Chapter 5 - The Lie at the Heart of the Bellini Family
Adrian ran before anyone else moved.
“Sofia!”
Emergency lights flashed red along the hallway.
Claire followed him.
Her shoulder screamed with every step, but she barely noticed.
Two guards raced toward the stairs.
Then glass shattered upstairs.
Adrian drew a handgun.
Claire stopped.
The sight of it should have shocked her.
It didn't.
Not anymore.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
“No.”
“Claire.”
“Sofia's upstairs.”
“And you have a bullet wound.”
“She thinks I'm her mother.”
“That is exactly why you stay where I can protect you.”
Another crash.
Claire shoved past him.
“You can argue with me after we get her.”
For half a second, Adrian looked furious.
Then he followed.
Elena met them in the upstairs hallway.
“She was in her room!”
“Where is she?”
“I don't know!”
A window stood open.
Curtains whipped in the night air.
Sofia's room was empty.
On the carpet lay her stuffed rabbit.
Claire's stomach dropped.
“No.”
Adrian crossed to the window.
A rope hung over the balcony.
“They took her.”
His voice was almost inaudible.
Claire picked up the rabbit.
Something beneath it blinked.
A phone.
It rang.
Adrian answered.
“Where is my daughter?”
A distorted voice replied.
“Bring Rachel's drive.”
Claire stepped closer.
“Proof she's alive.”
A pause.
Then Sofia cried through the speaker.
“Daddy!”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“Sofia!”
“Daddy, I'm scared!”
The line switched back.
“Midnight. Old Bellini warehouse on Harbor Street. Rachel's daughter brings the drive.”
“No.”
Claire looked at him.
The caller laughed.
“No Claire, no Sofia.”
The call ended.
Adrian threw the phone into the wall.
It shattered.
Claire stared at him.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“That's your answer to everything.”
“Because you keep volunteering to get killed.”
“They want me.”
“Exactly.”
“They have Sofia.”
“I know!”
His shout shook the room.
Claire went silent.
Adrian's control broke.
For the first time since she met him, she saw what lived underneath it.
Terror.
“My daughter has already watched her mother die,” he said. “Yesterday she watched you get shot. Tonight someone dragged her out of her bedroom. I am not handing them another person she loves.”
Claire's anger vanished.
“Adrian.”
“No.”
“She called me Mummy because I reminded her of Isabelle.”
He looked at her.
“Maybe.”
“Then imagine what she's thinking right now.”
He said nothing.
“She thinks she lost me too.”
Adrian looked away.
Claire stepped closer.
“We bring them what they want.”
“And then?”
“We make sure they don't get to keep it.”
A plan formed.
Noah created a duplicate drive containing tracking software.
Police involvement was complicated.
Adrian trusted Detective Maria Torres, a veteran organized-crime investigator who had been quietly working on Victor's network.
Claire expected another corrupt cop.
Instead, Torres arrived wearing jeans, a leather jacket, and an expression suggesting she disliked everyone equally.
“You're Claire Bennett?”
“Yes.”
“You ran through gunfire?”
“Yes.”
Torres sighed.
“Please stop doing things like that.”
“I'll try.”
“No, you won't.”
Adrian almost smiled.
At 11:48 p.m., Claire approached the Harbor Street warehouse alone.
At least, she appeared alone.
Adrian and Torres's tactical team were positioned several blocks away.
A microphone was hidden beneath Claire's collar.
The fake drive sat in her pocket.
Her heart hammered.
The warehouse door opened.
Marcus stood inside.
Claire stopped.
“You escaped.”
“You sound disappointed.”
“I am.”
“Come in.”
“Where's Sofia?”
“Drive first.”
Claire held it up.
“Sofia first.”
Marcus smiled.
“Definitely Rachel's daughter.”
“Where is she?”
A small figure appeared behind him.
Sofia.
Her hands were tied.
Claire's heart nearly broke.
“Mummy!”
Marcus grabbed Sofia.
“Quiet.”
Claire's fear became anger.
“Don't touch her.”
“Then bring me the drive.”
Claire walked inside.
One step.
Another.
The warehouse was enormous and mostly dark.
Marcus wasn't alone.
Six armed men stood around the room.
Then an older man emerged from the shadows.
Victor Marchetti.
Gray hair.
Expensive coat.
Perfect posture.
He looked less like a criminal than somebody's wealthy grandfather.
“Claire Bennett.”
