Chapter 4 - Midnight at the Aurelia Annex
Clara wanted to run straight to the address.
Adrian stopped her.
“He wants you emotional.”
“He has my mother.”
“That’s why.”
“I don’t care.”
“You will if walking in gets her killed.”
Clara glared at him.
Daniel stood nearby, devastated.
“This is because of me.”
Clara turned.
“No. This is because of Victor.”
She was angry with her father.
Furious.
But she refused to let his guilt become another weapon.
Adrian spoke to Marcus.
“Get building plans.”
Marcus nodded.
Daniel said, “I know the layout.”
The address belonged to the old Aurelia Annex, a warehouse once connected to the hotel through underground freight tunnels.
Victor had chosen it deliberately.
A place filled with history.
And ghosts.
They drove in separate vehicles.
Clara sat beside Adrian.
Daniel rode with Marcus.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then Adrian said, “My father once told me about Daniel.”
Clara looked over.
“He said there was one honest man on the Aurelia project.”
“My father lied to his daughter for eleven years.”
“Those things can both be true.”
She hated that.
Adrian looked down at his stained tuxedo.
“You ruined this.”
Despite everything, Clara almost smiled.
“You’re welcome.”
“It was six thousand dollars.”
“You were about to become a pancake under forty thousand dollars of crystal.”
“That seems like a favorable exchange.”
For the first time that night, tension broke.
Only for a second.
Then Clara’s phone buzzed again.
Victor.
TEN MINUTES.
Adrian leaned over.
A picture showed Evelyn still alive.
Clara swallowed.
“She looks hurt.”
“We’ll get her out.”
“How can you promise that?”
“I can’t.”
His answer surprised her.
“But I can promise we won’t stop.”
They reached the Annex at 11:51.
Clara stepped from the SUV holding the brass key.
Daniel approached.
“You don’t have to go in.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I should.”
“He asked for me.”
“Because he knows I care about you.”
Clara stared at her father.
“You don’t get to disappear again.”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“I won’t.”
Adrian opened his coat.
A concealed pistol sat in a shoulder holster.
Clara looked at it.
“You said you run legitimate businesses.”
“I said some.”
Marcus handed Clara a tiny earpiece.
“Keep talking.”
The Annex smelled of dust and oil.
Clara entered alone.
At least, that was what Victor was supposed to believe.
Her footsteps echoed.
A light turned on.
Evelyn sat in the center of the room.
“Mom.”
“Clara, no!”
A man stepped from the shadows.
Victor Raines was in his late sixties, silver-haired, elegant, calm.
He looked more like a retired senator than a murderer.
“Clara Hayes.”
“Let her go.”
“The key.”
“First her.”
Victor smiled.
“You inherited Daniel’s stubbornness.”
“You knew my father.”
“Very well.”
Clara showed the key.
“You get this when she walks out.”
Victor studied her.
“You think Adrian Moretti is coming to save you.”
Clara kept her expression blank.
Victor continued.
“He is here.”
Her heartbeat jumped.
“He always was predictable.”
Two armed men emerged above on a catwalk.
Clara realized Victor had anticipated them.
“Tell him to come in.”
Clara said nothing.
Victor sighed.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Adrian’s voice came from the darkness.
“I’m already here.”
He stepped out.
Victor smiled.
“Salvatore would hate what you became.”
Adrian’s face remained calm.
“You murdered him.”
Victor shrugged.
“Your father lacked ambition.”
“You mean he discovered you were stealing.”
“I was building something.”
“You built graves.”
Victor’s smile faded.
Daniel’s voice came from behind Victor.
“And one of them was supposed to be mine.”
Victor turned sharply.
Daniel stepped from a side entrance with Marcus.
Victor stared.
For the first time, the old man lost composure.
“You.”
Daniel said, “Hello, Victor.”
Evelyn began crying.
Victor raised a gun toward her.
Clara shouted, “Stop!”
