Chapter 15 - the open door
Victor reached inside the safe to retrieve his international travel documents and master syndicate ledger before heading to the airport.
The Season 1 journey was complete. The immediate threat to his life, his throne, and his daughter had been thoroughly conquered. Victor was the unchallenged ruler of the New York underworld, loved by his family and feared by his enemies.
Everything was settled.
Until Victor’s hand brushed against a secret compartment at the back of the safe.
A false wooden panel popped loose, revealing a velvet-lined recessed shelf that had remained hidden for ten years.
Victor reached inside, pulling out a sealed leather pouch and a fresh, gloss photograph.
He brought the photograph under the desk lamp.
His pulse stopped dead in his chest.
The photograph was taken three days ago outside a café near the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
Standing in the center of the frame was his late wife, Elena, looking radiant, alive, and unaged. She was holding the hand of a handsome seven-year-old boy with dark hair who looked identical to Maya.
Standing right behind Elena, with his arm wrapped around her shoulders, was a tall man in a dark navy suit.
Victor zoomed in on the man's face.
It wasn't his exiled uncle Vincent Moretti.
It was Adrian Cross—looking completely free, uninjured, and smiling warmly at the camera.
Victor’s hands trembled as he turned the photograph over.
Written on the back in fresh blue ink, in Elena’s unmistakable handwriting, were two short sentences:
The arrest in New York was a distraction, Victor. Adrian never lost. Come to Paris if you want to see who really runs the Moretti family.
Tucked inside the pouch behind the photo was an official French court summons issued yesterday, demanding Victor Moretti's appearance in Paris to defend his legal custody of Maya.
Victor stared at the photograph in absolute, stunned silence.
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The arrest of Adrian Cross had been a feint. The betrayal went deeper than Celeste, deeper than New York, deeper than anything he had imagined. Adrian and Elena were working together in Europe, and they were coming for his daughter next.
Outside, the jet engines of Victor's private plane roared on the tarmac, waiting to carry him into the dark Parisian night as the ultimate mystery of his life unfolded before him.
