Chapter 4 - The Man Adrian Trusted
Adrian switched off the bulb.
Darkness swallowed the basement.
Nora heard her own breathing.
Celeste whispered, "Back wall."
Adrian took Nora's hand.
They moved through darkness until Celeste found a metal shelf.
She pushed it sideways.
Behind it was a narrow maintenance tunnel.
"You knew this was here?" Adrian whispered.
"Elias showed me."
Nora froze.
"When?"
"Move."
The basement door opened.
Light spilled across the floor.
Adrian pushed Nora into the passage.
Celeste followed.
They pulled the shelf back just as voices entered the room.
Nora could hear men searching.
Then an older voice.
Calm.
"Adrian."
Victor.
"Don't make this embarrassing."
Adrian stood completely still.
The wall between them was thin enough to hear papers moving.
Victor laughed softly.
"Elias always did love hiding things."
Nora's nails dug into her palm.
Adrian touched her shoulder.
A silent warning.
Victor continued.
"You can come out now."
Nobody moved.
"I know Nora is with you."
Her blood chilled.
"I also know she's pregnant."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
Celeste closed her eyes.
Victor tapped something against the table.
"If you want her to remain that way, let's have a conversation."
Nora saw Adrian's body change.
Every muscle prepared to fight.
She caught his sleeve.
"No."
He looked at her.
She shook her head.
Not here.
Not blind.
Not with a baby between them.
Adrian understood.
The tunnel descended beneath the neighboring building.
They moved slowly.
Nora's back ached.
Halfway through, another contraction came.
She stopped.
Adrian whispered, "How far apart?"
"Twenty minutes."
"That's too close."
"It's stress."
Celeste looked genuinely concerned.
"We need a hospital."
Nora glared at her.
"Now you care?"
Celeste flinched.
"I deserved that."
"You deserve more than that."
"I know."
The tunnel ended near an alley.
Adrian called his remaining loyal men.
Nobody answered.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Celeste gave him a grim look.
"Victor owns more of your people than you realize."
Adrian stared at his phone.
"How long?"
"Years."
"And Elias knew?"
"He suspected."
"Why didn't he tell me?"
"He tried."
Adrian looked at her.
"When?"
"The night before he died."
Nora stepped closer.
"Stop saying died."
Celeste looked at her.
"I'm sorry."
"No, you're not. You're still hiding things."
"Yes."
That answer surprised Nora.
Celeste folded her arms against the cold.
"I've been hiding things for twelve years."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Start talking."
Celeste looked toward the alley entrance.
"We need somewhere safe."
"Nothing is safe."
"Then drive."
They stole no car.
Adrian simply walked two blocks to a hotel garage, entered a private level with a key card, and unlocked a sedan.
Nora gave him a look.
"You have cars hidden around Boston?"
"I prepare."
"Your brother prepared better."
That hurt.
She regretted it immediately.
Adrian drove toward a private medical clinic he trusted in Brookline.
Celeste began talking.
She had met Victor Moretti when she was twenty-four.
Her father owed him money.
Victor offered to erase the debt if Celeste became useful.
At first that meant introductions.
Dinner invitations.
Information about wealthy families.
Then Adrian became engaged to her.
Victor wanted access to Adrian.
"I did love you," Celeste said.
Adrian stared at the road.
"Don't."
"I did."
"You reported my conversations to Victor."
"At first."
"How comforting."
"Then I stopped."
"After how long?"
"Six months."
"You were engaged to me for eight."
Nora remained silent.
Celeste continued.
"Victor found out. He threatened my sister."
Adrian looked at her.
"Your sister died."
Celeste's voice cracked.
"Yes."
The car became silent.
"Victor arranged it?" Adrian asked.
Celeste nodded.
"Then he showed me photographs of my daughter."
Nora frowned.
"You said Adrian thought you didn't have one."
"I gave birth in Montreal after our engagement ended."
Adrian turned toward her.
"Whose child?"
Celeste looked at him.
"Not yours."
Something in his shoulders relaxed.
Even now.
Nora noticed.
Celeste almost smiled sadly.
"Her father was Daniel Cross."
Adrian's expression sharpened.
"The accountant."
"Victor's accountant."
"The one who disappeared."
"He tried to expose him."
Adrian whispered a curse.
