Chapter 6 - The Night Lucian Chose a Side
Camille forgot how to breathe.
Lucian took the phone from her hand.
His face changed.
Not anger.
Something colder.
“No,” Camille whispered.
Matteo looked at the screen.
“Oh, God.”
Camille reached for her phone.
Lucian held it.
“Listen to me.”
“That is my mother.”
“I know.”
“Give me the phone.”
“Camille.”
“Give me my phone.”
He did.
Her hands shook.
For the first time since entering his world, she could not control them.
Another message appeared.
COME ALONE.
Matteo said, “Absolutely not.”
Camille looked at him.
“My mother.”
“I know.”
“You do not get a vote.”
Lucian stepped in front of her.
“Neither do you.”
Camille stared.
He continued.
“You are not walking into Adrian’s hands.”
“If I don’t—”
“We get her back another way.”
“How?”
Lucian looked at Dante.
“Find him.”
Dante was already working.
The protective team’s vehicle had been found two blocks away.
Two guards unconscious.
Alive.
No mother.
Camille paced.
Lucian watched.
“Stop.”
She turned on him.
“Do not tell me to stop.”
“You’ll burn yourself out before we have a location.”
“My mother is with a man who threatened me.”
“I know.”
“Then stop acting calm.”
Lucian’s eyes flashed.
“You think I’m calm?”
He stepped closer.
His voice dropped.
“I am deciding which parts of this city I have to tear apart first.”
Silence.
Camille stared at him.
Matteo looked away.
Lucian lowered his voice further.
“But if I lose control, I make mistakes. And I will not make a mistake with your mother.”
Camille swallowed.
For once, she let someone else carry part of the fear.
Twenty minutes later, Dante found a lead.
A traffic camera.
Adrian’s car heading toward an old Moretti-owned hotel closed for renovation.
Lucian knew it well.
His father had held family meetings there when the brothers were young.
The irony was not lost on him.
They drove fast.
Camille insisted on going.
This time Lucian did not argue.
He only said, “You stay behind me.”
She answered, “We’ll negotiate that later.”
They entered through the underground garage.
Security surrounded the building.
No public confrontation.
No police sirens yet.
Lucian wanted Camille’s mother out first.
The old hotel smelled like dust and plaster.
They reached the ballroom.
Camille heard her mother before she saw her.
“Camille, if that is you, I am going to be very angry.”
Camille almost cried.
Her mother sat in a chair near the stage.
Hands tied loosely.
Adrian stood nearby.
He looked tired now.
Not elegant.
Not powerful.
Desperate.
“Mom.”
Her mother’s face crumpled with relief.
“Baby.”
Camille stepped forward.
Lucian stopped her.
Adrian raised a gun.
“Enough.”
Lucian’s men froze.
Adrian looked at him.
“You always thought loyalty was permanent.”
Lucian’s voice stayed level.
“I thought yours was.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“I gave this family twenty years.”
“And sold it in eleven months.”
“You would have replaced me eventually.”
Lucian frowned.
“With whom?”
Adrian looked at Camille.
The answer was irrational.
But there it was.
Jealousy.
Camille understood.
“You hated me before I arrived.”
Adrian smiled.
“I hated what you represented.”
“What?”
“Someone Lucian listened to.”
Lucian’s face hardened.
Adrian continued.
“I built schedules. Managed crises. Protected this family. He questioned me. Then you walked in and corrected his tie, and suddenly he asked what you thought.”
Camille stared.
“This is about your ego?”
“It is about respect.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“It is about entitlement.”
Adrian’s face changed.
“You think you belong beside him?”
Camille’s mother looked between them.
Lucian became still.
Camille answered calmly.
“I belong wherever I choose to stand.”
Adrian raised the weapon toward her.
Lucian stepped forward.
“Point that at me.”
Camille’s eyes moved to him.
Adrian smiled.
“There it is.”
Lucian did not move.
Adrian said, “You’d choose her.”
Lucian’s voice was low.
“Yes.”
One word.
No hesitation.
Camille’s heart struck hard against her ribs.
Adrian looked genuinely wounded.
Twenty years of loyalty.
Real or imagined.
Reduced to one answer.
Lucian stepped forward again.
“Let her mother go.”
“Why?”
“Because this is between us.”
“It stopped being between us when you trusted an outsider.”
Camille’s mother suddenly said, “Are all your employees this dramatic?”
Everyone looked at her.
Camille almost laughed from pure shock.
“Mom.”
“What? He’s been giving speeches for forty minutes.”
Adrian’s concentration broke.
Half a second.
Enough.
Camille’s mother kicked backward.
The chair slammed into Adrian’s knees.
Lucian moved.
Dante moved faster.
The weapon hit the floor.
Camille ran to her mother.
“Are you okay?”
“I am furious.”
“That means yes.”
Her mother gripped her face.
“Are you okay?”
Camille nodded.
Then shook her head.
Then laughed and cried at the same time.
Behind them, Lucian stood over Adrian.
He did not touch him.
He simply looked down.
“You threatened the wrong family.”
Adrian looked toward Camille.
Lucian noticed.
His voice became colder.
“And the wrong woman.”
Police arrived twenty minutes later.
This part, Lucian handled differently than Camille expected.
No disappearance.
No secret punishment.
No revenge in a basement.
Evidence was turned over.
Records.
Payments.
Kidnapping footage.
The memory card.
Rafael Valenti’s network began collapsing by morning.
Camille watched Lucian give the order.
“Everything goes to the investigators.”
Matteo blinked.
“Everything?”
“Everything that concerns Valenti.”
“And Adrian?”
“The same.”
Matteo nodded slowly.
Camille understood what Lucian was doing.
Choosing legitimacy.
Not because he had suddenly become innocent.
Not because one woman transformed him overnight.
But because the old way had nearly cost him his brother.
And her.
At dawn, Camille sat on the hotel steps with a blanket around her shoulders.
Her mother had gone with security to rest.
Matteo was inside giving a statement.
Lucian came out.
No jacket.
Sleeves rolled.
Exhausted.
He sat beside Camille.
For a while they said nothing.
Then she said, “You chose me.”
Lucian looked ahead.
“Yes.”
“You said it quickly.”
“Yes.”
“That seems unlike you.”
“It was not a difficult decision.”
Camille’s throat tightened.
She looked at him.
“Lucian.”
He turned.
For the first time, the intimidating man vanished.
No boss.
No suit.
No room bending around him.
Just a tired man who had almost lost too much.
“I hired you for Matteo,” he said.
“You did.”
“I was wrong.”
“About what?”
His gaze stayed on hers.
“Who needed correcting.”
Camille smiled.
“Progress.”
He smiled too.
Then his phone rang.
Dante.
Lucian answered.
The smile disappeared.
“What?”
A pause.
“Where?”
He stood.
Camille stood too.
“What happened?”
Lucian looked at her.
“Valenti just walked into the district attorney’s office.”
Camille frowned.
“To surrender?”
“No.”
Lucian’s eyes darkened.
“He brought evidence.”
“Against whom?”
May you like
Lucian stared at her.
“Me.”
