Chapter 6 - The Man Victoria Chose Against

Adrian Dane stood in the foyer.

Alone.

No guards.

Dark overcoat.

Wet from rain.

He looked at Luca.

Then at Marco behind him.

His face changed.

"You're alive."

Marco stopped on the stairs.

"Disappointed?"

Adrian looked older suddenly.

Then Anna appeared.

He went still.

Anna said:

"Hello, Adrian."

Victoria came last.

Her father looked at her.

"Give me the box."

She held Helen's letter against her chest.

"No."

Adrian's expression hardened.

"Victoria."

"No."

"Do not make this worse."

She laughed through tears.

"Worse than what?"

Adrian looked at Luca.

"This is family business."

Luca answered:

"You made my family your business twenty years ago."

Adrian sighed.

"Your parents are giving you a fairy tale."

Marco said:

"I admitted what I did."

Adrian looked at him.

"Did you admit the Marseille account?"

Luca turned.

Marco's face changed.

There it was.

Another secret.

Luca laughed bitterly.

"Of course."

Marco said:

"I was going to."

"When?"

"Tonight."

"After what?"

Adrian smiled.

Luca looked at him.

"What is the Marseille account?"

Adrian answered:

"Money your father moved after Anna disappeared."

Marco said:

"To get her out."

Anna frowned.

"You said you didn't know where I was."

"I didn't."

Luca stared.

Marco continued:

"I paid people to search."

Adrian laughed.

"With stolen money."

Marco looked at Luca.

"Yes."

No excuse.

Adrian continued:

"Your father wants you to think we were different."

Marco said:

"We weren't different enough."

Adrian stopped smiling.

Marco continued:

"But I never ordered a woman taken from her child."

Adrian looked at Anna.

"You were not harmed."

Anna stepped forward.

"I lost twenty years with my son."

Adrian said nothing.

She continued:

"You don't get to define harm."

Victoria's hands shook.

Adrian looked at her.

"Your mother lied to you too."

Victoria nodded.

"She admitted it."

"She cheated."

Marco's face tightened.

Victoria replied:

"She was divorced from you."

"She betrayed this family."

"She protected us from you."

Adrian's expression changed.

"Everything you have came from me."

Victoria stared at him.

"That's the problem."

Luca looked at her.

Adrian did too.

Victoria continued:

"You taught me that love was a debt."

"Victoria—"

"You sent Nicholas away because he questioned you."

"I sent him to London because he was unstable."

"No."

Her voice grew stronger.

"You sent him away because he saw the forged transfer documents."

Luca turned.

Adrian's face went still.

Victoria looked at Luca.

"I remembered one more thing."

Luca waited.

"My brother saw them first."

"When?"

"Three years ago."

"Where is he now?"

"London."

Adrian interrupted.

"Do not drag your brother into this."

Victoria looked at him.

"You already did."

She took out her phone.

Pressed one button.

A man's voice answered.

"Victoria?"

Luca looked at her.

"Nicholas."

She nodded.

Her brother.

Victoria put him on speaker.

"Nicholas, tell Luca what you found."

Silence.

Then:

"Original bank forms with Luca Ferraro's signature."

Luca's jaw tightened.

Nicholas continued:

"Except the dates were wrong."

James looked interested.

"How?"

"The transfer was dated two days after Luca had been hospitalized."

Luca froze.

The night he was drugged.

Nicholas said:

"My father knew that."

Adrian stepped forward.

"Enough."

Luca moved between him and Victoria.

Nicholas continued:

"I confronted him."

Victoria looked at her father.

"He told Nicholas never to return."

Adrian said:

"He was using drugs."

Nicholas laughed through the phone.

"You really only have one story."

Luca almost smiled.

Then Nicholas said:

"I have scans."

Adrian went pale.

Victoria stared at the phone.

"You told me you destroyed them."

"I lied."

"Why?"

"Because I knew Dad would make you choose."

Victoria began crying.

Nicholas continued:

"I wanted you to have a choice."

Adrian looked toward the door.

Marco noticed.

"So that's why you're here."

Adrian stopped.

Marco continued:

"You don't want Helen's box."

Luca looked at him.

Marco said:

"He wants Nicholas's scans."

Adrian's eyes hardened.

James whispered:

"Because if the forged transfers are proven, the old blackmail dies."

Luca looked at Adrian.

"Then what do you have left?"

Adrian smiled.

"Your reputation."

Luca shrugged.

"I can survive a bad reputation."

Adrian looked at Anna.

"Can she survive court?"

Anna stared back.

"Try me."

Adrian looked at Marco.

"Can he survive prison?"

Marco answered:

"If that's what I owe, yes."

Luca turned sharply.

Marco looked at him.

"I laundered money."

"You could go to prison."

"Yes."

"And you came back anyway."

Marco nodded.

"Because hiding was another crime I was committing against you."

Luca looked away.

Adrian laughed.

"Beautiful."

Victoria stared at her father.

"Why are you still smiling?"

He looked at her.

"Because you think a recording solves everything."

Then he reached inside his coat.

Everyone tensed.

He removed no weapon.

Only an envelope.

He dropped it on the table.

Luca opened it.

Italian death certificate.

HELEN DANE FERRARO.

Cause of death:

Cardiac arrest.

Then a toxicology report.

A sedative.

High level.

Victoria stopped breathing.

"What is that?"

Adrian looked at Marco.

"Ask him why Helen had enough medication in her blood to stop her heart."

Marco went pale.

"I didn't know."

Adrian smiled.

Victoria turned toward Marco.

"My mother was poisoned?"

Anna whispered:

"Marco?"

He shook his head.

"I wasn't there."

Adrian said:

"Exactly."

Luca looked at him.

"Who was?"

Adrian's smile faded.

Then a voice came from the doorway.

James.

"I was."

Everyone turned.

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The old butler looked at Victoria.

"And that's why I disappeared seven months ago."