Celeste continued.
"Victor killed Daniel. I hid our daughter with relatives. Victor found her anyway. Since then, I've done whatever he asked."
Nora touched her watch.
"Including watching Eli."
Celeste nodded.
"At first."
"And later?"
"I helped him."
Nora stared.
"You helped my husband fake his death?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"I helped him survive it."
Adrian looked toward Celeste.
"Explain."
"The crash was supposed to kill Elias. Victor arranged a truck to force his car through a barrier outside Providence. Elias knew something was wrong because I warned him five minutes before it happened."
Nora's breath caught.
"He escaped?"
"He jumped before the car went over."
"Then whose body—"
"A man Victor's people had killed earlier."
Nora felt sick.
"The coffin was closed."
Celeste nodded.
"Victor controlled the identification."
Adrian's voice was cold.
"And you let us bury a stranger."
"I was trying to keep Elias alive."
"You let Nora believe he was dead."
"I didn't know about Nora until the funeral."
Nora stared at her.
"What?"
"Elias hid you well."
"Then how did Victor find me?"
Celeste looked at her belly.
"Pregnancy records."
Nora's hand tightened over her child.
The clinic was nearly empty.
Adrian woke the physician himself.
Dr. Harper checked Nora immediately.
The baby was fine.
Her contractions were stress-induced, not active labor.
Nora nearly cried from relief.
Adrian waited outside.
Celeste sat near the wall.
When Nora emerged, Adrian stood.
"Everything okay?"
"Yes."
He exhaled.
It was the first time Nora realized he had been afraid.
Not for evidence.
For her.
They moved into a private office.
Adrian locked the door.
"Now tell me where Elias is."
Celeste looked at Nora.
"I don't know."
Adrian slammed his hand onto the desk.
"Enough."
"I don't."
"You spoke with him."
"Through encrypted messages."
"When?"
"Last week."
Nora leaned forward.
"What did he say?"
"That he had finally found proof against Victor."
"What proof?"
"Something called Ledger Nine."
Adrian froze.
Nora saw it.
"What is Ledger Nine?"
"A myth."
Celeste shook her head.
"No."
Adrian looked at Nora.
"After my father died, people whispered he kept a private ledger. Every bribe. Every payoff. Every illegal shipment. Every politician. Every cop."
"And Victor wants it?"
"If it exists, it destroys him."
Celeste nodded.
"Elias found it."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
Adrian paced.
Nora watched him.
"Your father kept evidence against his own people?"
"My father trusted nobody."
"Smart family."
Adrian ignored that.
Celeste reached into her clutch.
Adrian immediately aimed his gun.
She froze.
"It's a phone."
"Slowly."
She removed it and placed it on the desk.
One saved voicemail.
Dated three nights earlier.
Eli's voice.
"If anything happens to me, tell Adrian the ledger was never in the house. Dad put it where Victor could see it every day and never recognize it."
The message ended.
Adrian stared.
"Where Victor could see it every day."
Nora thought.
"Office?"
"No."
"Restaurant?"
Adrian's expression shifted.
"Church."
Nora blinked.
"What?"
"Our father funded St. Michael's chapel in the North End. Victor attends every Sunday."
Celeste whispered, "The memorial wall."
Adrian looked at her.
"My father's plaque."
They drove there before sunrise.
The chapel was locked.
Adrian had a key.
Nora stopped asking why.
Inside, hundreds of brass memorial plates lined one wall.
At the center was Antonio Moretti's name.
Adrian removed the plaque.
Behind it was a narrow recess.
Empty.
His face fell.
Then Nora noticed scratches.
"Wait."
She reached inside.
Her fingers touched paper.
A small folded card.
Not a ledger.
The card contained only an address.
17 Harbor Lane.
Adrian knew it.
"That's one of our oldest warehouses."
Celeste looked terrified.
"Victor uses it."
Adrian turned toward her.
"For what?"
"I don't know."
Nora stared at the address.
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
She opened the message.
A photograph appeared.
Eli.
Tied to a chair.
Blood at the corner of his mouth.
Alive.
Beneath the picture:
BRING THE WATCH TO 17 HARBOR LANE.
May you like
COME ALONE, NORA.
OR YOUR HUSBAND DIES FOR REAL.
