Chapter 8 - THE MARRIAGE OF LIES
Victoria was waiting when Adriano returned.
Lucian did not look at her.
That frightened her immediately.
“What happened?”
Adriano placed the photographic film on the table.
Victoria saw her father.
Her expression collapsed.
Lucian watched.
“How long?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Lucian.”
“How long have you known your father was alive?”
She sat.
“Fifteen years.”
Lucian laughed once.
Their marriage changed in that sound.
“You let me attend his funeral.”
“I had no choice.”
“You had fifteen years.”
“He threatened my mother.”
“Your mother died eight years ago.”
Victoria closed her eyes.
Lucian stepped away.
Adriano watched.
Betrayal inside a marriage was dangerous because people knew exactly where to cut.
“Why did you keep talking to Lorenzo?” Adriano asked.
Victoria looked toward him.
“At first because I loved him.”
“And later?”
“Because I was afraid of him.”
“What did he want?”
“Access.”
“To?”
“The family.”
“Through you.”
“Yes.”
Lucian stared.
“You told him our meetings?”
“Some.”
“Routes?”
“Some.”
“Names?”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“Yes.”
Lucian turned away.
Adriano did not rescue either of them.
Truth was supposed to hurt.
Otherwise people would keep hiding it.
“Did you tell Lorenzo Elena was investigating?”
Victoria nodded.
Lucian closed his eyes.
“Why?”
“He asked why Elena had been meeting Gabriel.”
“And you answered.”
“Yes.”
Adriano’s voice became cold.
“You may have caused my wife’s ambush.”
Victoria looked at him.
“I know.”
“Did Lorenzo admit ordering it?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“He became angry. Told me Elena had crossed a line.”
“When?”
“Two days before the attack.”
Adriano stood.
Victoria continued quickly.
“I begged him not to touch her.”
“Did he promise?”
“No.”
“Yet you said nothing to me.”
“I thought if you knew my father was alive, you would start a war.”
Adriano laughed softly.
“So instead you let my wife drive into an ambush.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew enough to be afraid.”
Victoria began crying.
Adriano did not soften.
Lucian looked at her.
“Did Elena know?”
“Yes.”
Lucian’s face changed.
“She knew you were speaking to Lorenzo?”
“Yes.”
“And still trusted me.”
“Yes.”
The realization injured him.
Elena had understood Victoria might be compromised yet separated wife from husband.
Lucian, in return, had told Victoria too much.
Not maliciously.
Carelessly.
Sometimes betrayal did not require hatred.
Only intimacy in the wrong place.
Adriano placed the rag doll on the table.
“Why did you try to take it tonight?”
Victoria wiped her face.
“My father called me yesterday.”
Adriano stared.
“He knew the doll?”
“Yes.”
“What did he say?”
“That Sophia had something that belonged to him.”
“The key?”
“I don’t know.”
“Token?”
“I don’t know.”
“He ordered you to steal from a child.”
“He said if I didn’t, Lucian would die before sunrise.”
Lucian turned.
Victoria looked at him.
“I was trying to protect you.”
Lucian’s voice was quiet.
“By grabbing Sophia.”
“I panicked.”
“You became him.”
Victoria flinched.
Adriano watched the words land.
Lorenzo used family as leverage.
Victoria had repeated the pattern.
“Where does Lorenzo want the objects?”
“He told me to bring them to the Winter House.”
Salvatore, standing near the doorway, went pale.
Adriano noticed.
“What is the Winter House?”
Salvatore answered reluctantly.
“An old Bellacorte property near Lake Placid.”
“Father’s?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
“Lorenzo’s.”
Adriano looked at Victoria.
“You know it?”
She nodded.
“Have you been?”
“Once.”
“When?”
“Nine years ago.”
“Who was there?”
Victoria looked toward Salvatore.
Again.
The old man cursed.
Adriano saw.
“Both of you.”
Salvatore leaned on his cane.
“I went because Lorenzo said Nico left something there.”
“What?”
“I never found out.”
“Who else?”
Victoria whispered:
“Roman.”
Adriano’s dead consigliere.
The circle tightened around ghosts.
Roman.
Salvatore.
Lorenzo.
Victoria.
Elena.
Margaret.
Gabriel.
Every path went backward.
Adriano looked toward Lucian.
“You’re staying here.”
Lucian frowned.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“My wife’s father threatened me.”
“Exactly.”
Adriano turned to Victoria.
“You’re coming.”
She stood.
“Why?”
“Because Lorenzo expects you.”
“And if he sees you?”
Adriano smiled faintly.
“He wanted the doll opened.”
“How do you know?”
“Because if he didn’t, he would have told you to destroy it.”
Victoria stared.
Adriano picked up the serpent token.
“This isn’t a trap we accidentally found.”
May you like
He closed his fist.
“It’s an invitation.”
