Chapter 9 - The Choice
Adrian watched Elena’s video eleven times.
Meline counted.
Nobody interrupted.
On the twelfth, he stopped before pressing play.
The room was quiet.
Bennett stood near the windows.
Meline sat across from Adrian.
“What does she mean?” Meline asked.
Adrian already knew.
So did Bennett.
“She wanted me out.”
“Out of the organization?”
“Yes.”
“Can you?”
“No.”
Meline frowned.
“Then why did you answer so quickly?”
“Because leaving isn’t resignation.”
“What is it?”
“War.”
Bennett spoke.
“Not necessarily.”
Adrian looked at him.
“You have a suggestion?”
“You have evidence.”
“Against Victor.”
“And others.”
Adrian understood.
Meline didn’t.
“What does that mean?”
Bennett looked at her.
“Mr. Vance knows prosecutors who have tried to dismantle parts of this organization for years.”
“You want him to cooperate?”
Adrian laughed without humor.
“That would make me a target from both sides.”
“You already are,” Meline said.
He looked at her.
She continued.
“Elena asked you not to avenge her.”
“I heard.”
“She asked you to give Eli something different.”
“I heard that too.”
“Then why are you arguing with a dead woman?”
Bennett actually smiled.
Adrian glared.
“This is not amusing.”
“No, sir.”
Meline folded her arms.
“What would happen if you cooperate?”
“Prison is possible.”
Eli’s face flashed through Meline’s mind.
“How long?”
“Depends.”
“What have you done?”
Adrian looked at Bennett.
Then back at her.
“Things you would hate.”
Meline swallowed.
“Have you killed people?”
Silence.
“Yes.”
She looked away.
The answer mattered.
She wished it didn’t.
“Were they innocent?”
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“Not by the definitions I used then.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
“No.”
She looked at him again.
“Would a court agree?”
“I don’t know.”
Meline nodded slowly.
Adrian seemed surprised she had not left.
“I’m not going to tell you you’re secretly good,” she said.
His expression shifted.
“You’ve done terrible things.”
“Yes.”
“But Elena wasn’t asking you to pretend they never happened.”
“No.”
“She was asking you to stop.”
Adrian looked at the paused image of his wife.
Meline stood.
“You can’t change what Eli lost.”
She touched the piano score.
“But you can decide what he inherits.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
At seven the next morning, he called a federal prosecutor.
Not as Adrian Vance, businessman.
As Adrian Vance, head of an organization investigators had been trying to penetrate for fifteen years.
He offered everything.
Financial records.
Names.
Distribution routes.
Bribery records.
Victor.
In exchange, Adrian demanded one thing above all.
Protection for Eli, Meline, Norah, Bennett, and innocent employees.
The prosecutor laughed when he heard the request.
Then Adrian sent one file from Elena’s evidence.
The laughter stopped.
A meeting was arranged.
Victor could not know.
For forty-eight hours, life inside the mansion continued normally.
Meline played piano.
Eli practiced.
Adrian attended meetings.
Bennett returned to work as if he had never been temporarily fired.
At dinner the second night, Victor arrived uninvited.
Meline was upstairs with Eli.
Adrian and Victor sat alone.
“You’ve been distant,” Victor said.
“Busy.”
“With the maid?”
Adrian’s eyes hardened.
Victor smiled.
“She’s pretty.”
“Don’t.”
Victor raised both hands.
“Touchy.”
Adrian poured wine.
Victor watched him.
“You know, Elena liked strays too.”
Adrian’s fingers stopped.
“What?”
“People who needed fixing.”
Adrian controlled himself.
“You’re drunk.”
“No.”
Victor leaned closer.
“I’m nostalgic.”
Danger entered the room.
“You remember our first job?”
Adrian said nothing.
“We were kids.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father told us loyalty mattered more than blood.”
“Yes.”
“Funny.”
“What?”
“How people change.”
Adrian looked directly at him.
“Some people don’t.”
Victor’s smile faded.
For several seconds they stared at each other.
Then footsteps sounded.
Eli.
Meline behind him.
“Dad?”
Adrian stood.
Victor turned.
His expression became warm immediately.
“Eli.”
The boy did not smile.
Victor opened his arms.
“You don’t hug your uncle anymore?”
Eli moved closer to Meline.
Victor noticed.
Then noticed her hand resting protectively on the boy’s shoulder.
“So you’re the pianist.”
“Maid,” Meline said.
“Not anymore.”
Victor smiled.
“Promotion?”
“Something like that.”
His eyes lingered.
Meline disliked the way he looked at her.
Not attraction.
Calculation.
“You resemble your mother.”
She froze.
“You know my mother?”
Victor took a sip of wine.
“Of course.”
Adrian stood.
“That’s enough.”
Victor ignored him.
“Talented woman.”
Meline’s pulse quickened.
“You visited her once.”
Victor’s eyes flickered.
Only once.
But Meline saw it.
“I visited many people.”
“You visited her the morning after Elena died.”
Silence.
Adrian’s face hardened.
Meline realized too late what she had done.
Victor set down his glass.
“That’s an interesting story.”
“My mother remembers.”
“No, she doesn’t.”
The words came too fast.
Everyone froze.
Victor smiled again.
But it was different.
Dead.
Cold.
“You’ve been talking to an old woman whose mind is gone.”
Meline stepped backward.
Eli gripped her hand.
Adrian moved between them.
“Leave.”
Victor stared.
“Excuse me?”
“Leave my house.”
Victor slowly stood.
“After everything?”
“Now.”
Victor looked at Eli.
Then Meline.
Then Adrian.
The mask disappeared completely.
“You found something.”
Nobody answered.
Victor smiled.
“There it is.”
He backed toward the doorway.
“I knew that stupid song would eventually cause trouble.”
Adrian’s voice became deadly calm.
“You killed her.”
Victor stopped.
For one second, something almost like regret passed over his face.
Then:
“She should have stayed out of business.”
Eli made a small sound.
Victor looked toward him.
Too late.
The boy had heard.
Adrian lunged.
Meline grabbed Eli and turned him away.
Bennett and two guards rushed in.
Adrian slammed Victor against the wall.
“Dad!” Eli screamed.
That one word stopped him.
Adrian’s fist remained raised.
Victor smiled through blood.
“See? You’re still exactly who you were.”
Adrian breathed hard.
Then lowered his hand.
“No.”
He stepped back.
“I’m not.”
Victor wiped his mouth.
“You think this ends because you found paperwork?”
Adrian stared.
Victor laughed softly.
“You don’t know how many people I own.”
Then he walked out.
Bennett moved toward the phone.
Adrian stopped him.
“No.”
“Sir?”
“Let him go.”
Meline stared.
“Why?”
Adrian looked toward the hidden recording device the federal team had installed that morning.
“Because he just confessed.”
Bennett’s expression changed.
Adrian looked at his son.
Eli was crying silently.
Adrian knelt.
“I’m sorry.”
Eli stared at him.
“Uncle Victor killed Mom?”
Adrian’s voice broke.
“Yes.”
Eli slapped his father.
Everyone froze.
The boy sobbed.
“You knew?”
“No.”
“You let him come here!”
“I didn’t know.”
“You called him family!”
“I know.”
Eli ran upstairs.
Adrian remained kneeling.
Meline wanted to comfort him.
But some grief had to be earned through facing it.
So she followed Eli instead.
That decision saved the boy’s life.
Because ten minutes later, Meline entered Eli’s bedroom—
and found the window open.
The room empty.
And a message written across the mirror.
May you like
BRING ME THE FLASH DRIVE. COME ALONE.
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