Chapter 4 - The Woman He Never Loved
By sunrise, Adrian had read the financial records seven times.
Each time, they told the same story.
Twenty-three years earlier, three hundred thousand dollars had moved from an offshore company into an account controlled by Victor Russo two days before Antonio Moretti died.
It looked like blood money.
But Adrian had learned long ago that obvious evidence was often designed to be obvious.
“Don’t confront him,” Marco warned.
Adrian closed the file.
“I wasn’t planning to.”
“That expression says otherwise.”
“My expressions don’t say anything.”
Marco almost smiled.
“Your ex-wife would disagree.”
Adrian’s phone vibrated.
Claire.
He answered instantly.
“What happened?”
There was a pause.
“Nothing happened.”
His shoulders lowered half an inch.
“Then why are you calling?”
“I have a question.”
“Ask.”
“Why was Vanessa at the hospital?”
Adrian understood immediately.
Claire had heard the doctor.
“Her father is ill.”
“That’s all?”
“Yes.”
“Were you there for her?”
“I was there because Victor refused treatment and she thought I could convince him.”
Claire was quiet.
Adrian added, “Vanessa and I have not been together since I was twenty-four.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“You whispered her name once.”
His stomach dropped.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
He remembered.
And suddenly understood.
“That wasn’t what you thought.”
Claire gave a humorless laugh.
“Of course.”
“My father’s anniversary. I dreamed about the night he died. Vanessa was there that night because her family was having dinner with ours. I woke up remembering her screaming.”
Silence.
“You never explained.”
“You never asked.”
“I shouldn’t have needed to ask my husband why he whispered another woman’s name in our bed.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
She was right.
Again.
“Claire.”
“Yes?”
“I am beginning to understand I was a very bad husband.”
The line remained quiet.
Then, unexpectedly, she laughed.
A small laugh.
The sound hit him harder than anger.
“You’re beginning?”
“I’m a slow learner.”
“You’re thirty-seven.”
“I had a sheltered childhood.”
“You grew up around organized crime rumors and hostile takeovers.”
“Exactly. Very sheltered.”
Another tiny laugh.
Then silence returned.
Claire’s voice softened.
“I have another appointment Friday.”
Adrian’s heart kicked.
“Okay.”
“I’m not inviting you.”
His hope disappeared.
“But if you want updates afterward, I’ll text you.”
It was almost nothing.
To Adrian, it felt enormous.
“Thank you.”
They ended the call.
Friday arrived with freezing rain.
Claire attended the appointment alone.
Adrian waited across the street in a coffee shop because she had asked him not to accompany her and because, for the first time in his life, he was learning that respecting someone’s boundary could hurt without killing him.
At 10:23, his phone buzzed.
Everything looks good.
Then another message.
It’s a girl.
Adrian stared at the words.
A daughter.
Marco, sitting opposite him, watched his face.
“Well?”
Adrian handed him the phone.
Marco grinned.
“A girl.”
Adrian looked through the rain toward the hospital.
“A girl.”
He had no idea why his eyes suddenly burned.
Claire emerged ten minutes later.
She saw him through the café window.
Of course she did.
Adrian stood.
She crossed the street beneath a black umbrella.
“You waited?”
“I did.”
“I told you not to come.”
“You told me not to attend the appointment.”
“That is annoyingly technical.”
“I own lawyers.”
“I remember.”
He bought her tea.
They sat near the window.
For the first time since the divorce, neither argued.
Claire slid an ultrasound image across the table.
Adrian picked it up as carefully as if it were made of glass.
“That’s her?”
“That’s her.”
“She has my nose.”
“She’s the size of an avocado.”
“She has a very distinguished nose.”
Claire rolled her eyes.
He smiled.
And for one dangerous moment, they looked like themselves again.
Then Vanessa entered the café.
Claire stiffened.
Vanessa saw them and stopped.
Adrian stood.
“Vanessa.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were here.”
Claire reached for her coat.
Vanessa immediately shook her head.
“Please don’t leave because of me.”
Claire looked between them.
Vanessa approached slowly.
Then she noticed the ultrasound photograph in Adrian’s hand.
Her expression softened.
“Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” Claire said cautiously.
Vanessa sat only after Claire nodded.
“I owe you an apology,” Vanessa said.
“For what?”
“For allowing you to misunderstand my relationship with Adrian.”
Claire’s eyes narrowed.
“I don’t understand.”
“Two years ago, Adrian asked me to help him investigate his father’s death.”
Adrian looked sharply at Vanessa.
She ignored him.
“He told me not to involve you.”
Claire’s gaze moved to him.
Vanessa continued.
“I thought he was protecting you. Now I think we were all helping him make a spectacularly stupid decision.”
Claire almost smiled.
Adrian did not.
Then Vanessa placed a small flash drive on the table.
“My father gave me this last night.”
Adrian’s attention sharpened.
“He said if anything happens to him, you need to see what’s on it.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. He made me promise not to open it.”
Adrian took the drive.
Vanessa looked frightened.
“He also said something else.”
“What?”
“That the person responsible for your father’s death has been inside Moretti Capital for more than twenty years.”
Claire felt cold.
Adrian’s expression changed.
Vanessa swallowed.
“And whoever it is knows Claire is pregnant.”
Adrian stood instantly.
“How?”
“My father received this.”
She handed him a photograph.
It showed Claire and Adrian sitting together in that exact café.
The picture had been taken less than five minutes earlier.
Written beneath it:
THE DIVORCE FAILED.
Adrian looked toward the windows.
May you like
Across the street, a man lowered a camera.
Then ran.
