Chapter 3 - The Man Sitting in Adrien’s Chair
We never made it to the garage.
Adrien stopped before the final stairwell.
“Too obvious.”
“That’s reassuring. I was beginning to worry armed men hunting us would make the morning boring.”
He glanced at me.
“You joke when you’re afraid.”
“I used to crack jokes while performing CPR.”
“Did it help?”
“No. But occasionally it annoyed people enough to stay alive.”
The corner of his mouth moved.
Then his expression hardened again.
“Garage will be covered.”
“So what’s the alternative?”
“We go downstairs.”
I stared at him.
“Toward the people trying to kill us?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Luca thinks I’m hiding.”
“And?”
“He’ll be less careful if I do the opposite.”
I hated that the logic made sense.
We moved through a servants’ corridor.
Along the way Adrien found an old jacket in a storage closet and gave it to me.
“Cover your uniform.”
“Why?”
“Anyone seeing you will identify you immediately.”
“You’re six-foot-something, covered in tattoos, wearing a yellow shirt.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re not exactly subtle.”
“I never claimed to be.”
Voices drifted through the wall ahead.
Adrien pushed open a narrow maintenance door.
We entered a gallery overlooking the central hall.
Below us stood perhaps thirty men.
Some wore suits.
Others security uniforms.
At the far end, two carved doors opened into Adrien’s study.
Inside, visible through the doorway, Vittorio sat behind the desk.
Adrien’s chair.
Luca stood beside him.
My temporary employee photograph was displayed on a large screen.
Luca was speaking.
“The woman’s background is clean on the surface. Former paramedic. Left emergency medicine three years ago. Financial difficulties. Temporary catering employment.”
My pulse accelerated.
They had investigated me.
When?
Before tonight?
Vittorio asked, “Any connection to the Romano family?”
“No.”
“Federal agencies?”
“No.”
“Police?”
“No.”
“Then she was expendable.”
The word hit harder than I expected.
Expendable.
That was why me.
Not because I had done anything.
Because I was disposable.
Adrien’s jaw tightened beside me.
Luca continued.
“When her body is discovered after the crash, investigators will assume she fled.”
Crash.
My skin went cold.
They intended to kill me.
Not eventually.
Soon.
Adrien leaned closer to the railing.
I grabbed his sleeve.
“Not yet.”
His eyes flicked toward me.
“They’re discussing murdering you.”
“Yes. Which means they still think I’m helpless.”
“I don’t like that.”
“Neither do I. But being underestimated is useful.”
He studied me.
Then relaxed slightly.
Below, Vittorio poured coffee.
“Adrien?”
Luca smiled.
“The sedative should keep him unconscious another hour.”
“And after?”
“We move him to the guest cottage. The physician will announce a cardiac event.”
“Then?”
Luca hesitated.
Vittorio looked at him.
“Say it.”
“Another episode.”
“Fatal?”
“Yes.”
The room around Adrien seemed to become colder.
His uncle was discussing his murder with the emotional investment of scheduling a dentist appointment.
I expected rage.
Instead Adrien became frighteningly calm.
“Now?” I whispered.
He shook his head.
“Need proof.”
I touched the memory card beneath my waistband.
“We have some.”
“Not enough for the men downstairs.”
“What would be enough?”
Adrien watched Vittorio.
“His confession.”
The security system suddenly chimed.
A guard entered.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Both Luca and Vittorio looked up.
“The bedroom is empty.”
Silence.
Luca’s face changed.
“How?”
“The guard we sent is unconscious. Bound in the bathroom.”
Vittorio put down his cup.
Unlike Luca, he didn’t look surprised.
He looked irritated.
“Seal the estate.”
Luca pulled out his phone.
“All gates?”
“All.”
“What about staff?”
“Nobody leaves.”
My stomach tightened.
There were innocent catering employees somewhere in this house.
Dishwashers.
Servers.
Drivers.
People who had no idea what was happening.
Vittorio continued.
“Find Adrien first.”
“And the woman?”
Vittorio’s answer was immediate.
“Alive if possible. Dead if necessary.”
Adrien turned away from the railing.
“We need to move.”
We slipped into a side room before guards reached the gallery.
Inside was an old music room.
Piano.
Shelves.
Heavy curtains.
Adrien pulled aside a painting and exposed a safe.
“You have another hidden compartment?”
“My grandfather had trust issues.”
