CHAPTER 4 THE MAN WHO WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD
The black SUV rolled beneath the abandoned Mercer Station at 12:18 a.m.
Its headlights swept across concrete pillars covered in graffiti, rusted steel beams, and puddles reflecting the pale light.
Adrian sat in the passenger seat.
Vincent drove.
Neither man spoke.
The photograph lay between them.
Lily.
Sarah.
And the stranger with the scar.
Adrian had stared at the picture so many times that every detail was burned into his mind.
The man's face.
The scar.
The black coat.
The strange silver ring on his right hand.
Most importantly—
the location.
Mercer Station.
An abandoned underground terminal that had been closed for fourteen years.
Adrian knew the place.
Everyone in his world did.
It had once been one of the most heavily trafficked smuggling routes beneath Manhattan.
Then, one winter night, twelve men disappeared.
The station was sealed.
The official explanation was structural instability.
Adrian had never believed it.
Neither had Vincent.
The SUV stopped.
Vincent killed the engine.
"There's no movement."
Adrian opened the door.
"That's what worries me."
Vincent reached for his weapon.
Adrian stopped him.
"Not yet."
"Boss."
"If they wanted us dead, we'd already be dead."
Vincent looked at him.
"That's not comforting."
"It wasn't meant to be."
They stepped into the tunnel.
Their footsteps echoed.
Adrian's heart beat steadily.
For once, he wasn't thinking about the diagnosis.
He wasn't thinking about the bullet.
He wasn't thinking about death.
He was thinking about one thing.
Lily.
His daughter.
He had promised her he would stay.
And someone had taken her.
He would tear apart every wall beneath Manhattan to get her back.
Three hundred yards inside the tunnel, Vincent stopped.
"Wait."
Adrian turned.
Vincent pointed at the floor.
A child's shoe.
Pink.
Small.
Adrian's breath caught.
He picked it up.
Lily's name was written inside.
His fingers tightened around it.
"She's here."
Vincent looked ahead.
"Or they want us to think she is."
Adrian nodded.
"I know."
He put the shoe in his pocket.
Then he heard something.
A faint sound.
A child's voice.
"Daddy?"
Adrian froze.
Vincent looked at him.
Again.
"Daddy?"
Adrian ran.
"Adrian!"
Vincent followed.
They reached an old maintenance platform.
A single light hung from the ceiling.
A chair sat beneath it.
Empty.
A small stuffed rabbit rested on the seat.
Mr. Buttons.
Adrian stopped.
His daughter had carried that rabbit since she was old enough to walk.
He approached slowly.
There was a note attached.
He picked it up.
YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES.
Below it:
NO GUNS.
Vincent looked at Adrian.
"No."
Adrian stared at the note.
"I agree."
He removed his weapon.
Vincent did the same.
They placed both on the floor.
Then the lights turned on.
One after another.
Illuminating the tunnel.
At the far end stood the man from the photograph.
The scar above his eyebrow.
The silver ring.
The black coat.
He smiled.
"Adrian Moretti."
Adrian stared.
"Who are you?"
The man laughed.
"You really don't remember me?"
"No."
"You should."
He stepped closer.
"My name is Gabriel."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"Gabriel who?"
The man stopped.
"Gabriel Moretti."
Silence.
Vincent went completely still.
Adrian stared at him.
Impossible.
Gabriel Moretti had been declared dead nineteen years ago.
Adrian remembered the funeral.
He remembered his father's men carrying the coffin.
He remembered his mother crying.
He remembered standing beside her.
He had been fifteen.
Gabriel was twenty-seven.
His older half-brother.
The first son.
The heir.
The boy everyone said would inherit the Moretti organization.
Until the car exploded.
Adrian whispered:
"You're dead."
Gabriel smiled.
"That's what everyone was told."
Adrian took one step forward.
"You've been alive."
"For nineteen years."
"Why?"
Gabriel's smile disappeared.
"Because your father wanted me dead."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"Why?"
"Because I discovered what he was doing."
"What?"
Gabriel looked toward the ceiling.
"Everything."
The word echoed.
Adrian stared at him.
"Where is Lily?"
Gabriel nodded toward the corridor.
"Safe."
"Bring her out."
"Not yet."
Adrian's voice hardened.
"If you've touched her—"
"I haven't."
"Then why take her?"
"Because you wouldn't listen."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"You could have called."
"I did."
"When?"
"Three years ago."
Adrian froze.
"What?"
Gabriel reached into his coat.
He removed a small envelope.
He threw it.
Adrian caught it.
His name was written across the front.
The handwriting was familiar.
His mother's.
Adrian stared at it.
