exactly what I promised.”
“You said you wouldn’t kill anyone.”
“I won’t.”
A cold smile touched his face.
“I’m going to do something your father fears much more.”
“What?”
May you like
Adrian looked downstairs.
“I’m going to make him poor.”
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