Chapter 9 - The Man Aldrich Trusted Most
Nathaniel Price disappeared before they returned to Montreal.
His office was empty.
Computer gone.
Paper files removed.
Assistant sent home with no explanation.
Aldrich stood inside the vacant office with Marc and Riona.
“He knew.”
Riona nodded.
“The moment we opened the real archive.”
Marc checked the cabinets.
“Or Serafina warned him.”
Aldrich looked toward his aunt.
She had returned with them voluntarily.
Serafina's expression hardened.
“I warned no one.”
“You've lied before.”
“Yes.”
The admission ended the argument more effectively than denial.
Riona found one forgotten folder behind a cabinet.
Old property records.
Inside was a map.
Red circles around Ferrante businesses from thirty years earlier.
Another color marked Omont properties.
A third marked law firms.
Price had been mapping conflicts.
Marc frowned.
“He represented both families?”
“Through shell firms,” Riona said.
Serafina nodded.
“He made money every time we fought.”
Aldrich looked at her.
“And you never knew?”
“My father trusted him.”
“So did Cosmo.”
“Until late.”
They searched Price's financial records.
Transfers to Roland's father.
Payments tied to information leaks.
Anonymous tips to police.
Loans provided to rivals.
Every major Ferrante crisis over three decades contained some trace of Price.
He had not controlled everything.
But he had nudged.
A rumor here.
A payment there.
A document placed in the correct hands.
Riona thought about her own accusation.
“Did Price help frame me?”
Roland answered from the doorway.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
“I remembered something.”
He entered.
“The forged bank documents came from a contact Serafina recommended.”
“Price,” Aldrich said.
Roland nodded.
“Through another firm.”
Serafina's face went pale.
For the first time, she seemed genuinely shocked.
“He told me you were the problem,” she whispered to Riona.
Riona stared.
“He encouraged you?”
“He said your accounting questions would expose family restructuring and create federal scrutiny.”
“So you used Roland.”
“Yes.”
“And Price built the evidence.”
Serafina slowly sat.
Riona almost felt sorry for her.
Almost.
Serafina had still chosen cruelty.
Manipulation did not erase responsibility.
It only explained opportunity.
Aldrich's phone rang.
Anel.
He answered immediately.
“Hey.”
“Aldrich?”
The boy sounded upset.
Aldrich stood straighter.
“What happened?”
“Mom isn't here.”
Aldrich looked at Riona.
She was standing ten feet away.
“She's with me.”
“Oh.”
Anel hesitated.
“Someone came to the house.”
Every adult froze.
“Who?”
“An old man.”
Aldrich's blood ran cold.
“What did he look like?”
“Gray hair. Glasses.”
Price.
“Where are you?”
“With Elise.”
“Stay with her.”
“He gave me something.”
“What?”
“A birthday present.”
Aldrich closed his eyes.
“Don't open it.”
“I already did.”
Riona grabbed the phone.
“Anel, sweetheart, what is it?”
“A book.”
“What book?”
“It has pictures.”
Riona and Aldrich exchanged glances.
“What pictures?”
“Of you.”
Her face drained.
“And me when I was little.”
Aldrich whispered, “We're coming.”
They reached the estate in twenty minutes.
Anel was safe.
The book sat on the library table.
Photographs.
Years of them.
More detailed than Cosmo's.
Riona pregnant.
Leaving a clinic.
Holding newborn Anel.
Playground.
School.
Grocery store.
Price had maintained his own surveillance.
Inside the front cover:
Every family has a price. Yours has already been paid.
Aldrich tore through the pages.
Final page.
A recent photograph.
Anel outside his Vancouver school.
Behind him stood a man.
Price.
Riona sat down.
“He was close to him.”
Aldrich crouched beside her.
“He won't be again.”
“You don't know that.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“But I'm not making promises I can't control anymore.”
Riona studied him.
That mattered.
The old Aldrich would have promised absolute safety because his identity depended on believing he could command outcomes.
This Aldrich understood limits.
“We go back to Vancouver,” she said.
“Yes.”
“You?”
“If you'll allow it.”
Riona hesitated.
Then nodded.
The three of them flew west the next morning.
No entourage.
No Ferrante convoy.
Just Riona, Anel, and Aldrich.
Vancouver rain greeted them.
Anel relaxed immediately upon seeing familiar streets.
“This is my real home,” he told Aldrich.
Aldrich nodded.
“I can see why.”
Riona watched closely.
No offense.
No competition.
He respected the life she built.
At her apartment, Anel gave Aldrich a tour.
“My room.”
“Very impressive.”
“My Lego shelf.”
“More impressive.”
“My mom says don't touch the red spaceship.”
Aldrich looked at Riona.
“Why?”
“It took three hours.”
“Understood.”
That night Anel fell asleep on the couch between them during a movie.
Aldrich stared down at him.
“He looks like you when he sleeps.”
Riona smiled.
“You've never seen me sleep.”
“I saw you sleep for two years.”
Her smile faded.
Memory.
Aldrich lowered his voice.
“I don't expect us to go back.”
“Good.”
“I don't think back exists.”
Riona looked at him.
“What do you want?”
“A chance to build forward.”
She remained quiet.
“With Anel?”
“Yes.”
“And me?”
He took a breath.
“Yes.”
Riona looked away.
“I don't know if I can.”
“I know.”
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
“I built a life where I didn't need you.”
“I know.”
She looked at him sharply.
“Stop agreeing.”
That made him laugh.
She almost did too.
Then Anel shifted and rested his head against Aldrich's arm.
Aldrich became motionless.
Riona watched his face.
Something inside her loosened.
Not forgiveness.
Not yet.
But possibility.
At 11:42 p.m., her phone received an email.
From Nathaniel Price.
Subject:
ASK ALDRICH WHAT HAPPENED THE NIGHT BEFORE YOU LEFT.
Riona opened it.
One sentence.
He has been telling you the truth about the accusation—but not about what he did after you walked out.
She slowly looked at Aldrich.
“What did you do?”
He saw the screen.
His face changed.
And Riona understood immediately.
There was still one secret left between them.
May you like
This time, it belonged to Aldrich.
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