Chapter 6 - The Voice in the Dark
Adrian did not go alone.
He pretended to.
Mara called that progress.
He ignored her.
Gabriel chose an abandoned church outside Joliet.
Midnight.
Snow.
No police.
Victor, despite being suspended, secretly helped Matteo Russo—Adrian’s current security commander—build surveillance.
Adrian knew.
He allowed it.
Some trusts were damaged, not dead.
Inside the church, a speaker waited on the altar.
No Gabriel.
No Sofia.
Adrian approached.
The speaker clicked.
Then:
“Adrian?”
His knees nearly failed.
Sofia.
He knew her voice.
Seven years.
Thousands of mornings.
Whispers in bed.
Arguments in kitchens.
Laughter inside cars.
You could counterfeit documents.
Not that.
“Sofia.”
A sob came through the speaker.
“Oh God.”
“Where are you?”
“I don't know.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Who has you?”
Silence.
“Sofia?”
“Gabriel.”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“I’m getting you out.”
“No.”
“What?”
“Listen.”
He stopped.
“Leo isn’t safe.”
“I know about Anna.”
“You found her?”
“Yes.”
Sofia began crying.
“Thank God.”
“Why did you do it?”
“I’m sorry.”
“We’ll discuss sorry after I find you.”
A tiny laugh.
His Sofia.
Then her voice sharpened.
“Adrian, Gabriel isn't doing this alone.”
“Who?”
Static.
“Sofia?”
“He has someone inside—”
The line crackled.
“Inside what?”
“Your—”
Silence.
Then Gabriel’s voice replaced hers.
“Beautiful reunion.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Touch her and—”
“Yes, yes. Chicago burns. Men disappear.”
Gabriel laughed.
“You sound like Father.”
That insult landed.
“What do you want?”
“The original ledgers.”
“They’re not mine.”
“You possess copies.”
“What do they prove?”
“That Father’s empire was built on stolen families.”
“And?”
“And that my mother was one of them.”
Gabriel explained.
His mother had been young and poor when Vincent met her.
He promised marriage.
When she became pregnant, he paid her family to disappear.
Gabriel grew up watching Vincent build a public family with Evelyn and Adrian.
Resentment became obsession.
“I don't want your money,” Gabriel said.
“What do you want?”
“Your name to collapse.”
“Fine.”
Silence.
Gabriel sounded surprised.
“What?”
“Release Sofia. I’ll open every record.”
“You’d destroy the Moretti organization?”
“Yes.”
“For her?”
Adrian looked toward the hidden cameras.
“For my son too.”
Gabriel laughed.
“Not your son.”
“He is now.”
That answer mattered.
Gabriel became quiet.
Then:
“You really have changed.”
“No.”
Adrian looked around the abandoned church.
“I just finally know what matters.”
The speaker died.
When Adrian returned home, Mara waited in the nursery.
“You heard her?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“Alive.”
Mara cried.
Adrian sat beside her.
Neither spoke.
Leo slept.
After a while Mara whispered:
“What will happen when Sofia comes back?”
Adrian looked at her.
“What do you mean?”
“She’ll be his mother again.”
“Anna is his mother.”
“Sofia raised him.”
“For two months.”
“She planned his life.”
“And lied to me.”
Mara nodded.
“You’re angry.”
“Yes.”
“You still love her.”
“Yes.”
Mara looked away.
Something in her face shifted.
Adrian noticed.
But before he could understand it, Matteo entered.
“We found Gabriel.”
“Where?”
“Not Gabriel exactly.”
“What?”
“A company he uses.”
It owned a private rehabilitation facility in Wisconsin.
Long-term patients.
Sealed admissions.
One patient matched Sofia’s age.
Admitted four months ago under another name.
Adrian stood.
“We go now.”
The facility was empty when they arrived.
Recently emptied.
But Sofia’s room remained.
Clothes.
Books.
Drawings of Leo.
Hundreds.
Leo sleeping.
Leo laughing.
Leo older, imagined.
One drawing showed Adrian sitting beside a crib.
On the back:
I’m sorry I made you grieve me. If you ever find this, know I tried to come home.
Adrian sat on the bed.
His composure broke.
Mara found another page.
A list of names.
Employees inside the Moretti estate.
One circled repeatedly.
EVELYN.
Adrian looked at her.
“No.”
Mara said nothing.
Then another name beneath it.
VICTOR — TRUST HIM.
Adrian closed his eyes.
He had removed the wrong man.
May you like
Again.
And if Sofia’s note was correct, the woman who had raised Adrian might be connected to the person keeping his wife imprisoned.