"I never received this."
"I know."
"Who stopped it?"
Gabriel looked at him.
"Your father."
Adrian opened the envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Adrian as a teenager.
His mother beside him.
Gabriel standing behind them.
And on the back:
THEY WILL LIE TO YOU ABOUT WHY I LEFT.
Adrian's breathing changed.
He looked at Gabriel.
"What happened?"
Gabriel took a breath.
"Your father discovered I wanted out."
"Out of the organization?"
"Out of everything."
"And?"
"He offered me a choice."
"What choice?"
"Disappear..."
Gabriel paused.
"...or watch your mother die."
Adrian stared.
"He threatened her?"
"He threatened everyone."
Adrian looked down.
He had spent his entire life believing his father was ruthless.
He had never understood how deep it went.
Gabriel continued.
"I disappeared."
"And the explosion?"
"Fake."
"The funeral?"
"Someone else's body."
Adrian looked at him.
"Why didn't you come back?"
Gabriel laughed.
"Because every time I tried, someone died."
Adrian went silent.
"Who?"
"People who knew where I was."
A pause.
"Friends."
"Family."
"People who had nothing to do with the war."
Gabriel looked directly at him.
"Then I learned about you."
Adrian frowned.
"What about me?"
"You were being groomed."
"For what?"
"To replace me."
Adrian's face hardened.
"I built the organization."
"No."
Gabriel shook his head.
"You inherited it."
Adrian stared.
"There's a difference."
A door opened somewhere behind them.
Adrian turned.
A woman's voice spoke.
"Adrian."
Sarah.
He ran toward the sound.
The corridor opened into an old control room.
Sarah stood inside.
Lily was beside her.
Adrian stopped.
His daughter looked at him.
Then ran.
"Daddy!"
He dropped to his knees.
She crashed into his arms.
He held her carefully.
"You're okay."
She nodded against his chest.
"I knew you'd come."
Adrian closed his eyes.
For three years, he'd imagined holding her.
He had never imagined it would feel like surviving something.
He kissed the top of her head.
"I promised."
Lily looked up.
"You came."
"Always."
Sarah watched them.
Her eyes filled with tears.
Then Adrian noticed the bruising on her wrist.
His expression changed.
"What happened?"
"Nothing."
"Sarah."
"I'm fine."
Gabriel stepped into the room.
"She resisted."
Adrian turned.
His eyes became cold.
"You touched her?"
"I restrained her."
Adrian took a step.
Gabriel didn't move.
"You've changed."
Adrian's voice was quiet.
"People change."
"You used to be afraid of your father."
"I was a child."
"You're still afraid."
Adrian stared.
"No."
Gabriel smiled.
"Then why are your hands shaking?"
Adrian looked down.
His hands were trembling.
Not from fear.
From his heart.
A sharp pressure suddenly spread across his chest.
He grabbed the edge of the table.
Vincent rushed toward him.
"Adrian!"
"I'm fine."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"Your heart."
Adrian looked at him.
"How do you know?"
Gabriel stared.
"Because I was there when the diagnosis was made."
Silence.
Adrian's blood ran cold.
"What?"
Gabriel stepped closer.
"Dr. Maren works for them."
Adrian froze.
"Who?"
"The Black Circle."
Vincent raised his weapon instinctively.
Gabriel laughed.
"You don't understand."
"Then explain."
"Dr. Maren didn't disappear."
Adrian stared.
"She was taken."
"By whom?"
"By the people who have been monitoring your heart."
Adrian's face hardened.
"Why?"
"Because your condition isn't natural."
Silence.
Adrian stared at him.
"What did you say?"
Gabriel's eyes remained fixed on him.
"Your father knew."
Adrian shook his head.
"No."
"He knew."
"My father died years ago."
"That doesn't mean he stopped controlling things."
Adrian's heart pounded.
Gabriel continued.
"The heart condition isn't hereditary."
Adrian went still.
Elena's words echoed in his memory.
Your father died at forty-five.
The math isn't subtle.
Gabriel said:
"You were poisoned."
Nobody spoke.
Vincent's face went pale.
Sarah stared.
Adrian looked at Gabriel.
"That's impossible."
"Is it?"
"Doctors ran tests."
"Your doctors."
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
"What poison?"
Gabriel hesitated.
"A compound that slowly damages cardiac tissue."
Adrian's breathing became shallow.
"How long?"
"Years."
"How many?"
"At least three."
Adrian froze.
Three years.
Exactly.
The same amount of time since Lily had been born.
Exactly the same period during which Adrian had disappeared from his daughter's life.
His mind raced.
"No."
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes."
Adrian whispered:
"My father did this."
