Chapter 5 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Antonio Moretti entered Hayes Bespoke at midnight.
Victor stopped smiling.
Meline watched remotely from Agent Grant's van.
The older man moved slowly through the ruined atelier.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Cane.
No visible weapon.
Victor stared.
"Antonio."
"Hello, Victor."
Fifteen years of ghosts stood between them.
"You're supposed to be dead."
Antonio smiled faintly.
"You arranged an excellent funeral."
Victor raised his gun.
Antonio didn't flinch.
"Where's my son?"
Victor glanced toward Lorenzo.
He was tied to a chair beside Marco and Tomas.
Blood marked Lorenzo's temple.
But he was conscious.
His eyes locked on Antonio.
For the first time since Meline had met him, Lorenzo Moretti looked completely stunned.
"Father?"
Antonio's expression broke.
Just slightly.
"Hello, son."
Lorenzo stared.
"You were alive."
"Yes."
"Fifteen years."
"I know."
"You let me bury you."
Antonio closed his eyes.
"I know."
Lorenzo's anger became almost physical.
"You left me to run everything."
"I was trying to keep you alive."
"Everybody keeps saying that tonight," Meline muttered.
Caroline glanced at her.
"Families are exhausting."
Despite herself, Meline almost laughed.
Inside the shop, Antonio told the truth.
Victor had attempted to kill him after Gabriel's murder.
Antonio survived.
But Victor had already compromised police, judges, and members of the Moretti organization.
If Antonio returned, Lorenzo would become leverage.
So Antonio disappeared and spent fifteen years gathering evidence.
"You could have trusted me," Lorenzo said.
"You were twenty-two."
"I'm thirty-seven now."
"And every year I waited made coming back harder."
Victor laughed.
"Beautiful reunion."
Antonio looked at him.
"It's over."
"No."
Victor raised his phone.
"I still have something you don't."
A photograph appeared on the atelier's television screen.
Meline.
Taken minutes earlier.
From outside the federal van.
Agent Grant went pale.
"We've been compromised."
Caroline grabbed Meline.
"Move!"
A bullet struck the van window.
Chaos erupted.
Meline ducked.
Agents returned fire.
Caroline pulled her through the rear door.
They ran into an alley.
A black SUV appeared.
The door opened.
"Get in!"
Meline hesitated.
Caroline shoved her.
They climbed inside.
The driver sped away.
Only then did Meline see his face.
Samuel Hayes.
Her adoptive father.
The man she'd buried ten years earlier.
Meline stopped breathing.
"No."
Samuel looked into the mirror.
"Hello, sweetheart."
She stared.
Then slapped him.
Hard.
Samuel winced.
"I deserved that."
"You think?"
Caroline stared at him.
"You told me you wouldn't reveal yourself."
"Things changed."
Meline looked between them.
"You both knew?"
Caroline nodded reluctantly.
Meline laughed.
It wasn't amusement.
It was emotional collapse disguised as sound.
"My biological father is dead. My adoptive father isn't. Lorenzo's father isn't. Is anyone actually dead?"
Samuel considered.
"Gabriel definitely is."
"Not helping."
"Sorry."
Samuel drove toward a safe house.
On the way, he explained.
His death had been staged after Victor discovered Samuel was helping Antonio.
Meline had been deliberately kept ignorant.
"Because ignorance kept you safe," Samuel said.
"It got three gunmen inside my shop."
"Eventually."
"Samuel."
"I know."
She looked out the window.
"Lorenzo knew some of this?"
"No."
"Good."
"Why good?"
"Because I'm already deciding whether to forgive him for one set of lies."
Samuel glanced at her.
"You're in love with him."
"No."
Caroline smiled.
"You sound exactly like me when Gabriel proposed."
Meline groaned.
"Please stop."
At the safe house, they contacted Agent Grant.
Lorenzo had escaped during the confusion.
Marco and Tomas too.
Antonio had disappeared.
Victor was gone.
Nobody knew where.
Meline called Lorenzo.
He answered immediately.
"Where are you?"
"Safe."
"Define safe."
"With my mother and my apparently undead adoptive father."
Silence.
"What?"
"Long story."
"Give me the address."
"No."
"Meline."
"You're bleeding."
"How do you know?"
"I saw."
"It's nothing."
"Men always say that right before needing stitches."
A pause.
Then his voice softened.
"I thought they had you."
"I'm okay."
Another pause.
"I need to see you."
Her anger weakened.
"I know."
They met an hour later.
Lorenzo entered the safe house and walked straight toward her.
Then stopped.
As if unsure whether he had permission.
Meline closed the distance.
She hugged him.
His arms wrapped around her immediately.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Meline whispered:
"You still haven't taken me to dinner."
He laughed against her hair.
"I'll fix that."
She pulled back.
"And I haven't accepted your proposal."
"I know."
"Stop calling me your fiancée."
"No."
"Lorenzo."
"It saved your life once."
"It confused armed criminals for approximately four seconds."
"Very useful four seconds."
She shook her head.
Then noticed Antonio standing in the doorway.
Lorenzo's expression changed.
Father and son looked at each other.
Antonio spoke first.
"I'm sorry."
Lorenzo said nothing.
"I should have trusted you."
"Yes."
"I thought staying dead would protect you."
"It didn't."
"I know."
Lorenzo's anger remained.
But he didn't walk away.
That was something.
Antonio placed a folder on the table.
"Victor has one final asset."
Agent Grant opened it.
A list of names.
Politicians.
Police officials.
Businessmen.
Then one name made Caroline gasp.
Nora Whitfield.
Meline's assistant.
"Nora?"
Samuel nodded.
"Victor recruited her two years ago."
Meline remembered Nora gasping during the proposal.
Nora hiding behind the cutting table.
Nora knowing every appointment.
Every entrance.
Every security code.
"She let them into my shop."
"Probably."
Meline's phone vibrated.
A message from Nora.
Meline, I'm sorry.
Another followed.
He made me do it.
Then:
I know where Victor is.
And finally:
Come alone or he kills Beth.
Attached was a photograph.
Beth was tied to a chair.
Behind her stood Victor.
And beside Victor was someone Meline recognized immediately.
Agent Evelyn Grant.
She was smiling.
Meline slowly raised her eyes.
The woman standing across the room wearing Agent Grant's face reached toward her jacket.
Lorenzo saw it too.
May you like
"Everybody down!"
Grant pulled her gun.
