Chapter 4 - The Man I Trusted Most
Adrian did not confront Matteo immediately.
That instinct had kept him alive longer than rage ever had.
He placed the photograph into his pocket.
Vivien watched him.
“You recognize him.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Adrian studied her.
If Vivien truly did not know, naming Matteo accomplished nothing.
“Stay inside Ravenwood.”
“Adrian—”
“Do not leave.”
“You still don’t trust me.”
“No.”
The answer hurt her.
He saw it.
But trust was not a gift people demanded after opening a secret safe.
It was evidence accumulated over time.
Vivien had destroyed hers.
If she wanted it restored, she would have to earn it.
Adrian went downstairs.
Matteo stood near the west entrance talking with two guards.
He looked completely normal.
That was the problem with betrayal.
It rarely wore the correct face.
“Walk with me,” Adrian said.
Matteo followed him outside.
They crossed the lawn toward the old stables.
“You found the bank?”
“Yes.”
“What was in box 317?”
“Nothing useful.”
Matteo glanced at him.
“Nothing?”
“Old documents.”
“About Carter?”
“Some.”
“Daniel?”
“Some.”
They entered the stable.
No horses had been kept there in years.
Adrian shut the door.
Matteo folded his arms.
“You’re acting strange.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“Where’s Rachel?”
“Still missing.”
“I’ve got people looking.”
Adrian removed the surveillance photograph.
He handed it over.
Matteo looked down.
His face changed.
Not guilt.
Confusion.
“Where did you get this?”
“You tell me.”
Matteo studied the reflection.
“That looks like me.”
“It is you.”
“No.”
“Very convincing argument.”
“Adrian, I didn’t take this.”
“You were there.”
“I wasn’t.”
“The reflection says otherwise.”
Matteo pulled out his phone.
“What’s the date?”
Adrian told him.
Matteo searched.
“I was in Boston.”
“Prove it.”
“Gladly.”
Flights.
Hotel receipts.
Security footage from a conference.
Matteo had spent three days in Boston surrounded by dozens of witnesses.
Adrian’s certainty cracked.
“Someone wants you to think it’s me,” Matteo said.
“Or you built an alibi.”
“Possible.”
“You’re remarkably calm.”
“If I were betraying you, would I be stupid enough to let my face appear in a window?”
“Maybe you didn’t see it.”
Matteo handed the photograph back.
“Look at the watch.”
Adrian zoomed in.
The reflected man wore a watch on his right wrist.
Matteo wore his on the left.
Always.
Because a childhood injury made pressure against his right wrist painful.
“Someone dressed like me.”
“Yes.”
Adrian examined the face.
Close enough.
Same haircut.
Same beard.
But perhaps not Matteo.
A deliberate impersonation.
“Who benefits?”
“Someone who wants us divided.”
Adrian nodded.
His phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
“Adrian Moretti?”
Male voice.
“Yes.”
“Your niece is alive.”
Adrian became still.
“Rachel?”
“Yes.”
“Who is this?”
“Daniel Carter.”
Adrian looked at Matteo.
“Where are you?”
“Not somewhere I’ll describe over a phone.”
“Put Rachel on.”
Silence.
Then Rachel’s voice.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Emma is safe.”
Rachel began crying.
“Thank God.”
Daniel returned.
“I need to meet you.”
“Fine.”
“Alone.”
Matteo gave Adrian a humorless smile.
Apparently everyone wanted Adrian alone.
“Where?”
Daniel gave an address.
An abandoned printing warehouse in Brooklyn.
“Two hours.”
The call ended.
Matteo said, “I assume I’m not invited.”
“No.”
“I’m coming anyway.”
“You’ll stay outside.”
“Close enough.”
Two hours later Adrian entered the warehouse.
Daniel Carter waited alone beneath a hanging industrial lamp.
He looked older than the airport photograph.
Thinner.
Exhausted.
“Where’s Rachel?”
“Safe house.”
“Why did you take her?”
“She saw me. I couldn’t explain outside.”
“You abandoned her for four years.”
“I saved her for four years.”
“You let her think you were dead.”
“That was the only reason she stayed alive.”
Adrian walked closer.
“Start talking.”
Daniel exhaled.
“Your father discovered someone inside the Moretti organization had been moving money through family trusts.”
“Who?”
“I never found the top.”
“What does this have to do with Rachel?”
“Her mother.”
“Emma Moretti.”
