Chapter 10 - THE MAN WHO BURIED ADRIAN
The bullet struck the brick beside Victor’s head.
Sebastian knocked Chad’s weapon aside.
“What are you doing?”
“He killed my father!”
“You don’t know that.”
Chad stared.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“Then learn it.”
Victor lowered his own gun slowly.
Anthony kept his weapon trained on him.
Sebastian stepped closer.
“What did you do with Adrian?”
Victor’s face looked twenty years older in the emergency light.
“I moved him.”
“Where?”
“Out.”
“That is not a place.”
Victor looked toward Nicholas.
“You found the boy.”
Sebastian’s eyes hardened.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Since he was born.”
Sebastian nearly hit him.
Instead he asked:
“Why?”
“Vittorio ordered me to watch Rebecca.”
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“What happened to her?”
Victor looked down.
“She died when Nicholas was six.”
Sebastian felt something hollow open.
“How?”
“Natural illness.”
“You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“Body?”
“Yes.”
At least one dead person remained dead.
“Why hide Nicholas?”
“Vittorio’s order continued.”
“After he died?”
“Yes.”
“Why obey a dead man?”
Victor looked toward Sebastian.
“Because Nicholas was safer not being Moretti.”
That sounded reasonable.
Which meant nothing anymore.
“Adrian found him?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
“And?”
“He wanted to bring him to you.”
Sebastian felt anger toward his dead father.
Then toward Victor.
“Why didn’t he?”
“Because he discovered the Black Table was active again.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong.”
“I truly don’t.”
Sebastian studied him.
Victor was frightened.
Not of Sebastian.
Of the speaker.
“Who is the burned man?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Rocco Vale.”
Marcus Dorne had called the old enforcer Rocco Vane.
Similar.
Memory error?
Alias?
“Rocco died.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“No.”
“Who is he?”
“Paolo’s replacement.”
Chad stared.
“The Shadow.”
Victor nodded.
“Rocco became Shadow after Paolo died.”
Helena’s fear had been aimed at the correct world.
Wrong man.
“Did Rocco remove Adrian?”
Victor looked toward the speaker.
“Yes.”
The burned voice answered:
“Careful, Victor.”
Sebastian looked up.
Rocco was listening.
Victor continued anyway.
“Adrian discovered Rocco had started choosing outcomes instead of preventing them.”
“What outcomes?”
“Which branch controlled the family.”
Chad went pale.
“The fifth seat.”
Victor nodded.
“Rocco wanted to destroy the Table by forcing it into the open.”
Sebastian laughed without humor.
“By creating chaos.”
“Yes.”
“Adrian opposed him.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Rocco took him.”
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“Why did you help?”
Victor closed his eyes.
“I thought Rocco would hide him.”
Sebastian stepped closer.
“You helped kidnap my brother.”
“Yes.”
“After helping me condemn him.”
“Yes.”
There was no defense.
Good.
“Why?”
Victor’s voice broke.
“Because Rocco had Nicholas.”
Sebastian looked toward the young man.
Nicholas stared.
“You traded Adrian for me?”
Victor shook his head.
“No. Adrian told me to.”
Silence.
Sebastian stared.
Victor continued:
“Rocco threatened to reveal Nicholas publicly during the succession crisis.”
“What would that do?”
“Split the family.”
“Adrian said?”
“Take me instead.”
Sebastian stopped breathing.
His brother had sacrificed himself to protect a nephew he had barely known.
Victor continued:
“Rocco promised Adrian would live.”
“Did he?”
“I saw him six months later.”
“Where?”
“Old monastery house.”
“Condition?”
“Alive.”
“Then three months ago?”
Victor looked toward the speaker.
“Rocco moved him again.”
“Why?”
“Because Adrian learned who really sat in the Shadow seat before Paolo.”
Chad frowned.
“Before my father?”
Victor nodded.
“Someone inside the Moretti bloodline.”
Sebastian waited.
Victor looked directly at him.
“Helena.”
Chad stepped backward.
“No.”
The speaker crackled with laughter.
Victor continued:
“She was Shadow before Paolo.”
Chad stared.
“My mother?”
“Yes.”
Sebastian understood.
Helena had not merely married into the fifth-seat conflict.
She had lived inside it.
Then Rocco’s voice came through:
“Victor always did love half-truths.”
Sebastian looked toward the ceiling.
“Then come down and give me the rest.”
Silence.
Rocco answered:
“Bring Helena tomorrow night.”
“Where?”
“The first Moretti house.”
Sebastian’s expression darkened.
Vittorio’s abandoned estate.
“And Leo stays home.”
Sebastian paused.
Rocco laughed.
“Surprised?”
“Yes.”
“I never wanted the child.”
“Chad says—”
“Chad hears power and stops listening.”
Chad’s face hardened.
Rocco continued:
“Leo was bait for Helena.”
Sebastian stared.
The reception attack.
The orphanage threat.
The key.
Rocco had wanted Helena to expose herself.
He had used a three-year-old to do it.
Sebastian’s voice dropped.
“You touched my nephew through other people.”
May you like
Rocco answered calmly:
“And now you understand why Adrian wanted me dead.”
