Chapter 3 - The Father Who Returned with an Army
For five years, I had imagined the moment Adrian returned.
In some versions, he appeared at our apartment with flowers and an apology. In others, he begged me to forgive him while Emma watched from behind my legs.
Sometimes I slammed the door in his face.
Sometimes I let him speak.
Never—not once—had I imagined him surrounding a Mafia mansion with armed men and demanding I surrender our daughter.
Emma stood beside me in the wine cellar, hugging her stuffed bunny.
“Why doesn’t Daddy come down here?”
I forced myself to keep my voice steady.
“Because it isn’t safe.”
“He wants to see me.”
“No, baby.”
Her face fell.
Children could forgive abandonment in ways adults could not. Emma had built an imaginary father from the few gentle stories I told her. In her mind, Adrian was not a traitor or a criminal.
He was the man who gave her Rosie.
Damiano moved toward a surveillance panel hidden behind the wine racks.
Most of the camera feeds were black. A few still showed corridors filled with smoke and broken furniture.
One screen displayed the main hall.
Adrian stood beneath the shattered chandelier.
He looked older, leaner, and more dangerous than I remembered. His brown hair was threaded with gray at the temples. A scar crossed his right cheek.
Around him stood at least fifteen armed men.
Isabella was beside him.
Her wrists were no longer restrained.
She wore a white silk dress stained with dust, her diamonds still shining as though the mansion had not become a battlefield.
“They freed her,” Luca said.
“Or she was never truly captured,” Damiano replied.
I looked at him.
“What do you mean?”
“The guard assigned to hold her is missing. Either he betrayed us or she had help.”
On the screen, Isabella approached Adrian and said something we could not hear.
He smiled.
That smile brought back memories I had spent years trying to bury.
Adrian had always smiled before he lied.
Damiano pressed a button on the panel.
The speakers activated.
“Adrian.”
The man on the screen looked up at the nearest camera.
“Damiano Moretti. Still hiding behind walls?”
“You brought thirty men to face me inside my own house.”
“I brought enough.”
“Not enough to leave alive.”
Adrian laughed.
“There he is. The prince of threats.”
“Release the staff and visiting delegations.”
“Bring me my daughter.”
“She is not yours to bargain with.”
Adrian’s smile vanished.
“Everything connected to Sophia belongs to me.”
Damiano’s hand tightened around the microphone.
“No person belongs to you.”
Isabella turned toward the camera.
“You always had such noble ideas when servants were watching.”
Damiano ignored her.
“What do you want with Emma?”
Adrian stepped closer to the lens.
“The Moretti ledgers.”
Luca cursed under his breath.
I looked between them.
“What ledgers?”
Damiano did not take his eyes from the screen.
“Records accumulated over three generations. Payments, alliances, political agreements, hidden accounts.”
“Evidence?”
“Enough to destroy every major family on the East Coast.”
Adrian spread his hands.
“You give me the archive, and Sophia walks out with Emma. Refuse, and the little girl learns what kind of man you truly are.”
Emma was listening.
I knelt and covered her ears, but she pulled away.
“Why does Daddy want books?”
Damiano turned off the speaker.
“Because those books contain secrets.”
“Like the shiny lady’s secret?”
“Yes.”
“Secrets are bad.”
“Some are.”
Emma looked at him seriously.
“Then give Daddy the books.”
Luca stepped forward.
“We can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because many people would get hurt.”
She hugged Rosie.
“People are already getting hurt.”
No one answered.
Children had a way of cutting through every complicated lie adults used to justify themselves.
Damiano crouched in front of her.
“If I give your father what he wants, he will hurt more people.”
“Will he hurt Mommy?”
“Not while I’m alive.”
The certainty in his voice made my chest tighten.
Emma touched one of the tattoos on his hand.
“Then don’t die.”
A faint sound came from the passage behind us.
Damiano stood instantly.
Everyone raised their weapons.
Three knocks echoed against the metal door.
Then two.
Then three again.
Luca lowered his gun slightly.
“Enzo’s signal.”
He opened the door.
The man who entered looked enough like Damiano to be his brother, but the similarities ended there.
Enzo Moretti was taller, with shoulder-length dark hair and a scar running from his eyebrow to his jaw. He wore a charcoal coat over body armor and carried himself like a soldier who expected every room to become a battlefield.
Four men followed him.
Damiano looked at his watch.
“Fourteen minutes.”
“You sounded impatient.”
