Chapter 9 - THE LAST THING CROSS WANTEDSix weeks passed.
For the first time in years, Elena slept in the same place for more than ten nights.
Adrian gave her the guest wing of his penthouse.
Not his bedroom.
Not even the room beside his.
The choice mattered.
He did not pressure her.
He did not ask what they were.
He attended medical appointments when invited.
Stayed outside when he wasn’t.
Read three books on pregnancy.
Pretended he hadn’t.
Sofia recovered.
Rachel’s daughter grew stronger in neonatal care.
Marcus left Adrian’s security operation and moved Ethan out of Chicago.
Preston Hale remained jailed pending trial.
The Harbor Circle shattered as frightened members began cooperating.
Only Daniel Cross remained.
Then the silence broke.
At 2:11 a.m., Elena woke to a text.
A photograph of Adrian asleep in a chair beside her hospital bed from a recent checkup.
The photo had been taken through glass.
Cross had been watching them.
Message:
HE TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME.
NOW I TAKE EVERYTHING FROM HIM.
Elena sat up.
Adrian was in the doorway almost immediately.
“What?”
She showed him.
His expression changed.
“We leave.”
“Where?”
“Safe house.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“This is what he wants.”
“I don’t care.”
“I do.”
Adrian paced once.
“You are seven months pregnant.”
“And I am tired of being moved like cargo every time Cross sends a message.”
“He can reach us.”
“He already did.”
Adrian stopped.
She stood.
“You want to protect me?”
“Yes.”
“Then listen to me.”
He did.
“Cross is losing options. Hale is gone. The Circle is collapsing. He has no money network, no institutional protection.”
“He has weapons.”
“He also has rage.”
“That makes him more dangerous.”
“Yes. And predictable.”
Adrian studied her.
“What does he want?”
“You.”
Adrian nodded.
“I know.”
“No. He wants you to become the man everyone thinks you are.”
Elena stepped closer.
“He wants a war. Blood. Revenge. He wants you arrested or dead proving him right.”
“And your alternative?”
“We make him come to us.”
“With what bait?”
Elena looked at the files on the table.
“The one thing he can’t allow to exist.”
“Evidence?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“His confession.”
Adrian frowned.
“We don’t have one.”
“Exactly.”
They leaked information that Charles had secretly recorded Cross discussing Margaret Vale’s murder.
No recording existed.
But Cross didn’t know that.
The false report claimed the recording would be handed to prosecutors during a closed proceeding at an old federal courthouse.
Torres hated the plan.
Then approved it with enough agents to fill three city blocks.
Cross came.
Not through the front door.
Not through the roof.
Through an underground utility tunnel built during the 1940s.
Elena waited in a secure room.
Adrian waited in another.
Both wore microphones.
Cross bypassed two security points.
Then electricity died.
Backup power activated.
Gunfire sounded downstairs.
Torres ordered Elena evacuated.
The emergency stairwell was supposed to be clear.
It wasn’t.
Cross stood halfway down.
“Elena.”
She froze.
Two agents raised weapons.
Cross fired.
One agent went down.
The other returned fire.
Elena ran upward.
Cross followed.
She reached the roof.
Rain hammered the concrete.
Wind tore at her coat.
No exit.
Cross emerged.
His arm was bleeding.
Gun in hand.
“You always were trouble.”
Elena backed toward the parapet.
“You killed Noah.”
“Yes.”
“You killed my father.”
“He killed himself by fighting.”
“You killed Margaret.”
Cross smiled.
“She was stubborn.”
Every word was transmitting.
Elena needed more.
“Did Hale order it?”
Cross laughed.
“Still collecting evidence?”
He stepped closer.
“Hale ordered plenty. But Margaret?”
He shook his head.
“I suggested that one.”
Elena felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because Victor was becoming soft.”
“You killed a woman to control her husband.”
“I killed thousands of problems in my career.”
“People aren’t problems.”
“To men like Hale, they are.”
“And to you?”
Cross’s smile disappeared.
“People are leverage.”
Elena touched her stomach.
“Even children?”
“You learned that lesson three years ago.”
“You threatened Sofia and Adrian.”
“And you vanished exactly as expected.”
A door slammed behind Cross.
Adrian appeared.
Gun lowered.
Cross turned.
“There he is.”
Adrian’s expression was unreadable.
“The great Adrian Vale.”
“Let her go.”
Cross smiled.
“There’s the old line.”
“Elena walks away. Whatever you want happens between us.”
“No.”
Elena shouted.
Both men looked at her.
“I am not something you trade.”
Adrian nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then lowered his weapon onto the ground.
Cross laughed.
“Pathetic.”
Adrian moved away from the gun.
Cross aimed at him.
“You know what your father begged me for after Margaret died?”
Adrian remained silent.
“Time.”
Cross stepped closer.
“He begged me not to hurt you and Sofia. The great Victor Vale begging.”
Adrian’s face twitched.
Cross enjoyed it.
“He spent the rest of his life paying Hale. And you spent yours trying to become him.”
“That ends tonight.”
“Does it?”
Cross aimed at Elena.
Adrian’s body shifted instantly.
Cross laughed.
“There. That’s the man I know.”
He wanted Adrian to lunge.
To attack.
To provide justification for the shot.
Instead Adrian remained still.
“You lose either way,” Adrian said.
Cross’s smile faltered.
“The building is surrounded.”
“I’ll shoot her.”
“Then you die.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
Cross’s hand shook.
“You spent thirty years serving powerful men because you wanted to matter. Dying alone on a roof proves you never did.”
Cross’s face changed.
Adrian had found the wound.
Cross pointed the gun directly at him.
Elena saw a laser dot appear on Cross’s chest.
Federal marksman.
Cross didn’t know.
Adrian did.
He remained perfectly still.
“Drop it.”
Cross screamed and fired.
The sniper shot came almost simultaneously.
Cross fell.
Adrian collapsed.
Elena screamed.
She ran toward him.
Blood spread across his white shirt.
“No.”
His eyes were open.
“Elena.”
“Stay with me.”
“It’s okay.”
“No!”
She pressed her hands against his chest.
Cross was dead several feet away.
Agents rushed onto the roof.
Torres pulled Elena back as medics reached Adrian.
The bullet had entered below his shoulder.
Missed his heart.
But blood loss was severe.
At the hospital, Elena sat beside him for eleven hours.
Sofia arrived.
Rachel came in a wheelchair.
Nobody told Elena to leave.
At dawn, Adrian woke.
His first words were:
“Baby?”
Elena laughed through tears.
“Fine.”
“You?”
“Fine.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m exhausted.”
“That I believe.”
She took his hand.
“Cross is dead.”
Adrian nodded slowly.
“Hale?”
“Still in custody.”
“And you?”
She knew what he meant.
Free?
Safe?
Done running?
Elena looked toward the window.
“I think I’m ready to find out.”
He squeezed her hand.
“I don’t expect anything from you.”
“I know.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
She leaned closer.
“There is something I expect from you.”
“What?”
“When our daughter arrives, you do not teach her how to threaten people.”
His eyebrows rose.
“Daughter?”
Elena smiled.
“I found out yesterday.”
For perhaps the first time in his adult life, Adrian Vale looked completely defenseless.
“A girl?”
“A girl.”
He stared at the ceiling.
Then whispered:
“I’m in trouble.”
Elena laughed.
May you like
“Yes.”
And for the first time in years, the future frightened her less than the past.
