Chapter 6 - The Garden of Secrets
Adrian wanted the garden searched immediately.
Marcus wanted metal detectors, guards, floodlights, and a team of men working through the night.
But Sofia refused.
“Not while Emma is awake,” she said.
“She could be in danger,” Marcus argued.
“She is three years old,” Sofia snapped. “She’s already been frightened enough.”
Adrian looked at Sofia.
Then at Emma, who was asleep upstairs with Daisy tucked beneath her chin.
“We wait until morning,” he said.
Marcus stared at him. “Adrian—”
“We wait.”
At dawn, Adrian, Marcus, Sofia, and two trusted guards entered the eastern garden.
The lake wind moved through the dead sunflower stalks.
Emma came too, wearing her purple coat and tiny boots.
“I know where the flowers are thirsty,” she announced.
Sofia crouched beside her. “You stay by Mommy.”
“I will.”
They began searching near the stone bench.
Nothing.
Then near the dry fountain.
Nothing.
Marcus scanned the ground with a detector while Adrian watched the estate walls, every shadow feeling like a threat.
Finally, Emma walked to the patch where she and Adrian had planted the sunflower seed.
She knelt.
“Here,” she said.
Adrian’s heart stopped.
“Why here?” Sofia asked gently.
Emma pointed to the dirt.
“Because Daddy said secrets need roots.”
Sofia went pale.
“Luca said that?”
Emma nodded.
“He said it when we came here one time.”
Adrian looked at Sofia.
“You came here before?”
She shook her head, stunned. “Not with me.”
Then she remembered.
“Luca worked on the estate’s generators once,” she whispered. “He brought Emma because our babysitter canceled. I thought she stayed in the truck.”
Marcus began digging.
Less than a foot beneath the soil, his shovel struck metal.
Everyone froze.
He pulled out a rusted lunchbox wrapped in plastic.
Inside was a black leather ledger.
And beneath it, a small digital recorder.
Marcus opened the ledger first.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
Police captains.
City officials.
A federal agent.
And one name that made Adrian’s blood turn cold.
Anthony Moretti.
His uncle.
The man who had taken Adrian in after his father died.
The man who had stood beside him at Elena and Claire’s funeral.
The man Adrian had trusted more than anyone.
The recorder contained Luca’s voice.
It was shaky, frightened, but clear.
“If anything happens to me, this proves Vincent Barone was working with Anthony Moretti. The bomb wasn’t meant for Adrian’s wife and daughter. It was meant for Adrian. Anthony wants control of the organization. Vincent planted the bomb. I saw the payments. I copied everything.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
Emma looked up at her mother.
“Is that Daddy?”
Sofia dropped to her knees and pulled Emma into her arms.
“Yes,” she cried. “That’s Daddy.”
Adrian could barely breathe.
Anthony had sent Luca to his death.
Anthony had killed Elena.
Anthony had killed Claire.
And now Anthony knew the ledger had been found.
The first gunshot shattered the morning.
A guard fell near the gate.
Marcus shoved Adrian behind the stone wall.
“Sniper!” he shouted.
Sofia grabbed Emma and ran toward the fountain.
Adrian saw the terror on Emma’s face.
Something inside him changed.
He did not think about power.
He did not think about revenge.
He thought only of a three-year-old girl clutching a rag doll while bullets cut through the garden.
He crossed the open ground.
Marcus yelled after him.
Adrian ignored him.
He reached Sofia and Emma just as another shot struck the stone beside them.
Adrian covered them both with his body.
Emma began to cry.
“Mr. Moretti?”
“I’m here,” he said.
“Are you good?”
The question hit him in the middle of gunfire.
Adrian pressed one hand gently against her hair.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m going to be good.”
Then he looked at Marcus.
“Get them inside.”
Marcus dragged Sofia and Emma toward the house.
Adrian rose behind the wall, his face empty and lethal.
Anthony Moretti had started a war.
But he had made one mistake.
May you like
He had threatened the only people Adrian still had the courage to love.
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