Their greeting consisted of a brief embrace and a hard look.
Enzo glanced at me, then Emma.
“This is the child?”
“Yes.”
Emma raised her bunny.
“Are you his brother?”
Enzo stared at her.
“Unfortunately.”
Damiano almost smiled.
Enzo’s expression softened.
“I brought twelve men through the river tunnel. Eight are securing the lower level.”
“There are at least fifteen hostiles in the main hall,” Luca said. “More outside.”
Enzo studied the camera feed.
“Adrian Cross.”
“You know him too?” I asked.
Enzo looked at Damiano before answering.
“He sold information that got our uncle killed.”
My stomach twisted.
“I had no idea.”
“No one thinks you did,” Damiano said.
Enzo pointed at Isabella.
“And the bride?”
“Her father promised her control of the Moretti territory if Adrian removed me.”
“Rinaldi is one of the five dons upstairs.”
Damiano nodded.
The conspiracy became clear.
Don Carlo Rinaldi had brought his delegation into the mansion as part of the peace summit. Isabella, his daughter, had been engaged to Damiano.
If the bomb killed every don except the people warned to stay away, Rinaldi could blame the attack on Damiano while inheriting his territory through Isabella’s marriage claim.
But Emma had exposed the bomb.
So they launched the assault.
“Where is Rinaldi now?” Enzo asked.
“Last seen near the dining hall.”
“Alive?”
“Probably.”
Enzo smiled without humor.
“Then the evening may still improve.”
Luca brought up a blueprint of the mansion.
“We need to free the visiting dons before Adrian convinces them Damiano arranged the attack.”
“He has probably already tried,” Damiano said.
“What about Emma and Sophia?” Enzo asked.
“They stay here.”
“No,” I said.
Five men looked at me.
I swallowed my fear.
“Adrian knows this house better than I do, but he probably knows about the cellar. If he comes down here while all of you are fighting upstairs, Emma and I become easy targets.”
Damiano shook his head.
“You are not joining an assault.”
“I didn’t say we were.”
“Then what are you suggesting?”
I pointed at the service map.
“The kitchens have dumbwaiters connected to the old dining rooms. One of them opens behind the main hall’s north wall.”
Luca frowned.
“You know that?”
“I used it every day to send wine from the lower pantry.”
“What does that help?”
“The dumbwaiter shaft runs beside the old speaking tubes. The staff used them before the intercom system was installed.”
Enzo understood first.
“You can listen to the main hall.”
“And speak into it,” I said.
Damiano’s eyes narrowed.
“What are you planning?”
“Adrian wants me. He believes I’m frightened and desperate.”
“You are.”
“Yes. That makes the lie easier.”
I explained quickly.
I would use the speaking tube to contact Adrian and offer to meet him in the north dining room. That would draw part of his force away from the hostages.
Meanwhile, Damiano and Enzo would free the dons and expose Rinaldi.
“No,” Damiano said when I finished.
Enzo leaned against a barrel.
“It could work.”
“She is not bait.”
“I’m not asking permission,” I said.
Damiano stepped close enough that I had to tilt my head back.
“In my house, during an attack on my people, you are absolutely asking permission.”
“Emma is my daughter.”
“And Adrian is my enemy.”
“He became your enemy years ago. He became my problem the day he abandoned us.”
His gaze held mine.
I refused to look away.
Behind us, Emma whispered to Enzo, “Are they fighting?”
“Apparently.”
“Who wins?”
Enzo watched us.
“I’m not foolish enough to guess.”
Damiano lowered his voice.
“If anything happens to you, Emma loses her mother.”
“If we do nothing, Adrian comes down here.”
“I will stop him.”
“You cannot be in every hallway at once.”
Something painful moved through his expression.
He knew I was right.
Finally, he stepped back.
“You speak to him from the pantry. You do not leave that room.”
“Agreed.”
“Luca stays with you.”
“I need Luca,” Enzo objected.
“You have me.”
“That is not always an advantage.”
Damiano ignored him.
We moved through the underground corridor toward the kitchens.
Emma stayed between me and Luca while Damiano and Enzo disappeared toward another staircase.
Before leaving, Damiano took my arm.
“This is the last time I allow you to place yourself in danger.”
“Allow me?”
His jaw tightened.
“Survive tonight. Then argue with me.”
Despite everything, a nervous laugh escaped me.
His thumb brushed my wrist.
The contact lasted only a second.
Then he was gone.
