Chapter 13 - Stone Finally Breaks
Sofia screamed Emma's name.
Adrian searched every room.
Nothing.
Security footage showed Rosa leaving through the service gate with Emma.
But Emma was not struggling.
She held Rosa's hand willingly.
“Rosa wouldn't hurt her,” Sofia insisted.
“Then why take her?”
Marcus traced Rosa's vehicle.
It stopped at St. Matthew's Church.
Adrian arrived first.
Inside, Rosa sat in the front pew.
Emma slept against her shoulder.
Adrian lowered his weapon.
“Give her to me.”
Rosa cried.
“I was trying to save her.”
Sofia rushed forward and took Emma.
The toddler woke.
“Mommy?”
Sofia held her desperately.
Rosa explained everything.
Vincent had paid her for years.
Not to spy on Adrian.
To protect Claire.
Elena had recruited Rosa after discovering Vincent's conspiracy.
The payments were Vincent's attempt to buy information.
Rosa accepted them and fed him lies.
After Claire died, Rosa stayed because she believed Adrian might eventually need someone who remembered the truth.
“Why take Emma?”
Rosa handed Adrian a note.
Vincent's men had escaped arrest.
One threatened to abduct Emma.
Rosa moved first.
“I didn't trust the phones.”
Adrian lowered his head.
He had nearly condemned another loyal person because fear still controlled him.
Rosa touched his shoulder.
“You're learning.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Slowly.”
Emma reached for him.
He took her.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“Yes?”
“Why are grown-ups always crying?”
Nobody knew how to answer.
That evening, Adrian finally entered the sunflower garden alone.
He carried Claire's surviving yellow boot.
He buried it beneath the flowers.
Not because he wanted to forget.
Because he no longer needed objects to prove she had existed.
Sofia joined him.
“You okay?”
“No.”
She waited.
Then Adrian smiled faintly.
“But I think I will be.”
Sofia took his hand.
This time neither released it.
“I love you,” Adrian said.
The words surprised even him.
Sofia's eyes filled.
He continued before fear could stop him.
“I don't expect anything. I don't want you to feel you owe me because of the apartment or Emma or—”
She kissed him.
Adrian stopped talking.
When they separated, Sofia smiled.
“You talk too much.”
He almost laughed.
Emma's voice came from behind them.
“I saw that.”
They turned.
She stood holding Daisy.
Marcus was behind her, trying not to smile.
Adrian sighed.
“How much did you see?”
“The kissing.”
“Wonderful.”
Emma grinned.
“Are you marrying Mommy?”
Sofia nearly choked.
Adrian looked at her.
“Emma.”
“What?”
“Go bother Marcus.”
Marcus protested.
Emma grabbed his hand.
“Come on.”
As they walked away, Sofia laughed.
Adrian watched them.
This was what Elena had meant.
Live.
Not replace.
Not forget.
Live.
Months later, the trials began.
Vincent, Lorenzo, Samuel, Richard, and their associates faced decades in prison.
Adrian testified.
The newspapers called it the collapse of Chicago's old criminal order.
Adrian did not care.
He established a legitimate foundation using money recovered from the corrupted businesses.
Its first program helped families affected by organized crime.
Its second helped widowed parents with housing.
Sofia refused to let him name either program after her.
So he named the children's program after Daniel and Claire.
When Sofia saw the plaque, she cried.
Then hit Adrian lightly in the chest.
“You could've warned me.”
“You would've said no.”
“Yes.”
“Exactly.”
Emma ran between them.
“Look!”
She held a sunflower.
Adrian smiled.
Then Marcus approached.
His face erased the moment.
“What?”
“There was a break-in at the old storage facility.”
“Unit forty-seven?”
Marcus nodded.
“What was taken?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why break in?”
Marcus handed him a photograph recovered from the floor.
Daniel.
Elena.
And another woman.
Sofia recognized her.
“My mother.”
Adrian stared.
Sofia's mother had supposedly died when Sofia was sixteen.
On the back was a date.
Two years after her supposed death.
And beneath it were six handwritten words.
SOFIA MUST NEVER KNOW SHE SURVIVED.
Sofia's hands began shaking.
Then the phone in Adrian's pocket rang.
Unknown number.
May you like
He answered.
A woman's voice said, “Put my daughter on the phone.”