Daniel nodded.
“Your half sister.”
“Why was she hidden?”
“Because Lorenzo’s father refused to recognize her.”
“My grandfather.”
“He considered her existence a threat to inheritance.”
“So he wanted her killed.”
“At first, yes. Later, other people had financial reasons to keep her erased.”
“What people?”
“People who benefited from assets that legally belonged to her.”
Adrian understood.
“If Rachel proves her mother was Lorenzo’s daughter—”
“She has a claim.”
“To what?”
“Almost one-third of your father’s original estate.”
Adrian laughed once.
“Money.”
“It’s always money eventually.”
“I would give it to her.”
“That’s why you weren’t the problem.”
“Who is?”
Daniel reached into his jacket.
He removed a drive.
“Your father knew the embezzlement wasn’t random. Someone was preparing for the day Emma’s descendants surfaced.”
“Who?”
“I found one name.”
Adrian took the drive.
Daniel stared at him.
“Vivien.”
Adrian’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“I knew you’d say that.”
“She’s involved, but not the way you think.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Elena Rossi was part of it before Vivien was old enough to understand.”
Daniel pulled out another photograph.
Elena Rossi beside Lorenzo.
And behind them stood a fourth person.
Adrian recognized him.
Carlo Rossi.
Vivien’s father.
Still alive.
Still wealthy.
Still scheduled to walk his daughter down the aisle in three days.
“Carlo?”
“He controlled the offshore structures.”
“Vivien said her mother worked with my father.”
“She did. Eventually.”
“What changed?”
“Elena discovered what Carlo was doing.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“And then Elena died.”
“Car accident.”
“Was it?”
Daniel said nothing.
That was answer enough.
Adrian paced away.
He thought of Vivien at seventeen.
Mother buried.
Father comforting her.
If Carlo had killed Elena…
“How much does Vivien know?”
“Not enough.”
“Why was she in my safe?”
“I told her to find the blue folder.”
Adrian turned sharply.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You gave her my combination?”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Daniel’s face tightened.
“That’s the part that scares me.”
Adrian stepped closer.
“Explain.”
“Lorenzo gave the safe combination to one other person.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Daniel shook his head.
“I don’t know. He used a code name in his notes.”
“What code name?”
“The Witness.”
Adrian felt a chill.
“Alive?”
“I think so.”
“And this person is helping Vivien?”
“Maybe.”
Daniel handed him a paper.
“This is why I came back.”
A wedding guest list.
One name circled.
Carlo Rossi.
Underneath:
THE TRANSFER MUST OCCUR BEFORE THE VOWS.
“What transfer?”
“Control of a trust.”
“To Vivien?”
“To you.”
Adrian frowned.
Daniel explained.
“Your marriage contract combines voting control over several Rossi and Moretti entities. Once you marry Vivien, Carlo gets an indirect pathway into assets your father blocked him from touching.”
“Then I cancel the wedding.”
“No.”
Adrian stared.
Daniel continued.
“If you cancel now, Carlo knows you discovered something. Rachel and Emma become leverage.”
“They already are.”
“He doesn’t know you know they matter.”
“He has photographs.”
“Yes, but he thinks Vivien is still controlling the situation.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Vivien was controlling nothing.
“Then we let him believe that.”
Daniel nodded.
“Exactly.”
A metallic noise echoed above them.
Both men looked up.
Catwalk.
Movement.
Daniel reached for Adrian.
“Down.”
Glass shattered.
A bullet struck the concrete pillar behind them.
They moved.
Adrian overturned a steel table.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Matteo’s voice came through Adrian’s earpiece.
“Shooter leaving north roof.”
“You have him?”
“Working on it.”
Daniel stared.
“You brought Matteo.”
“Yes.”
“I told you not to.”
“People keep doing that.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
Daniel leaned closer.
“The Witness isn’t Matteo.”
“I know.”
“But Matteo knows him.”
Adrian frowned.
“How?”
Daniel opened his mouth.
A sound came from behind them.
A door.
Slowly opening.
Rachel stepped through.
Her face was white.
Behind her stood another man.
Older.
Gray-haired.
Adrian recognized him immediately.
The man had attended every birthday he had celebrated until he was twenty.
His father’s former attorney.
A man everyone believed had died nine years ago.
Thomas Bellini smiled sadly.
“Hello, Adrian.”
May you like
Then he said the words Daniel had been afraid to say.
“I’m the Witness.”