She stared at him.
“You killed my father.”
Victor smiled.
“Your father was idealistic.”
“You killed my mother.”
“That took longer.”
Claire's blood turned to ice.
So it had not been an accident.
“You murdered her.”
“She should have stayed hidden.”
Claire wanted to run at him.
She didn't.
Sofia needed her calm.
“You attacked the cafe.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not my order.”
Claire frowned.
“Then whose?”
Marcus looked toward Victor.
Victor's expression tightened.
Interesting.
Someone else.
The person Rachel had warned about.
Claire took out the drive.
“You want this?”
“Yes.”
“Let Sofia go.”
Victor gestured.
Marcus shoved Sofia forward.
She ran.
Claire dropped to her knees and caught her.
Pain ripped through her shoulder.
She didn't care.
“I've got you.”
Sofia sobbed.
“I knew you'd come.”
Claire kissed her hair.
“Always.”
The word escaped before Claire thought about it.
Always.
Sofia pulled back.
“Promise?”
Claire looked into her terrified eyes.
“I promise.”
Marcus approached.
“The drive.”
Claire handed it over.
Victor plugged it into a laptop.
Claire waited.
Ten seconds.
Twenty.
Then Noah's program activated.
Every file on Victor's connected system began copying remotely.
Victor realized.
His face changed.
“What did you do?”
Claire smiled.
“My mother taught me not to trust people.”
Victor slammed the laptop shut.
“Kill her.”
The warehouse erupted.
Lights exploded.
Torres's team breached one entrance.
Adrian's men entered through another.
Claire threw herself over Sofia.
Gunfire cracked through the darkness.
Marcus grabbed Claire by her injured arm.
She screamed.
He dragged her backward.
Then Adrian appeared.
He hit Marcus with such force that both men crashed into a stack of crates.
Claire pulled Sofia toward cover.
“Stay down!”
Victor ran toward a side exit.
Torres chased him.
Adrian and Marcus fought across the concrete floor.
Marcus was younger.
Adrian was angrier.
Finally Adrian pinned him against a support column.
He could have killed him.
Claire saw that.
So did Marcus.
“Do it,” Marcus taunted.
Adrian's fist tightened.
Then Sofia screamed.
“Daddy!”
Adrian looked at his daughter.
Something changed.
He released Marcus.
Torres's officers tackled him.
Adrian ran to Sofia.
She threw herself into his arms.
Claire watched them hold each other.
For a moment, she felt like an outsider.
Then Sofia reached one hand toward Claire.
“Come.”
Claire hesitated.
Adrian looked at her.
“Come here.”
She did.
Sofia pulled Claire into the embrace.
It was strange.
Messy.
Unplanned.
And somehow, for a few seconds, Claire felt something she hadn't felt since Rachel died.
Home.
Victor was arrested before midnight.
Marcus was taken into custody.
The drive copied enough information to expose shell companies, bribed officials, and decades of crimes.
But one question remained.
Who had Victor been working for?
Marcus refused to answer.
Victor did too.
Three days later, Claire returned to her apartment with police.
She wanted clothes.
Nothing more.
The place had been torn apart.
Drawers emptied.
Mattress sliced.
Cabinets broken.
Claire stood in the wreckage of her old life.
Adrian remained near the door.
“You can stay at the estate.”
“Temporarily.”
“As long as you want.”
She looked at him.
“That sounds dangerously like family.”
“Get used to it.”
Claire almost smiled.
Then she noticed something beneath the overturned bookcase.
A photograph.
She pulled it free.
Rachel.
Thomas.
And another man.
Young.
Handsome.
Claire recognized him immediately.
Salvatore Bellini.
Adrian's father.
On the back, Rachel had written:
Thomas finally knows the truth. God help us all.
Claire handed it to Adrian.
He stared at the photograph.
“What truth?”
“I don't know.”
Then Claire noticed an envelope taped behind the frame.
Inside was a birth certificate.
Her birth certificate.
Father:
Thomas James Bennett.
Mother:
Rachel Marie Bellini.
Nothing unusual.
Until Adrian turned it over.
A handwritten note covered the back.
Rachel's writing.
Thomas was not killed because of money. He discovered Salvatore's secret. Adrian must never inherit the lie.
Adrian read it twice.
His face went pale.
“What lie?”
May you like
Claire looked at the man she had only just learned was her uncle.
And suddenly neither of them knew whether they were family at all.