Everyone froze.
Victor said, “Key.”
Clara placed it on the floor.
She kicked it toward him.
Victor picked it up.
“Smart girl.”
“Let my mother go.”
Victor nodded toward one guard.
The man cut Evelyn’s restraints.
She ran toward Clara.
Clara hugged her.
Then Victor laughed.
“You think that was the deal?”
Adrian’s body tensed.
Victor held up the key.
“The deposit box contains a ledger that can destroy judges, senators, commissioners.”
“So?”
“So people with that much to lose don’t allow evidence to survive.”
Daniel said, “Neither do cowards.”
Victor aimed at him.
Clara screamed.
A shot rang out.
But it came from above.
One of Victor’s guards collapsed.
Marcus fired at the other.
Chaos erupted.
Adrian pulled Clara and Evelyn behind a steel column.
Daniel lunged toward Victor.
The two men crashed into a table.
The brass key skidded across the floor.
Clara crawled for it.
Victor kicked Daniel away.
Then he saw her.
He raised his gun.
Adrian stepped between them.
Another shot.
Clara screamed.
Adrian stumbled.
Blood spread near his shoulder.
He stayed standing.
Victor ran.
Marcus pursued him.
Daniel grabbed Adrian.
“You’re hit.”
“Not badly.”
Clara pressed her hand against the wound.
“You idiot.”
Adrian looked at her.
“I preferred the wine.”
Sirens approached.
Victor escaped through a freight exit.
But Evelyn was safe.
Daniel was alive.
Adrian was injured but conscious.
And Clara still had the key.
At a private medical clinic owned by one of Adrian’s companies, the bullet was removed.
Clara waited outside.
Her mother sat beside her.
For a while, neither spoke.
Then Clara asked, “How long did you know Dad was alive?”
Evelyn closed her eyes.
“Eight years.”
Clara nodded slowly.
“Why?”
“Victor threatened you.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that.”
“I know.”
“You should have trusted me.”
“You were seventeen.”
“And then eighteen. And twenty. And twenty-five.”
Evelyn cried quietly.
“I was afraid.”
Clara’s anger softened, but it didn’t disappear.
“You stole eleven years.”
“I know.”
Daniel joined them.
Evelyn stood.
For a moment husband and wife simply stared at each other.
Then she slapped him.
Clara almost laughed.
Daniel nodded.
“I deserved that.”
Evelyn hugged him.
Clara looked away.
Adrian’s door opened.
A doctor stepped out.
“He’s asking for Clara.”
She entered.
Adrian sat upright.
His shoulder was bandaged.
“You look terrible,” Clara said.
“You spilled wine on me, got me shot, and insulted me in one evening.”
“You’re welcome again.”
He almost smiled.
Then he grew serious.
“The key.”
Clara held it up.
“We need the ledger.”
“Yes.”
“Tonight?”
“Victor will get there first if we wait.”
“You were just shot.”
“And you’re still wearing an apron.”
She looked down.
He had a point.
Marcus entered.
“I located the vault.”
He put a tablet on the bed.
An old bank blueprint appeared.
Deposit Box 417.
Clara touched the screen.
“Seventeen again.”
Marcus nodded.
“And there’s something else.”
He opened a property record.
The building owner was listed as Moretti Holdings.
But the beneficiary attached to Box 417 was not Adrian.
It was Clara.
She stared.
“Why would Salvatore leave it to me?”
Adrian looked at Marcus.
Marcus opened another file.
A scanned letter.
The first sentence appeared on screen.
TO CLARA HAYES, WHEN YOU ARE OLD ENOUGH TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT ADRIAN MORETTI.
Clara’s eyes moved to Adrian.
He looked equally confused.
Marcus scrolled.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Marcus stared at the next line.
Adrian said, “Read it.”
Marcus looked at Clara.
May you like
His face had gone pale.
“The ledger isn’t the only thing Salvatore left her.”
