Chapter 4 - NO ONE TOUCHES THE CHILD
The Moretti estate changed within an hour.
Men appeared at gates.
Vehicles repositioned.
Security cameras were checked twice.
Every employee was quietly re-screened.
No delivery entered without inspection.
Adrian moved Elena and Mia into a suite on the second floor directly across from his own rooms.
Elena hated every second of it.
“You have armed men outside the nursery.”
“It isn’t a nursery.”
“There are teddy bears in it.”
“They were already there.”
“Why?”
Adrian looked around.
He had no idea.
The room had belonged to a cousin’s children years earlier.
Mia sat on the rug examining a wooden dollhouse.
“I like it.”
Elena sighed.
“Of course you do.”
Adrian pointed toward the adjoining bedroom.
“You sleep there.”
“I understood how bedrooms work.”
He looked at her.
“You’re angry.”
“Excellent observation.”
“Why?”
She turned.
“Because yesterday my biggest problem was whether my landlord would increase rent.”
“And today?”
“Today someone may have killed my husband and is threatening my daughter because of your organization.”
Adrian absorbed the accusation.
“You’re right.”
Elena had clearly been prepared for resistance.
His agreement disarmed her.
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Agree calmly when I’m trying to be angry.”
“I’ll argue if it helps.”
She almost laughed.
Almost.
Then a cry came from the other room.
They both moved instantly.
Mia stood beside the dollhouse holding one wooden figure with a broken arm.
“It broke.”
Adrian crouched.
“Let me see.”
She gave it to him.
Small wooden father figure.
The arm had snapped at the shoulder.
Mia’s eyes filled.
“It’s the daddy.”
Elena looked away.
Adrian inspected the piece.
“I can fix it.”
“With glue?”
“Yes.”
“Daddy used glue.”
Adrian paused.
“So do I.”
“You use guns.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“Mia!”
Adrian stared.
“Who told you that?”
“Kitchen people.”
Someone downstairs was about to lose employment.
Elena crouched.
“We do not repeat things staff say.”
“But does he?”
Adrian answered.
“Sometimes.”
Mia considered this.
“Glue is nicer.”
“Yes.”
He could not argue.
Later that evening, Adrian sat with Marcus in the security room.
“Find who photographed her.”
“We’re working on cameras around the preschool.”
“What about Daniel’s storage unit?”
“Changed ownership twice. Records incomplete.”
“Find the former manager.”
“Already did.”
“And?”
“Dead.”
Adrian’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Two years ago. Heart attack.”
“Convenient.”
Marcus nodded.
“There’s also a former Moretti warehouse clerk named Peter Nolan. Worked under Sam. He disappeared after the fire.”
“Dead?”
“Unknown.”
“Find him.”
Adrian’s phone buzzed.
Sam.
He had avoided speaking to him all day.
Adrian answered.
“Where are you?” Sam asked.
“Home.”
“I heard you locked the estate down.”
“You hear many things.”
“Something happen?”
Adrian leaned back.
“Why did you meet Daniel Rossi before Warehouse Twelve burned?”
Silence.
Marcus looked over.
Sam recovered quickly.
“Electrician?”
“You remember him.”
“I remember everyone who caused problems.”
“He filed a report.”
“Yes.”
“Then died.”
“People die.”
Adrian’s voice became quieter.
“Careful.”
Another silence.
Sam sighed.
“Daniel thought he discovered some grand conspiracy. He didn’t.”
“What did he discover?”
“Faulty electrical work.”
“Then why did you visit Elena after his funeral?”
The pause lasted too long.
“Who told you that?”
Adrian smiled without humor.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For answering.”
He ended the call.
Marcus exhaled.
“He knows we’re onto him.”
“Yes.”
“That may accelerate things.”
“I know.”
“We should move Elena and Mia.”
“Where?”
“Safe house.”
Adrian thought about it.
Then shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because Sam knows our safe-house network.”
Marcus looked uncomfortable.
“If Sam is involved.”
“He is.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know enough.”
Marcus leaned forward.
“I’ve worked with him twelve years.”
“And I’ve known him twenty-seven.”
“That doesn’t make this easier.”
“No.”
A guard knocked.
“Sir?”
“What?”
“Miss Rossi asked to see you.”
Elena entered without waiting.
Adrian’s eyebrow rose.
She held a small envelope.
“I found this in Mia’s coat pocket.”
Marcus stood.
Adrian took it.
Inside was a folded note.
One line.
TELL MORETTI TO STOP DIGGING.
He looked at Elena.
“When was Mia’s coat unattended?”
“Preschool. Yesterday.”
“Anything else?”
“Yes.”
She opened her palm.
A tiny black plastic rectangle.
Adrian knew what it was.
“Tracker.”
Marcus took it.
“Bluetooth beacon.”
Elena’s face went white.
“They put it on my child.”
Adrian stood.
The room seemed colder.
“No one touches the child.”
Marcus had seen Adrian angry.
He had seen him furious.
This was different.
Quiet.
Controlled.
Almost empty.
The version of Adrian men feared most.
Elena grabbed his arm.
“No.”
He looked at her hand.
Then her face.
“You don’t get to become what they expect.”
His eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you are thinking about hurting someone.”
“They threatened Mia.”
“And if you go after them like some revenge story, what happens to her if you don’t come back?”
Adrian said nothing.
Elena stepped closer.
“Mia already lost one man she loved.”
The words cut cleanly.
“She does not need another one teaching her that violence is how men prove they care.”
Marcus slowly turned away, giving them privacy.
Adrian stared at Elena.
“You think she loves me?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“That is what you heard?”
“Yes.”
She closed her eyes.
“Unbelievable.”
“Answer.”
“She asks for you every morning.”
Something moved inside him.
“She made the kitchen save you a cookie.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“She told a security guard that you need more naps because you’re grumpy.”
Marcus failed to hide a cough.
Adrian ignored him.
Elena’s voice softened.
“She trusts you.”
He looked at the tracker.
“Then I protect that trust.”
“With your brain.”
She tapped his chest.
“Not your gun.”
Adrian looked down at her hand.
“You give a lot of orders for an employee.”
“Fire me.”
Mia’s voice came from the doorway.
“No!”
Everyone turned.
She stood in pink pajamas holding the repaired wooden father.
A guard behind her looked terrified.
“I’m sorry, sir. She slipped past—”
Adrian waved him away.
Mia ran to Elena.
“You can’t fire Mommy.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
She looked suspicious.
“You promise?”
Adrian sighed.
“Yes.”
Mia nodded.
Then held up the wooden figure.
“You fixed him.”
“I did.”
She smiled.
“Good.”
Adrian took the tiny wooden father.
A thought formed.
Daniel had trusted Adrian enough to write his name on an envelope.
Why?
Maybe Daniel had known something about Adrian that Adrian himself had forgotten.
That he could still choose what kind of man he became.
His phone buzzed.
Marcus checked a new incoming report.
“We found Peter Nolan.”
Adrian looked up.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Indiana.”
“Can he talk?”
Marcus’s face tightened.
“He says only in person.”
“Why?”
“He says Sam Russo has been searching for him for three years.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
Then Mia.
The next morning, they would drive to Indiana.
But before midnight, someone inside the Moretti estate disabled one camera for exactly ninety seconds.
Long enough for a person to approach Elena’s suite.
And leave a single photograph beneath the door.
It showed Daniel Rossi lying beside his wrecked truck.
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ASK ADRIAN WHO REALLY ORDERED IT.
