Chapter 8 - The Enemy They ForgotThe threat did not come from Carlo.
He was in federal custody.
Nor from the Morettis.
They had signed a truce.
It came from someone everyone had overlooked.
Adrian Vescari.
Carlo's twenty-eight-year-old son.
Lorenzo's cousin.
For years, Adrian had cultivated the reputation of a harmless playboy.
He traveled.
Gambled.
Appeared in society photographs.
Meanwhile, he had quietly inherited his father's remaining network.
Lorenzo wanted Vivian moved into a secure property.
She refused the Falcone estate.
“Then choose anywhere,” he said.
“Anywhere?”
“Anywhere.”
She chose a modest house in Connecticut owned by Elena.
Lorenzo accepted without argument.
He slept in a guesthouse thirty yards away.
Weeks passed.
No attack.
That was intentional.
Adrian wanted them exhausted.
Then, during Vivian's seventh month of pregnancy, Elena disappeared.
Her car was found beside a train station.
A message waited on the windshield.
Bellini warehouse. Midnight. Vivian alone.
Lorenzo read it.
“No.”
Vivian crossed her arms.
“He'll kill Elena.”
“He'll kill you both.”
“Then we need another plan.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
We.
The word mattered.
Matteo designed the operation.
Vivian would appear to arrive alone.
Police and federal agents would wait outside the perimeter.
Lorenzo hated every second.
“You stay in the car.”
“Lorenzo.”
“Vivian, please.”
Not an order.
A plea.
She touched his face.
“I'll be careful.”
At 11:58 p.m., Vivian entered the Bellini warehouse.
Adrian waited beside Elena.
“You look exactly like your father when you're angry.”
Vivian stopped.
“Let her go.”
Adrian laughed.
“You people always say that as though negotiations work that way.”
“What do you want?”
“The original ledger.”
“The FBI has copies.”
“I don't care about the FBI.”
Vivian frowned.
Then understood.
The ledger contained more than criminal evidence.
It contained account codes.
Money.
Carlo's hidden fortune.
“You want your father's money.”
“I want my inheritance.”
Vivian removed a flash drive.
“Everything is here.”
Adrian extended his hand.
She tossed it across the floor.
He bent to retrieve it.
Vivian ran toward Elena.
A gunshot cracked.
Lorenzo heard it outside.
Every agreement vanished.
He charged inside.
“Vivian!”
Adrian grabbed her from behind.
His pistol pressed against her stomach.
Lorenzo stopped.
Something murderous entered his eyes.
“Move that gun.”
Adrian smiled.
“Still pretending you've changed?”
Lorenzo slowly lowered his own weapon.
“I have.”
“Then prove it.”
Adrian tossed a knife across the floor.
“Kill Matteo.”
Matteo stood twenty feet away.
Adrian grinned.
“Your wife or your brother.”
Old Lorenzo would have looked for an angle.
Calculated.
Threatened.
Killed.
The new Lorenzo simply placed his pistol on the floor.
“No.”
Adrian's smile faded.
“No?”
“You don't decide who I become.”
He raised both empty hands.
“You want a Falcone?”
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“Take me.”
Vivian's eyes filled.
“Lorenzo, no.”
He kept walking.
“My life for theirs.”
Adrian hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Elena drove her elbow into his ribs.
Vivian dropped.
Matteo fired.
Adrian's weapon flew from his hand.
Federal agents stormed the warehouse.
Within seconds, it was over.
Vivian sat on the floor shaking.
Lorenzo ran to her.
He stopped inches away.
“Can I touch you?”
The question broke her.
She threw her arms around him.
Lorenzo held her carefully.
Her tears soaked his shirt.
“You idiot.”
“I know.”
“You were going to let him kill you.”
“Yes.”
She pulled back.
“Stop agreeing with me!”
A laugh escaped him.
Vivian kissed him.
It was not planned.
Not careful.
Not forgiveness.
But it was real.
When they separated, Lorenzo rested his forehead against hers.
“What does that mean?”
Vivian breathed shakily.
“It means I kissed you.”
“That's all?”
“For tonight.”
A smile appeared.
“I can work with that.”
Then Vivian suddenly winced.
Lorenzo's smile vanished.
“What?”
She grabbed his hand.
“My water just broke.”
Lorenzo looked downward.
Then back at her.
“You're seven months pregnant.”
“I am aware.”
Panic replaced every trace of mafia composure.
“Matteo!”
Vivian almost laughed despite the pain.
“Lorenzo, I'm having the baby, not Matteo.”
“I know that!”
Another contraction hit.
His face went white.
Vivian gripped his hand.
“Hospital.”
Lorenzo nodded frantically.
“Yes. Hospital.”
May you like
For perhaps the first time in his life, Lorenzo Falcone looked completely terrified by something he could not threaten, bribe, or shoot.
And Vivian, despite everything, trusted him to stay beside her.
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