“I’m starting to admire him.”
Adrien opened the safe.
Inside were passports, cash, two phones, and a pistol.
He handed me a phone.
“Call someone.”
“Police?”
He shook his head.
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“If local law enforcement receives an anonymous report involving this house, Vittorio will know within five minutes.”
“You own the police?”
“I don’t.”
“Your uncle?”
Adrien didn’t answer.
That was an answer.
“Who am I calling?”
“Detective Elena Ward.”
“You trust her?”
“I trust that she hates me.”
“That’s your definition of trustworthy?”
“She’s spent six years trying to convict me. She won’t protect my uncle.”
I almost laughed.
Strange world.
He gave me a number.
I dialed.
A sleepy female voice answered.
“Ward.”
“My name is Mara Ellison.”
Silence.
Then sharper.
“Who?”
“Mara Ellison. I’m inside the Moretti estate.”
“Is this a joke?”
“No. Adrien Moretti is alive.”
The silence that followed was different.
“Elaborate.”
I explained quickly.
Drugging.
Cameras.
Missing logs.
Attempted murder.
Vittorio.
Luca.
Ward interrupted.
“Where is Adrien?”
“Standing beside me.”
“Put him on.”
Adrien took the phone.
“Detective.”
Ward said something I couldn’t hear.
“No.”
Another pause.
“I’m aware.”
Longer pause.
Adrien looked toward me.
“She wants evidence.”
“Tell her we have video.”
He did.
Ward’s response was immediate enough that I heard part of it.
“Do not alter it.”
Adrien handed the phone back.
Ward spoke.
“Mara, listen carefully. I can’t send a tactical team based solely on your call. Moretti property has private security and attorneys who will turn this into trespassing or a fabricated family dispute.”
“They’re trying to murder us.”
“I believe you.”
“That’s comforting.”
“I need something undeniable.”
“What?”
“A live confession. Original surveillance. Anything tying Vittorio or Luca directly to the sedative or staging.”
I looked at Adrien.
He had heard enough.
“Stay available,” I told Ward.
“No. Stay alive.”
The call ended.
Adrien took a second phone.
“Recording function.”
I understood.
“We get Vittorio talking.”
“Yes.”
“How?”
His eyes moved toward the study downstairs.
“Give him what he wants.”
“Which is?”
“You.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“You asked.”
“I didn’t say I volunteered.”
“I won’t let him hurt you.”
“That sentence sounds much less reassuring from a man who was unconscious twenty minutes ago.”
Adrien stepped closer.
“I need him to believe he has leverage.”
“No.”
“Mara—”
“You don’t get to use me because somebody else already did.”
That stopped him.
I expected argument.
Instead he nodded.
“You’re right.”
I hadn’t expected that.
Then I thought about Vittorio calling me expendable.
About anonymous catering workers trapped behind locked gates.
About a plan to put my dead body inside a crashed car.
And about the careful hands removing pins from my unconscious hair.
I hated being afraid.
I hated being an object in somebody else’s plan more.
“What if I walk in voluntarily?”
Adrien’s eyes narrowed.
“That’s what I suggested.”
“No. You suggested using me as bait. Different thing.”
“Mara.”
“If I choose the risk, I control the risk.”
“That sounds like something you tell yourself.”
“It worked in ambulances.”
He stared at me for several seconds.
Then handed me the recording phone.
“Keep it inside the jacket.”
I slid it into the breast pocket.
“What will you do?”
“Stay close.”
“How close?”
“Close enough.”
“That’s not a measurement.”
“It’s the one you’re getting.”
Ten minutes later, I walked into Adrien Moretti’s study alone.
Every conversation stopped.
Thirty faces turned toward me.
Luca’s mouth actually fell open.
Vittorio remained seated.
The older man looked almost impressed.
“Mara Ellison.”
I raised my hands.
“I assume you’ve been looking for me.”
Luca reached beneath his jacket.
Vittorio lifted one finger.
He stopped.
“Where is Adrien?”
“I don’t know.”
That was technically true.
At that exact second, I didn’t know which hidden doorway he was behind.
Vittorio studied me.
“You expect me to believe he abandoned you?”
“I expect you to believe men like Adrien protect themselves first.”
Several guards exchanged glances.
I saw something then.
Not everyone in the room had chosen Luca.
Some were confused.
Some suspicious.
Good.
Vittorio stood.
