Chapter 3 - The Man Sofia Called Uncle
Victor Moretti looked from Adrian to Luca.
Then to the security photograph.
He smiled.
“Am I interrupting something?”
Adrian folded the photograph.
“Sit.”
Victor raised an eyebrow.
“You sound like your father.”
“Sit.”
Victor obeyed.
At sixty-one, he remained handsome in the severe Moretti way. Silver hair. Dark eyes. Tailored navy suit.
The family ring rested on his right hand.
Adrian looked at it.
“Where were you at two-thirty this morning?”
Victor didn't hesitate.
“Home.”
“Anyone confirm that?”
“My housekeeper.”
“Convenient.”
Victor leaned back.
“What is this?”
Luca interrupted.
“Someone tampered with Adrian’s medication.”
Victor’s expression changed perfectly.
Shock.
Then anger.
“What?”
Adrian watched every movement.
“My prescriptions contained stimulants.”
“Who tested them?”
“Keller.”
Victor stood.
“This is unacceptable. Marco needs to—”
“Sit down.”
Victor stared at Adrian.
Then slowly returned to the chair.
“You think I did it.”
“I haven't said that.”
“You're asking where I was and staring at my ring.”
Adrian slid the photograph across the desk.
Victor examined it.
“That proves nothing.”
“It proves somebody wearing that ring accessed my floor.”
“Half the family owns replicas.”
“No.”
Victor looked up.
Adrian continued.
“My father commissioned three. Mine disappeared after his funeral. Luca lost his in college.”
“I didn't lose it,” Luca said. “It was stolen.”
Adrian glanced at him.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
Victor pushed the photograph away.
“You're letting exhaustion make you paranoid.”
The sentence landed differently now.
Adrian leaned forward.
“I'm not exhausted.”
Victor paused.
“I slept six hours.”
A tiny change appeared in Victor’s face.
Gone almost instantly.
But Adrian saw it.
“That's excellent,” Victor said.
“Is it?”
“Of course.”
“Sofia seemed pleased too.”
Victor’s eyes shifted.
“Sofia?”
“Elena’s daughter.”
“I know who she is.”
“Do you?”
Victor frowned.
Adrian stood.
“Meeting over.”
Victor looked genuinely confused.
“That's it?”
“For now.”
He left.
Luca waited until the door closed.
“You saw that.”
“Yes.”
“When you mentioned Sofia.”
“Yes.”
Luca swore under his breath.
Adrian turned toward Marco.
“Follow Victor.”
“He'll notice.”
“I want him to.”
Marco left.
Luca poured himself water from a sealed bottle.
“Tell me everything Sofia said.”
Adrian did.
Luca stopped drinking.
“Uncle said you weren't supposed to get better.”
“Yes.”
“She could mean anyone.”
“Yes.”
“But Victor reacted.”
“Yes.”
Luca slammed the bottle down.
“Stop saying yes.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You want me to convict our uncle because a toddler remembers one sentence?”
“I want you to admit what we're both thinking.”
“What we're thinking isn't evidence.”
That afternoon, Adrian returned to the bedroom.
Elena was changing the sheets.
She looked uncomfortable.
“I can come back.”
“Stay.”
She continued working.
Adrian held up the black thread.
“Where did Sofia get the teddy bear?”
Elena smiled faintly.
“It was a gift.”
“From whom?”
She stopped.
“Mr. Victor.”
Adrian felt his stomach tighten.
“When?”
“Christmas.”
“Last Christmas?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't you mention that earlier?”
“Because you asked whether I recognized the thread. I didn't.”
Fair.
“Did Victor give Sofia anything else?”
“Candy sometimes. Books.”
“Did he spend time alone with her?”
Elena immediately stiffened.
“No.”
“I’m not suggesting anything inappropriate.”
“I know.”
“I'm asking whether he might have spoken around her when you weren't present.”
Elena thought.
“Sometimes Sofia played in the staff lounge while I worked.”
“Who had access?”
“Most senior staff.”
“Victor?”
“Yes.”
Adrian nodded.
Elena studied him.
“Do you think Mr. Victor hurt you?”
“I don't know.”
“You think Sofia heard something.”
Adrian didn't answer.
