Chapter 10
Hannah was waiting at the estate gates when we returned.
She ran before the car stopped.
Ellie pushed out of my arms and into hers.
“Mommy!”
Hannah dropped to her knees on the gravel and held her daughter like she could press her back into safety.
I stood several feet away.
I had no right to join that embrace.
But Ellie lifted her head.
“Mr. Adrian came.”
Hannah looked at me.
Her face was wet.
Angry.
Grateful.
Broken.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
I nodded.
Vincent survived the gunshot.
Barely.
Dr. Greene treated him under police guard.
Yes.
Police.
For the first time in my life, I called them before my own cleaners.
Tony looked at me like I had lost my mind.
Maybe I had finally found it.
Carlo was arrested at dawn.
Matteo tried to flee by private jet.
He was stopped at Teterboro with three passports and half a million dollars in cash.
The flash drive, Elena’s recording, and my cuff audio went to federal investigators.
So did the shipment records.
So did every ledger tied to Carlo’s operation.
My empire shook.
Good.
Anything built over my wife’s ashes deserved to fall.
Hannah stayed in the guest suite because the police required protection.
She did not speak to me much.
Ellie did.
She came to my study the next morning holding Rosie.
“You look sad,” she said.
“I am sad.”
“Because bad people were bad?”
“Yes.”
She nodded seriously.
“My mommy says bad is not our fault.”
“She’s right.”
Ellie touched the edge of my desk.
“Did you have a little girl?”
My throat closed.
“Yes.”
“Did she like rabbits?”
“She liked bears.”
Ellie thought about that.
“Rosie can say hi to her bear.”
I turned away because my eyes burned.
May you like
For twenty years, I had made grown men cry.
That morning, a child made me.
