Chapter 13 - Carlo's Last Confession
Carlo looked smaller when we returned to the estate.
On the drive back, Adrien had said almost nothing.
I assumed he was preparing to interrogate his father.
Then, five minutes from the gates, he spoke without looking at me.
"When I was eight, he taught me to swim by throwing me into the deep end."
I turned toward him.
"That explains several things."
A faint breath left him.
Not quite laughter.
"I hated him for it until I was twelve."
"What happened at twelve?"
"A boat capsized near the house. I pulled another boy out."
He looked at his hands.
"My father told me fear was expensive, so he had given me swimming lessons before I could afford it."
"That sounds like Carlo."
"You have known him ten minutes."
"I have known men who turn cruelty into philosophy."
Adrien's face tightened.
"So have I."
I realized then that he was not preparing for an interrogation.
He was preparing to lose his father.
Maybe not physically.
Maybe only the version of Carlo he had managed to keep alive inside himself.
That could be a death too.
I reached for his hand, stopped, then let mine rest on the seat between us.
Adrien noticed the unfinished gesture.
He did not close the distance.
For some reason, that made me trust him more.
At the estate, the halls were quieter than before.
Staff moved as if sound might kill the old man faster.
I wondered how many people in that house loved Carlo and how many simply depended on him.
Power made those emotions difficult to distinguish.
By the time we reached his room, Adrien's face had returned to control.
Only his hands betrayed him.
They were clenched hard enough for the knuckles to whiten.
Machines surrounded his bed.
An oxygen tube ran beneath his nose.
His skin had the gray translucence of someone whose body had come very close to stopping.
Adrien stood beside him.
I remained near the door.
Marcus had been taken to a secure medical floor under guard.
My mother was somewhere else in the house with Dr. Bell.
I had not decided whether I wanted to see her.
Carlo looked at me first.
"They blamed you."
His voice barely carried.
"Yes."
"Good."
I stared at him.
"Excuse me?"
"It means they are afraid."
A weak smile touched his mouth.
"Fear makes careful men hurry."
Adrien pulled a chair closer.
"Luca took the seal."
Carlo closed his eyes.
"Then he finally stopped pretending."
"Did he order Samuel's death?"
Carlo opened his eyes again.
"Yes."
The answer was so simple that it almost felt disappointing.
I had spent hours building monsters in my head.
Now one word gave the first monster a name.
"Why?"
Carlo looked at me.
"Because your father found out who sat above Luca."
My pulse quickened.
"Who?"
Carlo's eyes moved toward the doorway.
"Close it."
Adrien did.
Marco checked the hall.
Carlo waited.
"Orpheus was not a single organization."
"We know," Adrien said.
"No."
Carlo's voice sharpened with surprising force.
"You know pieces."
He struggled for breath.
"In the beginning, men like me used it to move money and purchase favors."
"Then the favors learned they were stronger than the men purchasing them."
I thought of judges, executives, officials, and contractors.
Carlo continued.
"By the time Samuel found the archive, Orpheus had become a marketplace."
"For what?"
"Secrets."
His eyes settled on me.
"Not gossip."
"Leverage."
"Medical records. Affairs. Offshore accounts. Sealed testimony. Intelligence contracts. Witness locations."
My stomach twisted.
"People's lives."
"Exactly."
"And Luca ran it."
"Luca ran New York."
Carlo swallowed.
"Someone else ran the exchange."
Adrien leaned closer.
"Halden?"
Carlo's eyes sharpened.
"You found HLD-7."
"Yes."
"Then Samuel's insurance worked."
"Is Halden in charge?"
Carlo stared at the ceiling.
"Halden is a gatekeeper."
"For who?"
The old man laughed weakly.
"Samuel asked me the same question."
"And?"
"I never learned the name."
I felt frustration rise.
"Then what did my father die for?"
Carlo looked at me.
"A title."
"What title?"
"The Custodian."
The word sounded almost ridiculous.
Carlo made it frightening.
"Whoever controls the master archive is called the Custodian."
"Luca?"
"No."
"Halden?"
"No."
"You?"
Carlo smiled faintly.
"I was never important enough."
That was a terrifying sentence from Carlo Viscari.
Adrien's face tightened.
