Chapter 7
Bernadette turned on Damian.
Not emotionally.
Not yet.
Her eyes simply changed.
Maternal loyalty had limits.
She had just found hers.
“You told me Lisa would be there.”
Damian’s face hardened.
“She didn't need to be.”
“He is four.”
“He would've been safe.”
“With whom?”
Damian said nothing.
Bernadette stepped closer.
Her voice came out rough.
“With whom?”
Adriano did not intervene.
Damian finally looked at his mother.
“You wanted this too.”
Bernadette flinched.
“I wanted him out of the building.”
“You wanted Adriano distracted.”
“I wanted you protected.”
“There’s no difference anymore.”
Her mouth opened.
No words came.
Damian had finally said what Adriano suspected.
He did not see his mother’s loyalty as love.
He saw it as infrastructure.
Enzo traced the burner phone.
The van driver had been hired through a shell security company called North Harbor Response.
Its owner was Harrison Bell.
A former Carbone contractor dismissed five years earlier after a dispute with Adriano.
The perfect scapegoat.
Adriano’s eyes narrowed.
“Why him?”
Enzo handed over old files.
Harrison had publicly accused Adriano of ruining his business.
If Theo disappeared in a van linked to Harrison, motive would seem obvious.
Revenge.
Damian could point Adriano toward him.
Adriano, enraged, would likely act quickly.
Exactly what the emergency trustees needed to call him unstable.
The plan was becoming elegant in the ugliest possible way.
Steal the manuscript.
Use Theo as distraction.
Frame a known enemy.
Push Adriano into retaliation.
Then argue the family needed temporary leadership.
Damian watched Adriano understand it.
A tiny smile appeared.
“You would've gone after Harrison.”
Adriano looked at him.
Damian’s confidence returned.
“Tell me I'm wrong.”
The room went still.
Adriano could not.
Five years ago, he might have.
Maybe even tonight.
If Ava had not pointed toward the bag.
If Emma—
No Emma here. Charlotte? If recorder not found.
Adriano’s hand closed slowly around his signet ring.
Damian saw hesitation and pressed harder.
“You're angry at me because I knew exactly who you are.”
Adriano’s eyes lifted.
Damian’s smile widened.
Then Harrison Bell called.
Not Damian.
Adriano.
Enzo put the phone on speaker.
Harrison sounded frightened.
“I need protection.”
Adriano’s jaw tightened.
“From who?”
Harrison answered immediately.
“Damian.”
A pause.
“He paid me to let him use my company name.”
Damian’s smile vanished.
May you like
Then Harrison added:
“And I have the book.”
