Chapter 7 - A Wife He Never Intended to Own
Edmund ended the call.
“No.”
Vivian stared.
“My mother is there.”
“And my father wants you.”
“So?”
“So you’re not going.”
“You don’t decide that.”
“This time I do.”
She stepped closer.
“You still think marriage gives you ownership.”
“No.”
“Then stop acting like it.”
His control finally cracked.
“I am acting like a man whose father just demanded his wife in exchange for a hostage!”
The vault went silent.
Vivian looked at him.
Wife.
Not asset.
Not Moretti.
Not obligation.
Wife.
Edmund turned away.
Gabriel quietly left them alone.
Vivian spoke softly.
“Why did you really marry me?”
He did not answer.
“Not the protection story.”
“It wasn’t a story.”
“It wasn’t all of it.”
His shoulders lowered.
“No.”
She waited.
Edmund looked at her.
“I met you before.”
“When?”
“Six years ago.”
“The crash?”
“After.”
He had visited the hospital.
She had been unconscious.
Victor sat beside her bed.
Edmund had seen the nineteen-year-old girl whose life had nearly been destroyed because adults around her kept secrets.
“He blamed himself,” Edmund said.
“Dad?”
“Yes.”
“So did I.”
“For what?”
“Your mother.”
Vivian frowned.
“I thought if I had uncovered Salvatore sooner, Evelyn might still be alive.”
“You thought she was dead.”
“Yes.”
“And you protected me because of guilt.”
“At first.”
“At first?”
He looked away.
“When Victor approached me three months ago, I hadn’t seen you in years.”
“But you knew everything about me.”
“I kept track.”
“That sounds unsettling.”
“It was.”
She almost smiled.
“What changed?”
“I met you.”
“Where?”
“The Moretti board meeting.”
Vivian remembered.
A man had sat at the back.
Dark suit.
Watching.
She had not known he was Edmund Costa.
“You argued with six bankers,” he said.
“They deserved it.”
“You saved forty employees from layoffs by selling the private marina instead.”
“It was a useless asset.”
“It belonged to you personally.”
“So?”
“So most people don’t sacrifice their own property first.”
Vivian said nothing.
“I offered the marriage because it would protect you.”
“And?”
“And because I wanted you.”
There it was.
Not romantic.
Not polished.
Honest.
Vivian’s pulse changed.
“You could have asked.”
“You would have said no.”
“Yes.”
“That was the problem.”
She almost laughed.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve heard that.”
“You manipulated me.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
“You infuriate me.”
“I’m aware.”
She stepped closer.
“But you didn’t create my father’s debt.”
“No.”
“You didn’t kill my mother.”
“No.”
“And you didn’t put the second sniper in that building.”
“No.”
Vivian looked at him for a long time.
“Then stop paying for crimes that aren’t yours.”
Something in Edmund’s face softened.
She touched his cheek.
Then kissed him.
Not because guests watched.
Not because a priest told her to.
Because she chose to.
When they separated, Edmund rested his forehead against hers.
“That was a terrible time to do that.”
“I know.”
“I may need another.”
“Survive tonight.”
“Demanding wife.”
“You wanted me.”
He almost smiled.
Then they went to war.
Not with armies.
With evidence.
Gabriel copied the ledger and sent encrypted files to three federal prosecutors, two journalists and an international trafficking task force.
“If we disappear,” Vivian said, “the files become public.”
Edmund looked impressed.
“Insurance.”
“My mother taught me indirectly.”
They created a false ledger.
Then drove to the Costa estate.
Marco met them at the gate.
Alone.
“Vivian stays in the car,” Edmund said.
Marco laughed.
“Still pretending you control this?”
Vivian opened the door.
Edmund cursed.
She walked forward holding the false ledger.
“Where is my mother?”
Marco looked at her.
“You look like Evelyn.”
“I’m told.”
“She caused all this.”
“No. Men like you did.”
His smile disappeared.
“Ledger.”
“Mother.”
Marco gestured toward the house.
Evelyn appeared at an upstairs window.
Alive.
Vivian exhaled.
“Now the ledger.”
She tossed it.
Marco caught it.
Then gunfire erupted from the trees.
Edmund pulled Vivian down.
Costa guards returned fire.
Marco ran toward the house.
Gabriel’s voice came through Edmund’s earpiece.
“Pier Seven. Movement.”
Salvatore was leaving.
Edmund looked at Vivian.
“He never intended to stay.”
“He wanted the ledger before boarding.”
“And Marco was expendable.”
A scream came from inside.
“Mom.”
Vivian ran.
Edmund followed.
They found Evelyn tied in the library.
Marco was gone.
The back door stood open.
Evelyn gasped.
“Pier Seven.”
“We know.”
“No.”
She grabbed Vivian.
“He isn’t taking money.”
“What?”
“He’s taking children.”
Silence.
“How many?”
“Thirty-two.”
Vivian’s blood went cold.
Edmund turned toward the door.
Then Evelyn caught his sleeve.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Salvatore knows the ledger is fake.”
Edmund froze.
“How?”
“Because someone told him before you arrived.”
Only four people knew.
Edmund.
Vivian.
Gabriel.
And Victor.
Vivian slowly looked toward her father.
But Victor was no longer standing behind them.
His chair was empty.
On the table lay his phone.
A new message glowed across the screen.
THANK YOU FOR BRINGING ME WHAT I NEEDED.
May you like
And beneath it was Victor Moretti’s location.
Pier Seven.
