Chapter 4 - The Man Who Wanted Them Apart
Adrian Vale appeared on the screen.
Luciano said nothing.
That frightened Kate more than shouting would have.
Adrian looked older than he had the last time Luciano saw him. His tie was gone. His usually immaculate hair was disordered.
“Luciano.”
“Where are you?”
“That isn’t important.”
“You used a dead woman’s contact name.”
“I needed Kate to answer.”
Kate’s expression hardened.
“You could have called like a normal human being.”
Adrian looked genuinely ashamed.
“I’m sorry.”
Luciano leaned toward the phone.
“Start talking.”
“Not on this line.”
“You called this line.”
“Because Matteo can monitor yours.”
Luciano’s eyes narrowed.
“So you’re blaming Matteo.”
“I’m telling you the truth.”
“You intercepted Kate’s letter.”
Adrian went silent.
There it was.
Kate’s fingers tightened around Luciano’s hand.
“Did you?” she whispered.
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Luciano stood.
Kate held on.
He stopped.
“Why?”
“Because I thought I was protecting both of you.”
“From what?”
“From Matteo.”
Luciano’s expression remained unreadable.
Adrian continued.
“Years ago, your father created restrictions around the family holding structure. If you remained married and had a biological heir, certain voting rights consolidated under your branch.”
Kate stared at the screen.
Luciano understood first.
“And if my marriage ended before the child was acknowledged?”
“Matteo could challenge control.”
Silence.
Kate whispered, “This was about money?”
Adrian shook his head.
“Not only money. Control.”
Luciano’s voice became low.
“Why help him?”
“I didn’t.”
“You intercepted the letter.”
“Because Matteo already knew Kate was pregnant.”
Luciano looked at Kate.
“How?”
Adrian continued.
“One of the clinic’s administrative systems was compromised. I discovered it after Matteo asked me a question he should never have known to ask.”
“What question?”
“He asked whether an unborn child counted as an heir under the trust.”
Luciano’s face changed.
“I realized he knew.”
“And your solution was to keep me ignorant?”
“My solution was to make Matteo believe you were ignorant.”
Kate stared.
“You let me believe my husband abandoned his child.”
Adrian’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“You let him believe I wanted a divorce.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo needed the marriage to collapse. I thought if he believed it was already happening, he would stop escalating.”
Luciano’s voice cut through the room.
“You thought wrong.”
“Yes.”
Adrian looked exhausted.
“Terribly.”
“Where are you?”
“Twenty minutes away.”
“Come here.”
“I can’t.”
“Adrian.”
“If Matteo realizes I’ve told you—”
Luciano interrupted.
“He already knows.”
Adrian froze.
“How?”
“Someone left your transfer document in my child’s crib.”
Adrian went pale.
“What transfer document?”
Luciano described it.
Adrian shook his head.
“That isn’t mine.”
“It has your signature.”
“He has copies of my signature.”
“And yours appears on the transfer.”
“I never signed it.”
Luciano glanced at Kate.
Too many documents.
Too many forged messages.
Too many people speaking through other people.
Kate seemed to reach the same conclusion.
“No more phones,” she said.
Both men looked at her.
“No more messages. No more documents passed through someone else. If you have something to say, Adrian, come here and say it to our faces.”
Our.
Luciano noticed the word.
So did Kate.
Neither acknowledged it.
Adrian looked off-screen.
“I’ll try.”
The call ended.
Luciano immediately called Elena.
“Where are you?”
“Kitchen.”
“Lock the exterior doors.”
“Why?”
“Do it.”
Kate looked at him.
“No panic.”
“I’m not panicking.”
“You’re doing the jaw thing.”
“What jaw thing?”
“The thing where you look like you’re planning to personally intimidate gravity.”
Despite herself, Margaret laughed.
Even Luciano almost smiled.
Then Kate’s expression changed.
She gripped his hand.
“Contraction.”
Margaret moved.
The next ten minutes erased everything else.
Luciano stayed beside Kate because she did not release him.
He counted breaths when Margaret told him.
He gave Kate water.
He did exactly what he was instructed to do.
Nothing more.
Nothing less.
When the contraction passed, Kate leaned back.
