Chapter 4 - Someone Cut the Road
Luciano spun.
Daniel entered.
“Easy.”
Luciano lowered his weapon.
“Were you just in this corridor?”
“No.”
“Someone photographed me.”
Daniel examined the message.
“We need to move Kate.”
“The roads are blocked.”
“I checked the east road. It isn't flooded naturally.”
Luciano looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone opened the old irrigation gates.”
Deliberate.
Every exit had been closed.
Luciano returned upstairs.
Kate was breathing through another contraction.
Margaret looked worried.
“We may not have hours anymore.”
Luciano’s chest tightened.
“Can you deliver here?”
“At twenty-nine weeks? I can deliver. Keeping the baby alive afterward is another matter.”
Kate heard her.
Her face crumpled.
Luciano sat beside her.
“Look at me.”
“I can't lose this baby.”
“You won't.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
His voice softened.
“But you’re not facing it alone.”
Kate studied him.
Months of anger stood between them.
So did something older.
Something neither separation nor pride had managed to kill.
“Why did you really bring the papers?” she whispered.
Luciano looked at the leather case.
“Because I thought you wanted freedom from me.”
“I wanted freedom from being controlled.”
“I thought they were the same thing.”
“They weren't.”
“I know that now.”
Kate blinked away tears.
“You could have called.”
“I did.”
“Once.”
“Thirty-seven times.”
She stared.
“What?”
“Thirty-seven.”
“I never received them.”
Luciano frowned.
“I left messages.”
“There were no messages.”
Someone had interfered.
Their separation had not merely been exploited.
It had been maintained.
Daniel appeared.
“We found the missing nurse.”
“Where?”
“Outside.”
“Alive?”
“Yes. Unconscious.”
Margaret frowned. “Then who was in here?”
“Someone wearing her uniform.”
Luciano looked at Elena.
“You said my father had another son.”
“Yes.”
“Name.”
“Adrian.”
“Surname?”
“Vescari.”
Kate suddenly inhaled.
Everyone looked at her.
“What?”
“I know that name.”
Luciano moved closer.
“How?”
“My obstetrician.”
Silence.
“Dr. Adrian Vescari.”
Elena went pale.
“No.”
Kate nodded.
“He treated me at the clinic.”
Elena stepped backward.
“Adrian isn't a doctor.”
Luciano’s expression became lethal.
Kate touched her stomach.
“He performed my ultrasounds.”
Margaret immediately began checking Kate.
“What did he prescribe?”
“Vitamins. Progesterone early on. Then injections when my blood pressure—”
“Show me.”
Kate pointed toward the nightstand.
Margaret found the medication.
She examined the label.
“These aren't progesterone.”
Luciano felt cold spread through him.
“What are they?”
“I don't know without testing.”
Kate stared.
“I've been taking them for weeks.”
Luciano closed his eyes briefly.
When he opened them, the restraint was gone.
“Daniel.”
“Yes.”
“Find Adrian Vescari.”
Elena whispered, “If Adrian has been near Katherine, then this is worse than I thought.”
Luciano turned.
“Why?”
“Because Adrian never wanted the Aruri fortune.”
“What did he want?”
Elena looked at Kate.
“Recognition.”
Kate frowned.
“As what?”
“The firstborn Aruri.”
Luciano understood.
His father’s hidden son wanted legitimacy.
But why Kate?
Why the child?
Then Elena answered the question he had not spoken.
“Your father’s trust transfers controlling ownership to the first legitimate grandchild of his recognized sons.”
Luciano stared.
“My child.”
“Yes.”
“So Adrian needs the baby.”
“Or needs there to be no baby.”
Kate’s hand covered her stomach.
Luciano’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Adrian.”
A man chuckled.
“Hello, little brother.”
Luciano’s grip tightened.
“Come inside.”
“I already did.”
Luciano scanned the room.
“Touch her again and—”
“You misunderstand. Katherine was never the target.”
“Then who was?”
“You.”
Luciano went still.
Adrian continued.
“She was supposed to disappear. You were supposed to believe she abandoned you. You were supposed to sign those papers.”
Luciano glanced toward the divorce documents.
“Why?”
“Because once you divorced her, her child’s status under the trust became contestable.”
Kate stared at him.
The divorce papers.
That was the final piece.
Someone had manipulated them toward divorce.
Luciano said, “You won't get the signature.”
“I don't need it anymore.”
A noise sounded outside.
Helicopter blades.
Luciano moved to the window.
A helicopter descended through the rain toward the lawn.
Hope flashed across Kate’s face.
Margaret said, “Medical evacuation?”
Luciano watched the aircraft.
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Wrong markings.”
The helicopter landed.
Four men emerged.
Then a fifth figure stepped down.
Silver hair.
Black coat.
Luciano stopped breathing.
Kate whispered, “Who is that?”
Luciano stared at the man walking toward Hawthorne Ridge.
“My father.”
Kate looked at him in disbelief.
“Your father is dead.”
Luciano’s eyes never left the window.
“So I thought.”
May you like
Downstairs, the front door opened.
And Vittorio Aruri called his son’s name.
