Chapter 6 - The Woman Who Framed Riona
Aldrich moved before Riona finished reading the message.
“Anel, coat.”
The boy stared.
“But I haven't finished.”
“We'll take it with us.”
Riona saw Aldrich change.
Not into the feared man people whispered about.
Into something more instinctive.
A father who had known he was a father for less than twenty-four hours and already understood that the child came before everything.
They left through the restaurant kitchen.
Marc arrived five minutes later with another vehicle.
No drama.
No confrontation.
Just movement.
Efficient.
Controlled.
Riona appreciated that.
Anel thought it was an adventure until he noticed neither adult was smiling.
“Are we in trouble?”
Riona buckled him in.
“No.”
Aldrich crouched beside the open door.
“Someone is being rude.”
Anel considered this.
“Can you tell them to stop?”
Aldrich's expression softened.
“That's exactly what I'm going to do.”
They returned to the estate through a secondary entrance.
This time Riona did not argue.
At midnight, after Anel fell asleep in a guest room, she and Aldrich reviewed the surveillance records.
Serafina had been partially truthful.
Several invoices originated from Cosmo.
But Aldrich noticed something.
“Dates.”
Riona leaned closer.
Serafina's surveillance began four weeks after Riona disappeared.
Cosmo's began six months later.
“He took over,” Aldrich said.
“Or joined.”
“No.”
“You can't keep assuming the best about him.”
“And you can't assume the worst.”
They stared at each other.
Then Aldrich sighed.
“Fair.”
Riona scrolled.
Cosmo's reports were different.
No close photographs.
No medical appointments.
No attempts to identify Anel.
They were mostly simple status notes.
Subject safe.
No Ferrante personnel observed.
No contact recommended.
Riona read the final one.
Protection remains passive. Do not approach mother or child.
She sat back.
“He was protecting us.”
Aldrich nodded.
“From Serafina.”
The study door opened.
Marc entered.
“We found Roland.”
“Where?” Aldrich asked.
“He turned himself in.”
Riona frowned.
“To police?”
“No.”
Marc looked almost amused.
“To Nathaniel Price.”
Roland waited in Price's office downtown.
When Aldrich and Riona arrived, he looked exhausted.
“Where's Serafina?” Aldrich asked.
“I don't know.”
“You left with her.”
“I got out two blocks later.”
“Why?”
Roland looked at Riona.
“Because she said Anel's name.”
Aldrich stepped forward.
“What did she say?”
“That if things went badly, the boy could become leverage.”
Riona's face drained.
Aldrich's voice became dangerous.
“Exact words.”
Roland repeated them.
“Family makes everyone negotiable.”
Riona stood.
“I want to leave Montreal.”
Aldrich nodded immediately.
“I'll arrange it.”
She stared, surprised he didn't argue.
“Tonight.”
“Yes.”
Roland interrupted.
“She'll follow you.”
“I've survived her before.”
“She wasn't desperate before.”
Riona turned.
Roland placed a folder on the table.
“I kept this.”
“What is it?”
“My insurance.”
Inside were copies of emails.
Serafina's instructions.
Eight years earlier.
Build a credible internal case against Mallister. No visible connection to me.
Another:
Aldrich must believe discovery was his own conclusion.
Another:
Once she leaves, confirm whether pregnancy is possible.
Aldrich read in silence.
Then found one dated months later.
Cosmo has interfered. Suspend Vancouver contact.
Riona released a breath.
Proof.
Actual proof.
Not memory.
Not accusation.
Aldrich closed the folder.
“Why keep this?”
“Because I knew someday Serafina would sacrifice me too.”
“Did she?”
“She tried yesterday.”
Roland looked at Riona.
“She told me to destroy the archive.”
“Why didn't you?”
“Because eight years is enough.”
Aldrich laughed bitterly.
“That's your moral awakening?”
“No.”
Roland met his eyes.
“My fear changed sides.”
At least he admitted it.
Nathaniel Price entered.
“There is something you need to hear.”
He placed an old digital recorder on the desk.
“Cosmo gave this to me twelve years ago.”
Aldrich frowned.
“Before Riona?”
“Yes.”
Price pressed play.
Cosmo's younger voice emerged.
“If anything happens to me, investigate Serafina.”
Aldrich looked up.
The recording continued.
“My daughter believes I am weakening the family by transitioning assets into legal businesses. She believes Lucas's death should have made me more aggressive. It had the opposite effect.”
Aldrich's hands tightened.
“I do not know whether Serafina caused the vehicle failure that killed Lucas. I pray she did not. But I know she had discussed removing me from leadership before the crash.”
Riona stared at Aldrich.
Cosmo continued.
“If I cannot prove it, I will not accuse my daughter publicly. But I will build a record.”
The audio ended.
Aldrich stood at the window.
Riona approached.
“You don't have to defend her.”
“She's my aunt.”
“I know.”
“She raised me after my mother died.”
Riona understood then.
Serafina wasn't simply family.
She had become a maternal figure.
This truth required Aldrich to destroy part of his own childhood.
“You can love what someone was to you and still accept what they did.”
Aldrich looked at her.
“Is that what you did with me?”
The question surprised them both.
Riona looked away.
“I tried not to love you.”
“And?”
“It was exhausting.”
Aldrich almost smiled.
Then Price's phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Everyone looked at him.
Price lowered the phone.
“The estate alarm.”
Aldrich immediately called Marc.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Riona's blood turned cold.
“Anel.”
They ran.
Twenty-five minutes later, their vehicle passed through the estate gates.
Security lights burned across the grounds.
Aldrich was out before the car stopped.
“Marc!”
Marc emerged from the house holding his forehead.
Riona ran past him.
“Anel!”
“He's okay!”
She stopped.
Marc pointed toward the library.
“He's inside with Elise.”
Riona found Anel safe.
She dropped to her knees and pulled him into her arms.
“Mama?”
“I'm here.”
Aldrich entered behind them.
Relief crossed his face.
Then Marc said, “Something's missing.”
“What?”
“The archive.”
They descended.
The steel door stood open.
Files scattered.
But only one cabinet had been emptied.
2018.
The year Riona was framed.
“The ledger,” she whispered.
Gone.
Aldrich turned toward the camera system.
Disabled.
Marc handed him something found on the floor.
A black glove.
Women's.
Inside was a folded note.
Aldrich opened it.
If you want the original ledger, come to the old Laurentian house tomorrow at noon.
Below:
Aldrich alone.
Riona shook her head.
“No.”
Aldrich looked at her.
“She wants me.”
“She wants control.”
“I need that ledger.”
“We already have Roland's evidence.”
“The ledger contains Lucas.”
Riona realized.
This wasn't only about her anymore.
Aldrich wanted the truth about his brother.
“I'll go,” he said.
“No.”
“I wasn't asking.”
“And I stopped taking orders from Ferrantes eight years ago.”
His mouth almost twitched.
Even now.
Then Anel appeared at the cellar stairs.
He was holding something.
“Aldrich?”
“Yes?”
“I found this under the table.”
A small envelope.
Cosmo's handwriting.
Aldrich opened it.
Inside was a single photograph.
A young Serafina standing beside Lucas's damaged car.
On the back Cosmo had written:
She did not cause the crash.
Aldrich released a breath.
Then he read the second line.
But she knows who did.
And underneath was a name that none of them expected.
May you like
Roland Vain.
---
