Chapter 5 - THE NIGHT MIA DISAPPEARED
The kidnapping attempt came twelve minutes later.
A black SUV crashed through the rear service gate.
Two men in utility uniforms entered through the kitchen.
They never reached Mia.
Adrian’s security stopped them in the pantry.
One died.
The other surrendered after discovering five Moretti guards had surrounded him.
Elena held Mia in the locked wine cellar while gunshots echoed upstairs.
Mia pressed Mr. Bun against her chest.
“Mama?”
“Yes?”
“Are bad men here?”
Elena forced her voice steady.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She had no answer suitable for a three-year-old.
“Because sometimes adults make terrible choices.”
Mia considered that.
“They need timeout.”
Elena almost cried.
“Yes.”
The cellar door opened.
Adrian.
Blood marked one cuff of his white shirt.
Not his.
Elena knew that without asking.
He crossed the room.
“Mia.”
She ran to him.
Adrian caught her.
For a man who once appeared irritated by children existing loudly, he held her with surprising instinct.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“You sure?”
“Yes.”
Mia touched the blood on his cuff.
“You hurt?”
“No.”
She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.
“Promise?”
“Promise.”
Elena watched something happen to Adrian’s face.
Relief.
Real relief.
Not the reaction of a man protecting an employee’s child because obligation required it.
Something deeper.
That frightened Elena almost as much as the gunfire.
The captured attacker talked within an hour.
Not because Adrian threatened torture.
Because federal charges terrified him more.
The order came through an intermediary connected to Salvatore Moretti.
Salvatore denied everything.
Cecilia vanished.
Her phone went dead fifteen minutes after the SUV hit the gate.
Bianca also disappeared.
Adrian placed the entire estate under lockdown.
At midnight, Elena found him in the chapel.
The Moretti mansion had one.
Small.
Old.
Built by Adrian’s grandfather.
He sat alone in the back pew.
No jacket.
Sleeves rolled up.
Elena almost left.
“Stay.”
She stopped.
“How did you know?”
“Your shoes.”
She sat beside him.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Adrian said, “I almost got her killed.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t order those men.”
“I made you visible.”
Elena remembered her own words.
Maybe I should keep my distance.
“I defended you publicly,” he continued.
“They realized you mattered.”
She turned.
“Do I?”
He looked at her.
The answer sat between them before he spoke.
“Yes.”
Her breath caught.
Adrian looked away.
“My father was killed when I was twenty-two.”
Elena said nothing.
“Restaurant bombing.”
“I know.”
“Everyone knows the story.”
He rested his elbows on his knees.
“What they don’t know is my mother survived because she left ten minutes earlier.”
Elena glanced toward him.
“She had argued with him.”
“Yes.”
“He died angry with her.”
Adrian nodded.
“For years, she blamed herself.”
“That wasn’t her fault.”
“I know.”
“Does she?”
“Now.”
He looked toward the altar.
“I promised myself I would never give enemies anything they could use.”
“No wife.”
“No children.”
“No one close enough to matter.”
Elena understood.
“That’s why your house feels like a museum.”
He almost smiled.
“Probably.”
“And now?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Now a three-year-old steals my breakfast, orders me to eat, and half my family realizes I would burn Manhattan before letting someone touch her.”
Elena’s heart pounded.
“That is not reassuring.”
“It wasn’t meant to be.”
“Adrian.”
He turned fully toward her.
“I don’t know what to do with this.”
“With what?”
“You.”
The word was barely above a whisper.
Elena went still.
“I know how to negotiate contracts. I know how to identify betrayal. I know how to make men twice my size reconsider bad decisions.”
His gaze moved over her face.
“I do not know what to do with a woman who slaps me in my own library and then asks whether I remembered dinner.”
Elena laughed despite herself.
“I didn’t ask.”
“You were going to.”
“I was.”
Adrian smiled.
Then his expression changed.
“Elena.”
“Yes?”
“Marco loved you.”
The reminder hit sharply.
“I know.”
“I am not trying to replace him.”
“I know.”
“I would never ask you to forget him.”
Her eyes filled.
“Why are you saying this?”
Adrian lifted one hand.
Paused.
Then touched her cheek.
Because she did not move away.
“Because I want to kiss you.”
Elena’s breath stopped.
“That is a very bad idea.”
“Probably.”
“You’re my employer.”
“I can fix that.”
“You’re a criminal.”
“That is harder.”
She laughed softly through tears.
“You’re impossible.”
“I’ve heard.”
His thumb moved once across her cheek.
“Elena.”
She closed the distance.
The kiss was careful.
Almost hesitant.
Nothing about Adrian Moretti was hesitant.
That made it more dangerous.
When they separated, Elena rested her forehead against his.
“This changes nothing.”
“It changes something.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
She opened her eyes.
“You are extremely annoying.”
“So I’ve been told.”
A phone vibrated.
Adrian’s expression immediately changed.
He answered.
“What?”
Silence.
Then his face became empty.
“When?”
He stood.
Elena did too.
“What happened?”
Adrian lowered the phone.
“Cecilia has Mia.”
Elena stared.
“No.”
He looked toward the chapel entrance.
One of the guards appeared.
“Mia isn’t in the cellar.”
Elena’s entire body went cold.
“But she was with Rosa.”
“Mrs. Moretti was found unconscious.”
Adrian’s hand tightened around the phone.
A message appeared.
A photograph.
Mia.
Sitting inside a car.
Crying.
Cecilia’s hand around her shoulder.
Below it:
BRING MARCO’S ORIGINAL FILES TO THE OLD MORETTI WAREHOUSE. COME ALONE.
Elena reached for the phone.
Her hands shook.
Mia’s red sock had slipped down again.
Exactly like breakfast.
“Adrian.”
His face was terrifyingly calm.
“I’m bringing her home.”
Elena grabbed his arm.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“She is my child.”
“And that’s why you’re staying.”
“No.”
His eyes locked on hers.
“If Cecilia sees you, she has two hostages instead of one.”
Elena hated that he was right.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Bring my baby back.”
Adrian touched her face.
“I will.”
She caught his wrist.
“Don’t promise unless you can.”
His expression softened.
“Then I won’t promise.”
He leaned close.
“But I will do everything a man can do.”
Then Adrian Moretti walked out.
Elena stood alone in the chapel.
For thirty seconds.
Then she wiped her tears.
And followed him.
Because Adrian had forgotten one important thing about Elena Rossi.
She had survived losing a husband.
May you like
She was not going to sit quietly while somebody tried to take her daughter too.
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