Chapter 7 - the courier's envelope
By the time Victor returned to the mansion, the grandfather clock in the main hall was chiming two in the morning.
He strode into his private study. Adriana was sitting on the leather sofa, wrapped in a heavy wool blanket, a warm cup of tea untouched on the coffee table before her. Two guards stood by the heavy oak doors, their expressions rigid.
"Leave us," Victor said.
The guards bowed their heads and exited, pulling the doors shut.
Victor tossed the black journal onto the table between them. It landed with a heavy thud right next to the sealed manila envelope Luca had confiscated.
Adriana looked at the journal, then up at Victor’s face. "You found it."
"I found the empty crypt, too," Victor said, his tone dangerously calm. He sat across from her and leaned forward. "You knew, didn't you? You didn't just find out three years ago that Salvatore wasn't my biological father. You knew Mom was alive."
Adriana flinched, pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders. "I didn't know where she was, Victor! I swear to you! Three years ago, I intercepted a letter addressed to Salvatore's private study. It was from a sanatorium outside Geneva. Mom had smuggled a message out through a nurse. She said Celeste was intercepting the wire transfers that kept her care facility funded."
"Why didn't you come to me?" Victor demanded, his voice finally carrying a trace of suppressed fury. "I was your brother. I controlled this entire family!"
"Because Celeste showed me the photos!" Adriana cried, her eyes filling with tears. "She showed me photos of Salvatore’s lieutenants following you. She told me that if I whispered a single word to you, the council would execute you for treason. She said you only held power as long as the family believed you were Salvatore’s flesh and blood."
"So you let her throw you into a hole under the floorboards?"
"She told me it was temporary!" Adriana choked out. "She said she was hiding me until she could negotiate Mom’s release from Geneva. But after three months, the lock was changed. The food became stale rations. She realized having me locked down there gave her total leverage over Salvatore’s old estate."
Victor stared at his sister. Her fear was raw, real, and undeniable.
He reached over and picked up the envelope Adriana had received at the gate. He sliced the top open with his pocket knife and pulled out a single sheet of heavy parchment and a brass safe deposit key.
The letter was brief, written in elegant blue ink:
*Victor,*
*If you are reading this, Adriana has survived long enough to lead you to the truth. Do not trust the safe deposit box at Saint Jude's. The real ledger was moved to the Boston Harbor Depository twenty-four hours after Julian Vance died. But be warned: Celeste was never working for Salvatore. She was planted by the family you destroyed.*
Victor’s eyes narrowed. "The family we destroyed?"
Before Adriana could speak, the landline phone on Victor’s desk rang shrilly.
Victor picked it up. "Speak."
May you like
"Victor, darling," Celeste’s smooth voice purred over the line. She was calling from the west wing. "You should turn on the news. It seems someone just leaked Dr. Marcus's confession to the district attorney. And your private docks are being raided by federal marshals as we speak."
***