“You drugged my nephew.”
“No.”
“The surveillance footage says otherwise.”
“The surveillance footage was edited.”
Luca laughed.
“Convenient.”
I looked directly at him.
“Eleven minutes and forty-two seconds disappeared from the original security logs.”
Luca stopped laughing.
Small reaction.
But enough.
Vittorio’s eyes shifted toward him.
I continued.
“And someone used my staff badge to access rooms I never entered consciously.”
Luca recovered.
“You expect anyone here to believe you?”
“No.”
I took one step toward the desk.
“I expect whoever staged it to know exactly what I’m talking about.”
Vittorio smiled faintly.
“You’re smarter than you look.”
“People keep making that mistake.”
“Adrien did too.”
“No.”
That answer came automatically.
And for some reason, it made Vittorio’s smile disappear.
He circled the desk.
“Do you know what my nephew’s greatest weakness is?”
“I’m guessing family.”
A few men looked down.
Vittorio stopped two feet away.
“Loyalty.”
“Those are not the same thing.”
His eyes hardened.
“Adrien inherited an organization because his father died before teaching him the central rule of power.”
“And what’s that?”
“You remove weakness before weakness removes you.”
I could hear my own heartbeat.
The phone was recording.
Keep him talking.
“You mean killing him.”
Vittorio’s expression remained calm.
“If necessary.”
“Tonight was necessary?”
Luca interrupted.
“Enough.”
Vittorio held up a hand again.
“No. Let her ask.”
He enjoyed this.
Men like Vittorio always believed explaining themselves proved intelligence.
I leaned into it.
“The camera in the bedroom. The sedative. The fake security footage. That was all you?”
“Not all.”
His eyes moved toward Luca.
There.
A crack.
I continued.
“Luca handled the systems?”
Luca stepped forward.
“Shut up.”
Vittorio smiled.
“My nephew handled technology. I handled Adrien.”
“By poisoning him?”
“Sedating.”
“So you could kill him later.”
Vittorio’s voice lowered.
“So the transition would not become violent.”
Behind him, one security guard slowly looked toward another.
The room was changing.
People were listening.
Luca noticed too.
“Uncle.”
Vittorio finally seemed to realize he had said too much.
His eyes dropped toward my jacket.
Toward the slight rectangular outline beneath the fabric.
His expression changed.
“Take the phone.”
Two guards moved.
I stepped backward.
Luca lunged first.
Before he reached me, a gunshot cracked through the room.
The bullet struck the wooden desk between us.
Everyone froze.
Adrien stood in the doorway.
Yellow shirt.
Dark trousers.
Pistol raised.
Alive.
Very awake.
Thirty men turned toward him.
Luca went white.
Vittorio did not.
Adrien’s voice was quiet.
“Get away from her.”
Luca slowly backed up.
Adrien entered.
“You planned my death in my house.”
Vittorio’s face remained composed.
“You were destroying what your father built.”
“So you decided to inherit it?”
“I decided to save it.”
“By murdering me?”
“You heard the woman. Sedating.”
Several men shifted uncomfortably.
Adrien noticed.
“So that’s your story?”
Vittorio looked around.
“These matters are internal.”
“No,” I said.
Every eye returned to me.
I removed the phone.
Its screen still showed RECORDING.
“Not anymore.”
Luca’s face twisted.
He pulled his pistol.
Not at Adrien.
At me.
Adrien moved.
But another gun fired first.
Luca’s weapon flew from his hand.
Blood appeared across his fingers.
The shooter stood near the back.
An older Moretti security guard.
He lowered his gun slowly.
“I served your father,” he told Adrien. “I’m not serving his murderers.”
Then another guard stepped away from Luca.
Then another.
Vittorio’s control of the room began collapsing one man at a time.
For the first time, he looked afraid.
But Luca wasn’t watching the guards.
He was staring at me.
And when our eyes met, he smiled.
A strange smile.
Too calm for a man whose coup had just failed.
He whispered something.
I couldn’t hear it.
Then he pressed a button on his watch.
Somewhere beneath the floor, an alarm began screaming.
Adrien turned sharply.
“What did you do?”
Luca smiled wider.
“If I can’t have the house…”
A deep boom shook the windows.
Then another.
Smoke rose from beneath the study doors.
And only then did Adrien understand.
May you like
Luca had rigged the mansion to burn.
With all of us inside.
