Chapter 2 - My Fake Mafia Fiancé Learned His Uncle Had Betrayed His Family for 18 Years—Then I Discovered My Kidnapped Sister Wasn’t the Real HostageAdrian read Michael Brooks's letter three times.
Each time, his face became harder.
Elena watched him from the other side of the storage unit.
"Did you know?"
"No."
"Did you suspect him?"
"No."
"Then your security isn't as impressive as everyone says."
Normally that might have irritated him.
Instead:
"Apparently not."
Elena appreciated that.
No excuses.
Adrian called Marco.
"Where is Dominic?"
A pause.
"Find him."
Another.
"No. Don't confront him."
Adrian looked toward Elena.
"Nobody moves until I know where Chloe is."
He ended the call.
Elena held the ledger.
"We trade this."
"No."
She stared.
Adrian caught himself.
He breathed.
Then tried again.
"I don't think we should."
"Better."
His jaw tightened.
"Are you going to correct me every time?"
"Until you learn."
A faint smile almost appeared.
Then disappeared.
"Dominic doesn't actually need the ledger."
"Why not?"
"Because if your father documented his betrayal eighteen years ago, Dominic has spent eighteen years assuming it might surface."
"So?"
"Chloe isn't leverage to get the book."
Adrian looked at Elena.
"She's leverage to get you."
"Why?"
"Because you're the only person who knew where your father hid things."
Cold moved through her.
Adrian continued.
"Dominic doesn't know what else Michael left."
Elena looked around the storage unit.
"Neither do I."
"Exactly."
They searched.
For three hours.
Nothing.
Then Elena found an old VHS tape.
Her seventh birthday.
She almost ignored it.
Memories, she thought.
Never hide something where people look for secrets.
Hide it where they look for memories.
"Adrian."
They found a VCR at Belladonna Estate.
Sofia joined them.
The tape began with seven-year-old Elena wearing a paper crown.
Michael filmed.
Her mother laughed.
Chloe was a baby.
For twelve minutes, nothing happened.
Then the picture changed.
Michael appeared alone.
Older.
Terrified.
"If you're seeing this, Elena figured it out."
Adult Elena began crying before he finished the sentence.
Michael smiled sadly at the camera.
"Hello, Ellie."
Adrian moved away from her.
Again giving space.
Michael explained everything.
Dominic Moretti had approached him eighteen years earlier.
Dominic wanted financial records altered.
Payments hidden.
Michael refused.
Then discovered Dominic had been selling information about Moretti shipments to Carlo Falcone.
More importantly, Dominic had arranged several murders and blamed them on Adrian's father, Lorenzo.
Michael told Lorenzo.
Lorenzo didn't believe him.
So Michael took the ledger.
Not to steal from the Morettis.
To prove Dominic's betrayal.
The night of the warehouse fire, Lorenzo finally agreed to meet.
Dominic followed.
Michael's voice changed.
"If Lorenzo and I don't leave that warehouse, Dominic did it."
Sofia covered her mouth.
Adrian stared at the screen.
Then Michael said something unexpected.
"Adrian, if you're watching someday, your father loved you."
Adrian's face cracked.
Only slightly.
But Elena saw it.
"He was afraid you'd inherit his violence."
Michael continued.
"He wanted you out."
Adrian looked down.
"He asked me to build a legitimate trust in your name. The paperwork is inside the ledger."
Sofia whispered:
"Lorenzo."
Adrian's father hadn't been preparing him to inherit the Mafia organization.
He had been preparing an escape.
Dominic destroyed it.
The video continued.
"Elena, if you have the ledger, don't give it to anyone in the Moretti family."
Adrian's face changed.
Michael smiled.
"Not even Adrian."
Elena looked at him.
Adrian said quietly:
"Your father was smart."
The tape ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Sofia began crying.
Elena had never imagined an eighty-two-year-old Mafia matriarch crying quietly in front of a television.
"He tried to tell me," Sofia whispered.
"Who?" Adrian asked.
"Lorenzo."
She looked at her grandson.
"The week before the fire. He said he wanted you away from all of it."
Adrian stared.
"You told me he wanted me to take over."
"I lied."
"Why?"
"Because after he died, Dominic convinced me the family would collapse without you eventually."
Adrian laughed bitterly.
"I was seventeen."
"I know."
"You raised me for this because Dominic told you to?"
Sofia closed her eyes.
"Yes."
Adrian walked away.
Elena followed him outside.
Rain had started.
He stood beneath the stone portico.
"Adrian."
"I built my entire life around a dead man's wishes."
"Except they weren't his wishes."
"I know."
"That matters."
"Does it?"
"Yes."
He looked at her.
"I've hurt people."
Elena said nothing.
"Not innocent people."
He laughed once.
"That's what we always say."
She thought about that.
"What are you going to do?"
"Get Chloe."
"Then?"
He looked toward Belladonna Estate.
"End it."
"Meaning kill Dominic?"
Adrian's expression became unreadable.
"No."
That surprised her.
"My father wanted me out."
He looked at Elena.
"I'm going to finally listen."
They contacted federal authorities.
Adrian hated it.
Sofia hated it more.
But Elena insisted.
"If Dominic dies, he becomes another family secret."
That sentence changed Adrian's mind.
Agent Rebecca Sloan led the operation.
The ledger contained enough evidence to dismantle several criminal networks.
Dominic wanted it destroyed.
The FBI wanted it preserved.
Elena wanted Chloe.
At midnight, Dominic sent coordinates.
An abandoned Moretti hotel near the harbor.
Elena would enter carrying the ledger.
