Chapter 3 - The Second Contract
Vivian stared at her own name.
“I never signed that.”
Antonio smiled.
“No. But your father did.”
Victor struggled against the ropes.
“Don’t listen to him.”
Antonio tossed the document toward Edmund.
It landed on the stone floor.
Edmund picked it up.
His expression darkened with every line.
“What does it say?” Vivian demanded.
Edmund looked at Victor.
“You pledged controlling interest in Moretti Shipping.”
Victor said nothing.
“To whom?” Vivian asked.
Antonio answered.
“To whoever married you.”
Vivian felt suddenly hollow.
The marriage had never been payment.
It had been ownership.
Not of her.
Of the company.
She turned toward Edmund.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
Antonio chuckled.
“Careful, son. Marriage requires trust.”
Edmund’s gun rose.
“Seventeen years.”
Antonio’s smile faded.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“It kept you alive.”
“You left me to bury you.”
“I made you strong.”
“You made me alone.”
The words were quiet.
That made them worse.
Vivian saw something she had never imagined seeing in Edmund Costa.
A wounded son.
Antonio stepped closer.
“Elena and I uncovered something larger than either family. Victor had allowed outsiders into the ports. They were using our companies.”
Victor snapped, “You were using mine!”
“After you gambled it into pieces.”
Vivian looked between them.
“Where is my mother?”
Antonio’s eyes softened.
“Safe.”
“Where?”
“Pier Seventeen.”
Edmund swore.
Antonio continued.
“The shot tonight wasn’t meant to kill Edmund.”
Vivian remembered the bullet.
“What?”
“It was meant to expose the traitor inside his security team.”
Edmund turned sharply toward Luca.
Luca looked equally stunned.
Antonio nodded toward the casing.
“The shooter intentionally missed.”
“You put Vivian in the line of fire,” Edmund said.
“I didn’t order the shot.”
“Who did?”
Antonio hesitated.
That was enough.
Edmund moved.
He grabbed his father by the coat.
“Who?”
“Elena.”
Vivian’s stomach dropped.
“My mother shot at my husband?”
“She hired someone to test his security.”
“That is insane.”
Antonio did not disagree.
A phone rang.
Not Vivian’s.
Victor’s.
Luca retrieved it from Victor’s pocket.
The screen displayed one word.
ELENA.
Vivian answered.
“Mom?”
Silence.
Then a breath.
“Vivian.”
Her knees weakened.
Eleven years.
Eleven years since she had heard that voice.
“Where are you?”
“Listen carefully.”
“Mom—”
“You need to leave the Costa estate.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who arranged your marriage is there.”
Vivian looked at Victor.
“He’s tied to a chair.”
“I’m not talking about your father.”
Her eyes moved to Antonio.
“Antonio?”
“No.”
Edmund watched her.
Vivian whispered, “Then who?”
The line went silent.
A gunshot exploded above them.
Dust fell from the ceiling.
Luca opened the hidden door.
Shouting echoed from the cellar.
Security men rushed down.
“The ballroom’s locked down,” one said. “We caught someone accessing the eastern cameras.”
“Who?” Edmund asked.
The guard hesitated.
“Your aunt.”
Edmund went still.
“Teresa?”
Vivian remembered Teresa Costa.
Elegant.
Warm.
The only Costa who had treated Vivian kindly during the wedding.
Antonio whispered something in Italian.
Edmund looked at his father.
“What?”
Antonio’s face had changed.
Fear.
“She knows Elena is alive.”
Another gunshot.
Then the lights went out.
Darkness swallowed the tunnel.
Vivian felt Edmund’s hand find hers instantly.
“Stay with me.”
Someone screamed.
A body hit the floor.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Victor’s chair was empty.
His ropes lay cut.
Antonio had vanished too.
Luca stared toward the tunnel.
“They planned this.”
Edmund pulled Vivian toward the stairs.
“Move.”
They reached the ballroom.
Chaos had finally broken through the elegant illusion.
Guests clustered near exits.
Security searched rooms.
Vivian saw Teresa near the stage.
She was holding a champagne glass.
Perfectly calm.
Their eyes met.
Teresa smiled.
Then she raised the glass toward Vivian.
Edmund moved toward her.
Teresa set the glass down.
“Beautiful wedding.”
“Where is Victor?”
“No idea.”
“Where is Elena?”
Teresa’s smile disappeared.
“So she finally told you.”
Vivian stepped forward.
“Told me what?”
Teresa looked at Edmund.
“You really married her without knowing?”
“Knowing what?”
Teresa laughed softly.
“Antonio always did enjoy complicated games.”
Edmund grabbed her arm.
“Enough.”
Teresa leaned closer.
“Ask Vivian why Elena chose your father that night at Pier Seventeen.”
Vivian’s blood ran cold.
“My mother chose Antonio?”
Teresa looked almost sympathetic.
“Elena wasn’t meeting him to expose Victor.”
Edmund’s grip loosened.
“She was leaving with him.”
Silence.
Vivian stared at Edmund.
Their parents had been lovers.
Before either could speak, Luca approached with a tablet.
“We recovered part of the deleted footage.”
The screen showed the eastern gallery minutes before the shot.
A hooded figure placed the rifle.
Then someone else entered.
Victor.
He spoke to the shooter.
Vivian watched her father hand over something.
An envelope.
The shooter removed the hood.
Vivian leaned closer.
The face was unmistakable.
The woman in the photograph.
Her mother.
Elena looked directly into the security camera.
Then held up a handwritten sign.
EDMUND, IF YOU’RE WATCHING THIS, YOU HAVE TEN MINUTES.
She flipped it.
BRING MY DAUGHTER TO PIER SEVENTEEN.
One final card.
COME ALONE OR I TELL HER WHAT YOU DID.
Vivian slowly turned toward her husband.
“What did you do?”
Edmund did not answer.
His phone vibrated.
A live video appeared.
Elena stood inside a warehouse.
Behind her, Victor was tied to a chair again.
Antonio stood beside him.
Then Elena stepped aside.
A fourth person was kneeling on the floor.
Luca.
Vivian looked beside her.
The man she had believed was Luca was still standing there.
Edmund understood first.
He raised his gun.
May you like
The false Luca smiled.
Then every light in the ballroom went black.