"Samuel knew who the Custodian was."
"He believed he did."
"Did he tell you?"
"He tried."
Carlo's eyes closed.
"Then Luca's men entered the warehouse."
My chest tightened.
"You were not there?"
"No."
"Adrien was."
Carlo looked at his son.
"Because I sent him to save Samuel."
Adrien froze.
"You told me I was retrieving Evelyn."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because if Luca intercepted you, I needed you to believe your mission was different."
Adrien stared at his father.
"You used me as cover."
"Yes."
Pain moved across Adrien's face.
Carlo did not apologize.
Maybe men like him ran out of useful apologies long before they ran out of sins.
"What happened before I arrived?" Adrien asked.
Carlo looked at me.
"Samuel was supposed to meet Halden."
"At Pier Nineteen?"
"Yes."
"Halden betrayed him."
"Yes."
"Luca had him executed."
"Yes."
I forced myself to ask the question.
"Was my mother there?"
Carlo's eyes changed.
"Evelyn arrived after Samuel was shot."
"And me?"
"You were never supposed to be there."
My skin went cold.
"Then why was I?"
Carlo looked toward Adrien.
"Ask her."
I turned.
The door opened behind us.
Evelyn stood there with her arm in a sling.
She had heard him.
"Tell her," Carlo said.
My mother went pale.
"Not like this."
I laughed bitterly.
"There is never going to be a good way to tell me any of this."
Evelyn stepped into the room.
"Samuel called me."
Her voice shook.
"He said the meeting had changed."
"Why did you bring me?"
"I didn't."
"Carlo just said I was there."
"You followed me."
A memory hit so hard I had to grip the chair.
A red scarf.
My mother's car outside the house.
Me hiding beneath a blanket in the back seat because I was angry she planned to leave me with a neighbor again.
I had thought it was a game.
"I hid in the car."
Evelyn nodded, tears filling her eyes.
"I didn't know until I reached the warehouse."
My throat closed.
"So none of you planned for me to be there."
"No."
Carlo spoke again.
"Which is why Luca panicked."
Adrien turned toward him.
"Because Lena saw something."
Carlo nodded.
I looked at my mother.
"What did I see?"
She looked terrified to answer.
"Lena."
"What did I see?"
"The man standing beside Halden."
My pulse stopped.
"The Custodian?"
Evelyn nodded.
"Samuel had been trying to identify him for two years."
"And I saw his face."
"Yes."
"Then why don't I remember?"
"Trauma. Smoke. Drugs."
Adrien frowned.
"Drugs?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"The medic who took her from you injected her."
"Who was the medic?"
My mother went silent.
Carlo answered instead.
"Eleanor Vale."
I stared at him.
"That was my mother's alias."
"Later."
Carlo's breathing became shallow.
"Before Evelyn used it, it belonged to someone else."
A cold sensation moved down my spine.
"Who?"
Carlo looked toward Evelyn.
She shook her head.
He ignored her.
"The third witness who disappeared."
Dr. Bell had mentioned three lost witnesses.
Two killed.
One disappeared.
I remembered his face when I asked who.
"Who was she?"
Carlo's voice dropped to a whisper.
"Judge Halden's wife."
The room went silent.
"She took Lena from Adrien that night," Carlo said.
"She drugged her."
"She helped fake her death."
"Then she vanished."
My mother looked as if she might be sick.
I stared at her.
"And you took her identity."
"To keep the trail alive."
"Why?"
Evelyn's face crumpled.
"Because I thought she was dead."
A machine beside Carlo began beeping faster.
Adrien leaned toward him.
"Where is the original Eleanor Vale?"
Carlo's eyes closed.
For a moment, I thought he had lost consciousness.
Then he whispered four words.
"Ask Martin Halden's daughter."
The monitor alarm screamed.
Dr. Bell rushed through the door.
We were pushed back as he worked.
Carlo's heart stopped twice.
The second time, Bell could not bring him back.
Carlo Viscari died at 9:26 that morning.
Four minutes later, every phone in the house received the same message from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of me standing over Carlo's bed.
Beneath it were six words.
SHE KILLED THE LAST VISCARI WITNESS.
Before we could trace it, news alerts began appearing across the city.
May you like
Someone had already sent the photograph to the press.
