Chapter 6 - THE ROOM BEHIND THE WINE
The old Moretti estate smelled of cedar, stone, and abandonment.
Sebastian had not entered in nine years.
Vittorio’s bedroom remained untouched because nobody wanted it.
His chair remained in the dining room because nobody wanted to admit they feared sitting in it.
The wine cellar lay beneath the east wing.
Sebastian brought Anthony.
Javier Moretti—another senior cousin—waited outside with guards.
No Helena.
No Chad.
The cellar contained hundreds of dusty bottles and one brick wall that sounded hollow.
Anthony found the release behind an old wooden rack.
The wall opened.
Behind it waited another room.
Smaller than the chapel.
One table.
Two chairs.
No decoration.
Sebastian stared.
“The second seat.”
Anthony looked at the chairs.
“Two men?”
“Or two sides.”
On the wall were dozens of vertical cuts.
Not names.
Tally marks.
Some grouped by five.
At the center hung a child’s wooden horse.
Sebastian recognized it.
Adrian had made one for Leo.
This one was older.
Vittorio had made it for Sebastian when he was five.
Sebastian took it down.
The underside had been carved recently.
YOUR FATHER BUILT FEAR HERE.
Anthony looked toward him.
Sebastian remembered a room.
Not this one.
Maybe.
His father bringing him downstairs.
A man sitting opposite.
Questions.
“Who do you love more, your brother or your name?”
Sebastian had been seven.
No.
Impossible.
Adrian had not been born yet.
Then who was the brother?
Memory broke.
He turned toward the table.
A cassette recorder sat in the center.
Another tape.
Sebastian pressed play.
Not Adrian.
Vittorio.
His father’s voice filled the room.
“A family survives when every son understands what can be taken from him.”
Sebastian’s jaw clenched.
Vittorio continued:
“Love creates rebellion.”
“Fear creates discipline.”
Anthony whispered, “Jesus.”
Sebastian did not react.
His father had always spoken like this.
The horror was hearing it without childhood admiration.
The tape shifted.
Another voice.
Younger.
Paolo.
Helena’s husband.
“You’re turning boys into dogs.”
Vittorio laughed.
“Dogs are loyal.”
“Until they learn the hand feeding them is also the hand beating them.”
Silence.
Then Vittorio:
“Is that a threat?”
Paolo:
“It’s a promise.”
The tape ended.
Sebastian stared.
Paolo had opposed Vittorio.
Helena’s hatred had roots.
Not innocence.
Roots.
Anthony found scratches beneath the second chair.
ADRIAN.
A date.
Six days after Adrian’s supposed death.
Sebastian stopped.
“He was here.”
“Yes.”
Six days.
Adrian survived at least six days after the burned car.
Another carving below:
AUGUST KNOWS.
Sebastian felt his anger rise.
Then another:
AUGUST IS NOT THE SHADOW.
He stopped.
Adrian had anticipated suspicion.
Anthony read it.
“So August knew Adrian survived.”
“Yes.”
“But wasn’t the fifth-seat enemy.”
“Apparently.”
A final line had been carved near the floor:
THE SHADOW SAT BESIDE MY BROTHER FOR TWENTY-SIX YEARS.
Sebastian stared.
Twenty-six years.
Exactly the length of time since Sebastian became boss.
Anthony slowly stepped away from him.
Sebastian looked over.
“You think I’m counting you.”
“I’ve been beside you twenty-eight years.”
“Not twenty-six.”
“August?”
“Longer.”
“Helena?”
“Blood. Not beside me.”
Anthony thought.
“There are three men who started with your administration.”
Sebastian knew.
Council treasurer Victor Shaw.
Port commander Daniel Moretti.
And family ceremonial adviser August’s younger brother, Elias Crane.
Only one had been inside the council room when Adrian was condemned.
Victor Shaw.
Sebastian felt the answer begin to form.
Too neat.
He distrusted it immediately.
Then footsteps sounded behind the wall.
Anthony raised his weapon.
A man stepped into the secret room.
Chad.
Bruised from the reception.
Alone.
Sebastian stared.
“You were confined.”
“I left.”
“How?”
“Your guard let me.”
“Which?”
Chad looked at Anthony.
Anthony’s face hardened.
“Name.”
Chad ignored him.
He looked at Sebastian.
“The burned man contacted me.”
“When?”
“Ten minutes ago.”
Sebastian’s pulse changed.
“What did he say?”
Chad’s arrogance had vanished.
“He said if we wanted Adrian alive, we had one hour.”
Silence.
Sebastian stepped toward him.
“Where?”
Chad swallowed.
“Under the river.”
May you like
Then he said the part that changed everything.
“He asked for Leo.”
