Chapter 7 - The Man Who Had Waited Seven Years
“Bring me the ledger,” Julian said.
Serafina held the phone steady.
“Where?”
“You'll receive instructions.”
“Let Vivian go.”
Julian laughed.
“You still haven't learned.”
“What?”
“Kindness is expensive.”
The call ended.
Nikolai wanted to destroy the phone.
Serafina stopped him.
“Why Julian?”
“Money,” Dorian said.
Elena shook her head.
“No. Julian already had money.”
Rosa looked at the ledger.
“Revenge.”
Everyone turned.
Rosa explained that Julian's father had served Salvatore.
When money disappeared from a Moretti account, Salvatore accused him.
He was expelled.
Three months later he killed himself.
“What if he was innocent?” Serafina asked.
Rosa said nothing.
That silence answered.
They searched the ledger.
Eventually Serafina found the original theft.
A different name appeared beside the transfer.
Etienne Lacroix.
Vivian's father.
Dorian stared.
“Julian's father took the blame for Vivian's father.”
Nikolai nodded.
“And Julian spent decades positioning himself beside the family that destroyed his.”
Serafina closed the ledger.
“Then Vivian isn't just leverage.”
“She is punishment,” Elena said.
A message arrived.
MIDNIGHT. PIER 19. COME ALONE.
Dorian immediately said, “No.”
Serafina looked at him.
He corrected himself.
“You decide. But going alone is what he expects.”
It was a small change.
She noticed.
Nikolai did too.
They built a plan.
At eleven forty-five, Serafina drove to Pier 19.
Alone, apparently.
Dorian and Elena approached through the eastern warehouse.
Nikolai's men came by water.
Serafina entered carrying the ledger.
Vivian sat beneath a hanging light.
Julian stood behind her.
Adrian Voss stood beside him.
“You,” Serafina said to Voss.
He smiled.
“Me.”
“Who killed my father?”
Julian answered.
“Voss supplied the poison.”
“And you administered it?”
Julian's smile vanished.
“No.”
Serafina looked between them.
“Who?”
Voss laughed.
“You still think everyone in your family is loyal.”
Nikolai's voice sounded through Serafina's hidden earpiece.
Do not react.
Voss approached.
“Give me the ledger.”
“Vivian first.”
Julian untied her.
Vivian stumbled toward Serafina.
Halfway across, Voss raised his gun.
Dorian emerged from the shadows.
“Drop it.”
Voss turned.
Gunfire exploded.
Vivian fell.
Serafina dragged her behind a crate.
Elena fired from above.
Julian fled.
Dorian tackled Voss.
The two men crashed through a glass partition.
Nikolai's men stormed the warehouse.
Seconds later, Voss was surrounded.
Julian had vanished.
Vivian was bleeding from her shoulder.
She grabbed Serafina's wrist.
“I need to tell you something.”
“Save your strength.”
“No.”
Vivian's eyes filled.
“Dorian wasn't supposed to survive the gala.”
Serafina froze.
“What?”
“Julian changed the plan.”
“Why?”
“Because Dorian knows something.”
“He doesn't.”
Vivian shook her head.
“He does. He just doesn't remember.”
Dorian approached.
Vivian stared at him.
“Ask him where he was the night Salvatore Moretti died.”
Dorian went pale.
Serafina turned.
“Dorian?”
He said nothing.
“Where were you?”
May you like
His eyes met hers.
“At your father's house.”
