Chapter 7 - THE FAMILY TABLE
Adrian called a family dinner.
Madeline thought that was insane.
“You know Carlo threatened our child.”
“We believe Carlo threatened our child.”
“You cannot possibly be developing respect for technicalities now.”
Adrian buttoned his black suit.
“I need him comfortable enough to lie.”
“So you’re inviting him to dinner?”
“Yes.”
“With your pregnant wife?”
“You will be upstairs.”
“No.”
“Madeline.”
“Adrian.”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“You are impossible.”
“You married me.”
“Under financial duress.”
“Your mistake.”
Despite everything, his mouth twitched.
Then seriousness returned.
“I cannot protect you while watching Carlo.”
“Then don’t protect me alone.”
He stared at her.
Madeline moved closer.
“You keep doing that.”
“What?”
“Acting like love means standing in front of me while bullets come from every direction.”
His expression hardened.
“Sometimes it does.”
“Sometimes it means trusting me enough to stand beside you.”
That silenced him.
The dinner began at seven.
Carlo arrived smiling.
Nicholas came with him.
Sofia followed fifteen minutes later.
They sat beneath the enormous chandelier in the dining room where Madeline had endured her first family interrogation months earlier.
Only now everything had changed.
Madeline was carrying Adrian’s child.
Carlo knew.
Adrian knew Carlo knew.
Nicholas looked nervous enough to break his wineglass.
Carlo raised his glass.
“To unexpected blessings.”
Adrian did not touch his wine.
“What blessing?”
Carlo smiled.
“Your marriage appears happier than anyone predicted.”
Madeline placed a hand over Adrian’s.
“Very.”
Carlo’s eyes dropped to their joined fingers.
“Remarkable.”
Dinner progressed through three courses.
Nobody discussed the pregnancy.
That made the subject louder.
Finally Adrian set down his fork.
“Do you remember Thomas Keene?”
Nicholas went pale.
Carlo did not.
“I should?”
“Laboratory supervisor. St. Thomas Hospital.”
“Can’t say I do.”
Adrian nodded.
“He remembers you.”
Carlo leaned back.
“I meet many people.”
“He remembers you paying Dr. Mercer to falsify my medical records.”
The room went dead.
Sofia’s glass struck the table.
Nicholas stared at his father.
Carlo laughed softly.
“That is absurd.”
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
Adrian reached beneath the table and placed a photocopy beside Carlo’s plate.
Carlo did not look at it.
“You were not sterile,” Madeline said.
Carlo finally glanced at her.
“My dear, medicine changes.”
“The results were normal fourteen years ago.”
Sofia whispered, “Carlo.”
He ignored her.
Adrian’s voice lowered.
“You made me believe I could never have a child.”
Carlo looked at his nephew.
“And what exactly do you intend to do with this accusation?”
“Find out whether my father knew.”
Something flickered in Carlo’s eyes.
Madeline saw it.
So did Adrian.
There.
The crack.
Carlo lifted his glass.
“Your father knew many things.”
“Did he know this?”
A pause.
“Yes.”
Adrian stopped breathing.
Madeline’s heart broke for him.
Then Carlo smiled.
“He knew you had been injured. He knew the tests were uncertain. He knew an heir would create instability.”
Adrian’s face turned to stone.
“You expect me to believe he ordered it.”
“I expect you to believe your father understood what leadership required.”
Nicholas pushed back from the table.
“Dad, what did you do?”
Carlo’s expression hardened.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
Nicholas looked sick.
“You told me Adrian hated children. You told me he chose not to have them.”
Carlo snapped, “Sit down.”
Nicholas stood.
“I didn’t know.”
Adrian stared at him.
Nicholas shook his head.
“I swear to you.”
Before Adrian could answer, Sofia began crying.
Everyone turned.
She covered her mouth.
“Carlo, tell them.”
Carlo looked at her.
“Be quiet.”
“Tell them what happened to Lorenzo.”
Adrian’s expression changed.
Lorenzo DeLuca.
His father.
“What are you talking about?”
Sofia stood.
“I heard you arguing the night before he died.”
Carlo’s face emptied.
“Sofia.”
“You told him the trust could be changed. He said he had found out about Adrian’s records.”
Adrian slowly stood.
Madeline stood with him.
Sofia’s voice shook.
“Lorenzo said he was going to tell Adrian everything.”
Carlo slammed his palm on the table.
“That is enough.”
Adrian’s guards immediately moved near the doors.
Nobody touched a weapon.
Nobody needed to.
Adrian’s voice became frighteningly calm.
“My father knew the truth?”
Sofia nodded.
“But not from the beginning. He discovered it years later.”
“And the night before he died?”
“He confronted Carlo.”
Adrian stared at his uncle.
Lorenzo DeLuca had died of a heart attack.
At fifty-seven.
Dr. Stephen Mercer had signed the death certificate.
Madeline understood at the same instant Adrian did.
“Mercer,” she whispered.
Carlo’s chair scraped backward.
Adrian’s eyes became lethal.
“What did you do to my father?”
Carlo said nothing.
Nicholas looked at him with horror.
“What did you do?”
Carlo’s composure finally cracked.
“You think your father was a saint?”
“I asked what you did.”
“He was destroying everything.”
Adrian moved around the table.
Carlo’s guards reached inside their jackets.
Adrian’s men responded instantly.
Madeline stepped between Adrian and the table.
“Enough.”
Every man froze.
Carlo laughed.
“Look at you. Controlled by a woman.”
Adrian’s gaze never left his uncle.
“No.”
He placed a protective hand against Madeline’s back.
“Reminded by my wife that my child deserves a father who does not solve every betrayal with a grave.”
Carlo’s smile vanished.
Adrian looked toward Gabriel.
“Take their weapons.”
Carlo stood.
“You cannot remove me from this family.”
“I already did.”
“You need me.”
“No.”
“You need the old alliances. You need the ports. You need the men who answer to me.”
Adrian leaned across the table.
“I needed you when I was twenty-two and believed my father’s brother would protect me.”
His voice broke only once.
“You used that trust to steal fourteen years from me.”
Carlo’s face hardened.
“You have no proof.”
A new voice came from the doorway.
“Yes, he does.”
Everyone turned.
Dr. Stephen Mercer stood between two security guards.
Older.
Exhausted.
Terrified.
Alive.
Adrian went absolutely still.
Mercer looked at Carlo.
Then at Adrian.
“I should have told you years ago.”
Adrian’s fists clenched.
Mercer swallowed.
“Your father’s death was not natural.”
Madeline heard Sofia gasp.
Nicholas backed into the wall.
Adrian said nothing.
May you like
Mercer continued.
“And Carlo DeLuca ordered it.”
