Chapter 3 - The Threat Written With Adrian’s Name
Adrian did not move.
“My grandfather threatened me?”
His father nodded.
“He said if I contacted your mother, he would make sure you inherited the consequences.”
Adrian frowned.
“What consequences?”
His mother sat down slowly.
Samuel opened another envelope.
A sealed letter.
Adrian recognized the handwriting.
His grandfather.
He opened it.
One sentence.
IF YOU BRING HER BACK, ADRIAN LOSES EVERYTHING.
Adrian looked up.
“What did he mean?”
His father answered:
“Money.”
“Position.”
“Protection.”
Adrian laughed quietly.
“I had none of those at twenty-three.”
His father shook his head.
“You had more than you knew.”
Samuel handed him another document.
A trust.
Created when Adrian was six.
Beneficiary:
Adrian Russo.
Trustee:
Giovanni Russo.
Adrian’s grandfather.
Adrian stared.
“How much?”
Samuel answered:
“By the time you were twenty-one?”
He paused.
“Over forty million.”
Silence.
Adrian looked at his mother.
“Your money.”
“Some.”
“Whose was the rest?”
His father answered:
“Mine.”
Adrian frowned.
“You both funded this.”
“Yes.”
“But my grandfather controlled it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His mother’s expression hardened.
“Because he said he was protecting your future.”
Adrian laughed once.
“Again.”
Samuel continued.
“The trust had another clause.”
Adrian looked at him.
“What clause?”
“If either biological parent publicly challenged Giovanni’s guardianship of Adrian before age twenty-five, the trust would revert to Giovanni’s foundation.”
Adrian stared.
“That was legal?”
Samuel looked uncomfortable.
“Barely.”
His mother said:
“It was designed to keep us silent.”
Adrian looked at his father.
“So you disappeared until I turned twenty-five.”
“Yes.”
“But I’m thirty-four.”
His father closed his eyes.
“That was not the whole reason.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Of course it wasn’t.”
His father took out a photograph.
An old warehouse.
Three men.
Giovanni Russo.
Bianca’s father.
And a third man Adrian recognized.
His father.
Date:
Eleven years earlier.
Adrian stared.
“What is this?”
His father answered:
“The night I disappeared.”
Samuel looked surprised.
Adrian continued.
“You met Mr. Vale.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He had documents on Giovanni.”
“What documents?”
“Proof your grandfather used Bianca’s father’s bank to hide money.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“Dirty money?”
His father nodded.
“Extortion.”
“Protection payments.”
“Bribes.”
Samuel spoke quietly.
“The same accounts your mother later tried to reclaim.”
Adrian looked toward the suite door.
Bianca’s father was still downstairs.
“Mr. Vale helped you disappear.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
His father gave a bitter smile.
“Because he needed me quiet too.”
Silence.
Adrian understood.
“He helped both sides.”
“Yes.”
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