Adrian would remain outside.
At least that was the plan.
"You're not coming in," Elena told him.
"I heard you."
"That's not agreement."
"I'm practicing."
"Adrian."
He looked at her.
"I'll stay outside unless you need me."
"Thank you."
"Don't sound so surprised."
"I woke up yesterday with you announcing our engagement."
"Fair."
She almost smiled.
Then he touched her hand.
"Elena."
"What?"
"I'm sorry."
"For?"
"All of this."
"You didn't kidnap Chloe."
"No."
"But my name put you in danger."
"Technically my inability to stay awake put me in danger."
"You're impossible."
"So I've been told."
His thumb brushed her knuckles.
For one second, the fake engagement felt less fake.
Elena noticed.
So did Adrian.
He released her.
"Come back."
It wasn't an order.
That mattered.
Elena entered the hotel.
Dominic waited in the ballroom.
Chloe sat nearby.
Untied.
That surprised Elena.
"Chloe?"
Her sister ran toward her.
They collided.
Elena held her.
"Did they hurt you?"
"No."
Chloe whispered:
"Something's wrong."
Dominic applauded slowly.
"Beautiful."
Elena turned.
"Take the ledger."
She placed it on a table.
"Let us leave."
Dominic smiled.
"You still don't understand."
"What?"
"I didn't bring Chloe here to trade for the ledger."
Adrian had been right.
Elena's stomach tightened.
"Then why?"
"Because I needed Adrian outside."
Silence.
Dominic looked toward the windows.
"And you brought him exactly where I wanted."
Elena's blood froze.
An explosion shook the building.
"Adrian!"
She ran.
Dominic grabbed her.
Elena slammed her elbow backward.
He cursed.
Chloe hit him with a lamp.
The sisters ran.
Outside, smoke poured from two SUVs.
Gunfire erupted near the harbor.
Adrian.
Marco.
Agents.
Falcone's men.
Dominic hadn't simply betrayed the Morettis.
He had arranged a final war.
Elena saw Adrian behind a concrete barrier.
Alive.
"Elena!"
A man grabbed her from behind.
Adrian moved.
"Don't!"
She stomped the man's foot, drove her elbow into his ribs, and broke free.
Adrian stared.
"Event planning."
She gasped.
"You learn crowd control."
Even in chaos, he almost laughed.
Federal agents flooded the property.
Carlo Falcone was captured trying to escape by boat.
Dominic ran toward the pier.
Adrian followed.
Elena saw what was happening.
The old story.
A Moretti chasing betrayal toward blood.
"Adrian!"
He stopped.
Dominic turned.
Gun raised.
A shot exploded.
Adrian fell.
"No!"
Elena ran.
Agents fired.
Dominic dropped his weapon.
Marco tackled him.
Elena reached Adrian.
Blood covered his shoulder.
"Look at me."
"I'm fine."
"You're bleeding!"
"Shoulder."
"That's still part of you!"
His mouth moved.
"Are you yelling at a man who's been shot?"
"Yes!"
"Good."
His eyes remained open.
Paramedics arrived.
As they lifted him, Adrian caught Elena's hand.
"Fiancée?"
She stared.
"You are not proposing while bleeding on a dock."
"So that's a no?"
"Adrian!"
He smiled.
Then passed out.
He survived.
The bullet passed through his shoulder without striking an artery.
Dominic was arrested.
Falcone too.
The ledger triggered investigations across Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, and New Jersey.
Moretti criminal operations collapsed.
Adrian cooperated.
Not because he suddenly became a saint.
He didn't.
He did it because his father had spent his final days trying to give Adrian a different life.
And Adrian finally chose it.
Three weeks later, Elena visited him at Belladonna Estate.
His shoulder was healing.
She found him in the garden.
"How's Chloe?"
"Annoying."
"Good."
"She likes Marco."
Adrian's face changed.
"No."
Elena laughed.
"You're not her father."
"Still no."
She sat beside him.
Silence.
Then Adrian removed something from his pocket.
A ring.
Elena stared.
"No."
His eyebrows rose.
"Again?"
"We discussed this."
"This isn't a proposal."
He placed the ring in her palm.
It was old.
Simple.
"Whose?"
"My mother's."
Elena looked up.
"Why are you giving it to me?"
"I'm not."
He closed her fingers around it.
"I'm asking you to keep it until I earn the right to ask properly."
Her chest tightened.
"That's dangerously romantic."
"I've been injured."
"Clearly."
He smiled.
Then Elena returned the ring.
His expression fell.
"No."
He looked away.
"I understand."
She touched his face.
"Adrian."
He looked back.
"I'm not holding your mother's ring while you prove something."
She leaned closer.
"If you want me, date me."
He blinked.
"Date you?"
"Yes."
"Like restaurants?"
"Restaurants."
"Movies?"
"Potentially."
"I don't like theaters."
"Then this relationship is already in trouble."
He laughed.
Really laughed.
Elena smiled.
"Ask me."
Adrian became serious.
"Elena Brooks, will you have dinner with me?"
"When?"
"Friday."
"I have an event."
"Saturday?"
"Free."
"Seven?"
"Pick me up at eight."
"Why?"
"Because I said eight."
Adrian stared.
Then smiled.
"Eight."
That was how the fake engagement ended.
Not with a wedding.
Not with a dramatic declaration.
With a first date.
But neither Elena nor Adrian knew Dominic Moretti had left one final secret behind.
May you like
One that would force Elena to decide whether loving Adrian meant becoming part of the Moretti world—
or helping him destroy the last piece of it forever.
