Chapter 4 - Shifts in the Shadows
By Saturday morning, the underworld was in flames.
I sat in my mother's quiet, sunshine-filled room at the memory-care facility in Queens. She was sitting in a plush armchair, holding a cup of tea, smiling blankly at the garden outside. She didn't remember the fire. She didn't remember the blood. She only knew me as her sweet daughter who paid the bills.
"You look pretty today, Evelyn," she murmured softly, stroking my hand.
"Thank you, Mom," I whispered, kissing her forehead. "Everything is taken care of now. Nobody can hurt us anymore."
My encrypted satellite phone buzzed on the nightstand. I answered without looking at the screen. "Speak, Victor."
"Vanya, half the families in Brooklyn have pledged their loyalty to you since last night," Victor reported, his voice filled with frantic excitement. "The Vales are isolated. Julian is hiding in his compound. But Adrian... Adrian hasn't left his office in Manhattan."
I narrowed my eyes. "He didn't go to the compound with his father?"
"No. He sent his guards away. He's been sitting alone on the top floor of Vale Holdings since midnight. Vanya, this is our chance. We take four men, go up the private elevator, and end him."
"No," I replied instantly. "Adrian didn't know about his father's treason nine years ago. He was twenty-four, studying business in London when my father was killed."
"Does it matter?" Victor pressed fiercely. "He sits on his father's throne!"
"It matters to me," I said coldly. "Stand down, Victor. Do not move against Adrian without my explicit command."
I hung up and looked out the window. My phone buzzed again. This time, it was a direct text from an unknown, untraceable number.
I know you're at the facility in Queens. I'm sitting in the diner across the street. Come alone, or I come up. - A.
My heart took a sharp, traitorous leap. I adjusted my coat, kissed my mother goodbye, and walked across the street.
The diner was greasy, smelling of cheap coffee and bacon. Adrian Vale sat in a corner booth, wearing a dark turtleneck and a charcoal coat. He looked exhausted, shadows heavy beneath his dark eyes, but his presence still dominated the room.
I sat down across from him. "You shouldn't be here, Adrian. Victor has snipers watching my mother's building."
"Let them shoot," Adrian said quietly, staring into his black coffee. He looked up, his gaze intense. "Is it true?"
"Is what true?"
"Did my father order the hit on your family?" His voice cracked slightly, a rare display of vulnerability from a man who ran half of Manhattan's shadows.
"The bank transfers don't lie, Adrian. Page forty-two of your Black Ledger. Look at the shell company Apex Global. The signature on the authorization form belongs to Julian Vale."
Adrian closed his eyes for three long seconds. When he opened them, the cold, ruthless crime boss was back—but something shifted in his stance.
"I didn't know," he said softly. "I swear to you on my life, Evelyn... Vanya... I didn't know."
"I know you didn't," I admitted quietly. "If you had known, I would have killed you three years ago instead of typing your reports."
Adrian leaned across the table, his hand resting inches from mine. "Then why stay? Why play the meek secretary for three years?"
"Because I needed to destroy your father's empire piece by piece without starting a war that would get innocent people killed," I answered. "And then... you invited me to the benefit."
A self-deprecating smile touched Adrian's lips. "I was an idiot. Travis was joking, and I... I wanted to see you out of those grey cardigans. I wanted an excuse to look at you outside the office."
May you like
I blinked, caught off guard. "What?"
"I've been watching you for three years, Parker," Adrian confessed softly, his eyes locking onto mine with alarming heat. "I thought you were hiding from the world. I didn't realize you were hunting."