Elena sat on the edge of the bed.
“She remembers more than people think.”
“How much?”
“Everything.”
Adrian looked toward her.
Elena smiled sadly.
“When she was two, I complained once that Mrs. Patterson upstairs never tipped delivery workers. Six months later we passed Mrs. Patterson in the lobby and Sofia announced, ‘Mommy says you're cheap.’”
Adrian almost laughed.
“Useful skill.”
“Terrifying skill.”
Adrian picked up the storybook.
“Why did she bring this here?”
“She loves that book.”
“No. Why my room?”
Elena considered.
“She told me yesterday that you looked sad.”
Adrian’s face hardened instinctively.
Elena noticed.
“Children don't care if you're powerful.”
“I’m learning that.”
“She sees you sitting alone at dinner. She sees you walking around at night.”
“You know I walk around at night?”
“Everyone does.”
That bothered him.
His insomnia wasn't merely medical information.
It was predictable behavior.
A vulnerability.
Three years earlier, Adrian had been preparing to restructure the entire Moretti organization.
His father had left behind businesses intertwined with criminal partnerships Adrian no longer wanted.
Adrian planned to sever them.
Then the insomnia began.
Slowly.
First one night a week.
Then three.
Then nearly every night.
His judgment deteriorated.
Negotiations stalled.
Victor urged him not to make major changes while ill.
Adrian listened.
For three years, the old system remained intact.
Someone had profited from his weakness.
Adrian returned to his office and requested financial records.
Not family accounts.
Business distributions.
He searched for patterns beginning three years earlier.
By evening, one emerged.
A logistics subsidiary called Moretti Atlantic had increased payments to an offshore consulting company shortly after Adrian became ill.
The authorization signature belonged to Victor.
Luca entered carrying dinner from a restaurant.
Adrian pointed at it.
“Sealed?”
Luca rolled his eyes.
“I watched them package it.”
“Good.”
They ate while reviewing accounts.
Luca whistled.
“Twenty-seven million.”
“Over three years.”
“Consulting for what?”
“Nothing I can identify.”
“Who owns the offshore company?”
“Shell structure.”
Luca leaned back.
“You know what Dad used companies like this for.”
“Yes.”
Bribes.
Payments.
Hidden partners.
Adrian’s phone buzzed.
Marco.
“Victor went to Queens.”
“Where?”
“Old medical warehouse on Borden Avenue.”
Adrian stopped eating.
“Owned by?”
“Used to belong to Moretti Pharmaceuticals.”
Their father had sold that company twelve years earlier.
“Used to?”
“Technically sold. Property stayed in a holding company.”
“Whose?”
Marco paused.
“Yours.”
Adrian stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
“If Victor knows he's followed, this could be bait.”
“Then let's disappoint him.”
Thirty minutes later, Adrian and Luca sat in a black SUV across from the abandoned warehouse.
Marco occupied the passenger seat.
Victor’s car was parked behind the building.
“Any other entrances?” Adrian asked.
“Three.”
“People?”
“Two arrived after Victor.”
“Names?”
“Unknown.”
Adrian checked his watch.
11:41 p.m.
Marco’s radio crackled.
A security man spoke.
“Movement inside.”
Adrian stepped out.
Marco followed.
Luca cursed and came too.
They entered through a side door.
The warehouse smelled of dust and old chemicals.
Voices came from an office above the factory floor.
Adrian climbed the metal stairs.
One voice belonged to Victor.
The second was unfamiliar.
“…dosage wasn't supposed to stop.”
Adrian froze.
Luca looked at him.
Victor continued.
“The girl saw too much.”
Adrian’s blood turned cold.
Marco reached for his weapon.
Adrian shook his head.
They moved closer.
The unknown man spoke.
“What do you want done about her?”
Silence.
Then Victor answered.
“Nothing yet. If Adrian realizes what she knows, we'll handle the mother first.”
Luca’s face twisted with rage.
Adrian stepped toward the office.
His phone vibrated.
He looked down.
A message from Elena.
ADRIAN, SOFIA IS GONE.
May you like
Attached beneath it was a photograph.
Sofia’s teddy bear lay alone on the penthouse elevator floor.