The kitchen was dark and empty. Plates and glasses remained abandoned on counters from the moment the alarm began.
Luca found the old speaking tube behind a cabinet.
He removed its brass cover.
I leaned close.
Voices echoed faintly from the main hall.
Adrian was speaking to someone.
“Moretti will not risk the child,” he said.
Isabella replied, “You don’t know him.”
“I know men like him.”
“No. Damiano would burn his empire before he surrendered control.”
“Then he will watch the girl’s mother die.”
My blood chilled.
Luca touched my shoulder.
“Ready?”
I nodded.
He opened the valve.
“Adrian.”
The voices stopped.
“Sophia?”
“I’m here.”
“Where?”
“I’ll tell you when you promise Emma won’t be harmed.”
“I would never hurt my own daughter.”
“You left her.”
“I left to protect her.”
“You left because Damiano was hunting you.”
Silence.
Then Adrian laughed softly.
“He told you his version.”
“Your men told me enough.”
“Sophia, listen to me. Moretti destroys everyone close to him. Come to the north dining room. Bring Emma.”
“No.”
“Then why are we talking?”
“Because I know where the archive is.”
Luca’s eyebrows rose.
Adrian became very quiet.
“You’re lying.”
“I cleaned Damiano’s office for months. There is a safe behind the family portrait.”
This was partially true. I had seen the portrait, though I had no idea whether a safe was behind it.
“What is the code?” Adrian asked.
“I don’t know. But I can get you into the office.”
“How?”
“The service corridor from the north dining room.”
Another silence.
“Come alone.”
“I want proof that you’ll release Emma and the staff.”
“I can’t release Emma when she’s with you.”
“She’s hidden somewhere you will never find.”
Luca gave me an approving nod.
Adrian’s tone hardened.
“You have ten minutes.”
“I need fifteen.”
“Ten.”
The line went dead.
Luca closed the valve.
“You lied well.”
“I spent two years with him.”
“That would teach anyone.”
A tiny sound came from behind us.
We turned.
Emma stood near the pantry door.
Her eyes were filled with tears.
“You said Daddy was bad.”
I hurried to her.
“Emma—”
“You’re going to see him.”
“No.”
“I heard you.”
“I was tricking him so Mr. Moretti can keep everyone safe.”
She backed away.
“You always said Daddy loved me.”
I could not lie anymore.
“He may love you in his own way.”
“Then why is he hurting people?”
“Because love doesn’t automatically make someone good.”
The truth was too heavy for a six-year-old, but the night had already taken away the luxury of innocence.
Emma’s lower lip trembled.
“I want him to stop.”
“So do I.”
She looked toward the speaking tube.
“I want to tell him.”
“No.”
“Maybe he’ll listen to me.”
“Absolutely not.”
Luca suddenly turned toward the hallway.
Footsteps approached.
He pulled us behind the pantry island and raised his weapon.
The door opened.
A man entered wearing one of Enzo’s gray tactical coats.
“Luca,” he whispered. “Damiano sent me.”
Luca did not lower his gun.
“What is tonight’s code?”
The man hesitated.
That was enough.
Luca fired.
The intruder fell backward.
But two more men rushed through the doorway.
Luca shot one. The other struck him from the side with the butt of a rifle.
Luca collapsed.
I grabbed Emma and ran toward the service door.
A hand caught my hair.
I screamed as I was pulled backward.
The attacker wrapped an arm around my throat.
Emma picked up a heavy copper pan and swung it with both hands.
It struck his knee.
He shouted and loosened his grip.
I drove my elbow into his ribs.
Luca, bleeding from the forehead, rose behind him and ended the fight with a single blow.
For a moment, all I heard was our breathing.
Then the speaking tube crackled.
Adrian’s voice came through.
“I know where you are now, Sophia.”
Luca looked toward the ceiling.
The pantry’s old system had betrayed us. The speaking tube ran both ways, and Adrian had used our voices to locate the room.
Heavy footsteps sounded in the corridor.
Too many.
Luca pushed a cabinet against the door.
“We need to move.”
The emergency lights went out.
In the darkness, Emma’s hand slipped from mine.
“Emma?”
No answer.
“Emma!”
A small door slammed somewhere nearby.
Luca activated a flashlight.
The pantry was empty.
The dumbwaiter stood open.
Emma had climbed inside.
From the shaft came the sound of the lift moving upward.
May you like
Straight toward the main hall.
Straight toward Adrian.