"Not alone."
"Who?"
Gabriel looked at Sarah.
She knew.
Adrian turned.
"Sarah."
She closed her eyes.
"Tell me."
"I didn't know the whole truth."
"Tell me what you know."
Sarah looked at Lily.
Then at Adrian.
"Your father wasn't the only one."
"Who else?"
She whispered:
"Your mother."
Adrian's face changed.
"No."
"She didn't poison you."
"Then what?"
"She helped hide the treatment."
Adrian stared.
"Why?"
"Because she believed the treatment would kill you."
Gabriel nodded.
"Your father gave you the poison."
"Your mother hid the antidote."
Adrian felt the room spin.
"Why?"
Gabriel answered:
"Because the antidote wasn't ready."
A pause.
"And your mother believed the only way to keep you alive long enough was to make you disappear."
Adrian looked at Sarah.
"You knew."
Sarah nodded.
"Part of it."
"You knew I was sick."
"Yes."
"You knew my mother was hiding the treatment."
"Yes."
"And you let me believe I was dying."
Sarah's tears fell.
"I was trying to keep you alive."
Adrian stepped back.
The betrayal hurt more than the bullet.
He had trusted Sarah.
For years.
He had believed she was the one person who never lied.
Now he didn't know what was real.
Gabriel looked at him.
"There is one thing you still don't understand."
Adrian stared.
"What?"
"The treatment worked."
Adrian's expression froze.
"What?"
"Your heart can recover."
"Elena said—"
"Elena was lying."
Adrian's voice dropped.
"Why?"
"Because the Black Circle wanted you afraid."
Gabriel stepped closer.
"A frightened man is predictable."
Adrian stared.
"You manipulated my diagnosis."
"Yes."
"The shooting?"
Gabriel shook his head.
"Not me."
"Volkov?"
"Not Volkov."
"Then who?"
Gabriel looked toward Lily.
"The same people who took her."
Adrian's blood chilled.
"Why?"
"Because they need you alive."
"For what?"
Gabriel smiled.
"For the same reason they need Lily."
Adrian's jaw tightened.
"What reason?"
Gabriel took out a second photograph.
He handed it to Adrian.
It showed a young woman.
Pregnant.
Standing beside a hospital bed.
Adrian recognized her.
Sarah.
He stared.
Then looked at the date.
Twenty years earlier.
His expression changed.
"That's impossible."
Gabriel nodded.
"Because Sarah wasn't supposed to have another child."
Adrian looked at Sarah.
She began crying.
He whispered:
"What aren't you telling me?"
Sarah looked at Lily.
Then at Gabriel.
Finally, she spoke.
"Adrian..."
Her voice broke.
"Lily isn't your only child."
The room went silent.
Adrian stared at her.
"What?"
Sarah closed her eyes.
"There was another baby."
Adrian couldn't breathe.
"Where?"
Sarah looked toward the photograph.
"Taken from the hospital."
"Who took her?"
Gabriel answered.
"The Black Circle."
Adrian's face hardened.
"She's alive?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Yes."
"Where?"
Gabriel looked toward Lily.
Then at Adrian.
"That's why they came for your daughter."
Adrian's voice became dangerously quiet.
"Where is my other child?"
Gabriel's answer shattered the room.
"She's been living under another name for twenty years."
A pause.
"And you've already met her."
Adrian stared.
"Who?"
Gabriel smiled.
"Dr. Elena Maren."
Adrian's entire world stopped.
The doctor who had diagnosed his heart.
The doctor who had told him he might die.
The woman who had disappeared.
His daughter.
Alive.
Twenty years old.
And unknowingly standing between him and the people who had destroyed his family.
Then Lily reached for Adrian's hand.
"Daddy?"
He looked down.
She pointed toward the photograph.
"That's the lady from my dream."
Adrian's blood ran cold.
"What dream?"
Lily looked toward Gabriel.
"The lady with your eyes."
Gabriel's expression changed.
"What did she say?"
Lily whispered:
"She said..."
She looked at Adrian.
"...that she was waiting for me."
A gunshot exploded from the tunnel.
Gabriel's head snapped toward the door.
Vincent grabbed Lily.
Sarah screamed.
Adrian pulled his daughter behind him.
Another shot.
Then another.
Gabriel looked at Adrian.
"They found us."
Adrian raised his weapon.
"Who?"
Gabriel's face was suddenly serious.
"The people who started this."
The lights went out.
And somewhere in the darkness, a woman's voice whispered:
"Adrian."
He froze.
He knew that voice.
Dr. Elena Maren.
May you like
Then she said four words that made his blood run cold.
"Your father is alive."
