Chapter 10 - Room 417
The alarms were a distraction.
By the time Marco’s security team reached Adrian Bell’s downtown office, someone had already entered it.
The safe was empty.
Two computers were gone.
A shredding bin smoldered in the alley.
Adrian claimed ignorance.
Marco no longer pretended to believe him.
Police could not simply arrest a respected attorney because a supposedly dead woman made an accusation.
They needed evidence.
Rebecca had told them where to look.
Room 417.
But perhaps she had not meant the hospital.
Mara discovered the answer.
Jonah had once used the number 417 as the passcode to their old apartment storage room.
She remembered teasing him about choosing something obvious.
He said it wasn’t a date.
It was an address.
Mara searched property records.
417 West Mercer Street.
An abandoned office building near the river.
Owner.
Bell Property Holdings.
Adrian.
Marco looked at her.
“We go quietly.”
Mara shook her head.
“You go quietly.”
“I stay somewhere safe with Emma.”
Marco almost argued.
Then stopped himself.
“Good.”
Mara raised an eyebrow.
“Personal growth.”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Marco and Nico entered 417 West Mercer shortly after midnight.
Federal Agent Evelyn Grant entered with them.
Rebecca had finally contacted law enforcement directly.
Grant had worked with Michael Reyes.
She confirmed Michael was Leo’s father.
She also confirmed Jonah had been a confidential financial source.
Marco did not like federal agents.
Grant did not care.
“You want Adrian?”
She told him.
“I want evidence that survives court.”
Marco accepted the difference.
Room 417 was on the fourth floor.
Inside they found no furniture.
Only filing cabinets.
A recording system.
And a wall covered with photographs.
Jonah.
Elena.
Rebecca.
Marco.
Mara.
Emma.
Leo.
Vittorio.
Adrian had watched everyone.
Nico opened a cabinet.
“Boss.”
Hundreds of audio files.
Private meetings.
Phone calls.
Blackmail.
Grant stared.
“This could dismantle half the corruption network in the city.”
Marco looked at her.
“Then start copying.”
They found Jonah’s file.
Marco hesitated before playing it.
Mara deserved to hear it first.
He called her.
She insisted.
“Play it.”
The recording began.
Adrian’s voice.
“You should have stopped when you found Vittorio’s accounts.”
Jonah answered.
“You made those accounts look like his.”
Adrian laughed.
“Not all of them.”
“Vittorio has plenty of sins.”
“He simply doesn’t own every sin people think he does.”
Jonah’s voice hardened.
“Elena knows.”
“That was your mistake.”
“She loves her brother.”
“She’ll tell him.”
“She won’t get the chance.”
Mara stopped breathing over the phone.
Jonah spoke.
“If you touch Elena—”
Adrian interrupted.
“You keep worrying about Elena.”
“You should worry about the pregnant wife sitting in your apartment.”
Mara covered her mouth.
Jonah went silent.
Adrian continued.
“Walk away.”
“Give me the ledger.”
“No.”
“Then your daughter grows up without a father.”
The recording ended.
Mara began crying.
Marco closed his eyes.
There it was.
Not the fire order.
But motive.
Threat.
Knowledge.
Grant continued searching.
Another recording appeared.
Date.
The night before Jonah died.
Adrian was speaking to an unknown man.
“He’ll be at the warehouse at midnight.”
“Make it electrical.”
“No gunshots.”
“No witnesses.”
“Vittorio will handle the cleanup because he’ll assume the problem was his.”
Marco felt ice move through his veins.
Grant immediately duplicated the file.
“We have him.”
But Adrian was gone.
His phone had been switched off.
His house was empty.
His private plane remained grounded.
Mara’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Adrian’s voice came through.
“Mara.”
She froze.
Marco heard through the call.
“Where are you?”
Adrian asked.
“You know exactly where I am.”
“Yes.”
“I usually do.”
Mara looked toward Emma sleeping nearby.
“What do you want?”
“The Blue Ledger.”
“You already tried killing my husband for it.”
“I didn’t try.”
The cruelty in the correction made Mara’s stomach turn.
Marco’s face hardened through the video connection.
Adrian continued.
“Jonah was warned.”
“He believed morality would protect him.”
“It rarely does.”
Mara’s voice shook.
“You murdered Elena too.”
A pause.
“Not intentionally.”
Marco’s eyes narrowed.
“What does that mean?”
Adrian heard him.
“Hello, Marco.”
Marco’s voice became deadly.
“If you come near them—”
“You’re still making threats.”
Adrian sounded almost amused.
“That’s why this was so easy.”
“You spent your life teaching everyone exactly what they needed to imitate.”
“Violence.”
“Orders.”
“Secrecy.”
“All I had to do was borrow your reputation.”
Marco said nothing.
Because it was true.
Adrian continued.
“Elena was supposed to be hospitalized.”
“Nothing more.”
“The medication caused complications I didn’t anticipate.”
Mara felt sick.
“She died because of you.”
“Yes.”
No remorse.
No excuse.
Just fact.
Marco looked toward Grant.
She was tracing the call.
Adrian knew.
“You won’t find me.”
“What do you want?”
Mara repeated.
“Tomorrow afternoon, Marco signs control of Castellano Holdings into an independent legal trust.”
“My trust.”
“And Mara gives me the Blue Ledger.”
Marco laughed coldly.
“No.”
Adrian’s voice sharpened.
“Then ask Dr. Shah to check Leo’s latest blood panel.”
Mara’s heart stopped.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing yet.”
The call ended.
Marco called Dr. Shah immediately.
Leo’s blood test showed a foreign compound.
A slow-acting anticoagulant.
The amount was small.
Treatable.
But someone had reached him again.
Dr. Shah transferred Leo to a secured isolation room.
Marco looked at Agent Grant.
“Adrian still has someone inside.”
Grant nodded.
“Then we flush them out.”
Mara arrived only after the floor was secured.
She stood beside Leo’s incubator.
His tiny chest rose and fell.
“You promised your mother we’d protect you.”
She whispered.
“So we’re going to stop being afraid.”
Marco stood behind her.
Mara turned.
“Give Adrian what he wants.”
Marco’s eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“Make him believe he won.”
“Mara.”
“You said angry people are harder to manipulate.”
She looked toward Agent Grant.
“So let’s make him manipulate the wrong people.”
Grant understood first.
“A controlled transfer.”
Mara nodded.
“We give him a fake ledger.”
“Marco signs fake documents.”
“We make Adrian surface.”
Marco studied her.
“When did you become good at this?”
Mara looked at Leo.
“When somebody decided babies were acceptable collateral.”
The trap was set.
But before they could execute it, Nico entered carrying another file from Room 417.
His face was pale.
“We found a recording from twelve years ago.”
Marco looked at him.
“What recording?”
Nico placed headphones on the table.
“It involves your father.”
Marco stiffened.
“My father died in a car bombing.”
Nico looked at Agent Grant.
Then at Marco.
“No.”
“He didn’t.”
Marco’s face changed.
Nico swallowed.
May you like
“Adrian Bell killed him too.”
And on the recovered recording, the second voice helping Adrian plan the bombing belonged to Vittorio Castellano.