“You’re surprisingly trainable.”
Luciano stared at her.
“I’m going to pretend that was affection.”
“It wasn’t.”
But she was smiling.
Barely.
It disappeared when headlights swept across the curtains.
Luciano stood.
Elena called from downstairs.
“Someone’s here.”
“Stay inside.”
He looked at Margaret.
“Call me if anything changes.”
Kate caught his wrist.
“Don’t do anything stupid.”
“I never do.”
She gave him a look.
“Luciano.”
He bent closer.
“I’m going downstairs. I’m opening a door. I’m having a conversation.”
“That sounds suspiciously reasonable.”
“I’m evolving.”
He left.
Adrian stood outside.
Alone.
Luciano opened the door but did not invite him in.
Adrian looked toward the upstairs windows.
“Kate?”
“Stable.”
“The baby?”
“Stable.”
Adrian exhaled.
Luciano stepped aside.
“Study.”
They entered.
Elena watched from the hall.
Luciano closed the door.
Adrian placed a flash drive on the desk.
“Everything is there.”
“What is everything?”
“Emails. Transfers. Copies of forged correspondence. Access logs.”
“Why didn’t you bring this to me months ago?”
“Because I was trying to gather enough proof.”
“You sacrificed my marriage while you gathered proof.”
“I know.”
“No. You don’t.”
Adrian looked down.
“You’re right.”
Luciano opened a laptop and inserted the drive.
Folders appeared.
He opened the first.
Messages between Adrian and Matteo.
Matteo’s language was careful.
Nothing directly incriminating.
But patterns emerged.
Requests for travel schedules.
Questions about Kate.
Questions about trust provisions.
Luciano opened another folder.
A scanned letter.
Kate’s first pregnancy announcement.
Adrian had written a note across the top.
DO NOT FORWARD—SECURITY CONCERN.
Luciano looked at him.
“You could have called me privately.”
“I believed your communications were monitored.”
“You could have flown to Paris.”
“I was followed twice.”
“Then you could have come here and told Kate the truth.”
Adrian looked toward the ceiling.
“I should have.”
“Yes.”
There was no defense.
Adrian gave none.
Luciano continued through the files.
One document showed attempts to transfer voting rights.
Another showed payments to a private communications contractor.
Then Luciano found something different.
A medical payment.
To Hawthorne Maternal Care.
He enlarged it.
The payer was one of Matteo’s shell companies.
Luciano’s face changed.
“What is this?”
Adrian stepped closer.
“I’ve never seen it.”
“Someone connected to Matteo paid a company using the name of Kate’s clinic.”
Kate’s real clinic had a different corporate name.
This company had been designed to look similar.
A duplicate.
A front.
“Why?”
Adrian shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Luciano opened the company registration.
Director: Evelyn Mercer.
He frowned.
“Who is Evelyn Mercer?”
Adrian’s face went blank.
“You don’t know?”
“Should I?”
“Luciano…”
“What?”
Adrian swallowed.
“Evelyn Mercer is Margaret Hale’s legal name.”
Luciano looked toward the ceiling.
The midwife.
Upstairs.
With Kate.
He ran.
“Elena!”
His sister followed.
Luciano reached the bedroom.
The door was closed.
He tried the handle.
Locked.
“Margaret!”
No answer.
“Kate!”
Nothing.
Luciano stepped back.
Before he could force the door, the lock clicked.
The door opened slowly.
Margaret stood there.
Her blue gloves were gone.
Her expression was calm.
Too calm.
Luciano looked past her.
Kate was sitting upright in bed.
Safe.
Awake.
And holding a document.
Kate looked at Luciano.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She lifted the page.
“Margaret just told me who she really is.”
Luciano stared at the midwife.
Margaret stepped aside.
Then Kate said the one sentence nobody downstairs had expected.
“She isn’t working for Matteo.”
A car engine started outside.
Adrian rushed to the window.
His face changed.
“My car.”
Luciano turned.
Headlights moved rapidly away from Hawthorne Ridge.
But Adrian was standing beside him.
May you like
Someone else was driving.
And on the desk downstairs, the flash drive containing every piece of evidence was gone.
