Chapter 3
The convoy left before midnight.
Only fifteen vehicles went to the freight terminal. The rest remained positioned across the region, creating the illusion that Adrian had never left the sanatorium.
Elena sat in the communications room with Nico beside her and Tomas’s deputy, Gabriel Moretti, monitoring the radio.
Snow moved across the security cameras in silver waves.
For almost an hour, there was nothing.
Then the radio crackled.
“Approaching north gate.”
A pause.
“Movement inside the loading bay.”
Another voice followed.
“Confirmed visual. Julian is on site.”
Nico pressed against Elena’s side.
She wrapped one arm around him.
The radio filled with short commands, footsteps, and the distant crash of metal. No one described what was happening in detail. They did not need to.
A guard reported that two men had surrendered.
Another announced that the office corridor was secure.
Then all communication stopped.
Gabriel leaned toward the console.
“Team One, respond.”
Nothing.
“Boss, confirm status.”
Static answered.
Nico’s breathing quickened.
Elena turned him away from the radio.
“Look at me.”
“Papa isn’t answering.”
“That does not mean he cannot.”
“Uncle Julian said Papa always thinks he will win.”
“What does your father say?”
Nico swallowed.
“He says winning is getting your family home.”
“Then that is what he is trying to do.”
The radio came alive with a voice Elena had heard only once through Adrian’s phone.
Julian Vescari.
His tone was smooth despite the chaos around him.
“You brought fewer men than I expected, brother.”
Adrian answered somewhere farther from the microphone.
“I brought enough.”
“You always believed restraint made you noble.”
“No. Restraint kept me from becoming you.”
Julian laughed.
“And the nurse? Did she convince you of that?”
Elena felt Gabriel look at her.
Julian continued.
“She cost me a fortune three years ago. One stubborn woman with an accurate memory. I should have handled her when I had the chance.”
Adrian’s voice became quieter.
“You came close.”
“I took her career. I took her name. She ran into the woods and called it freedom.”
Elena’s grip tightened around Nico.
Old humiliation rose inside her, but it did not own her anymore.
She had not run because she was weak.
She had survived long enough to open a door in a blizzard and change the balance of a dynasty.
Julian’s voice sharpened.
“You lost Sofia because you let women believe their courage mattered.”
“No,” Adrian said. “I lost Sofia because I underestimated your cowardice.”
Silence followed.
Then Julian spoke with all smoothness gone.
“She found the accounts. She was going to give them to the board. What was I supposed to do?”
Every person in the communications room froze.
Gabriel reached for the recording control.
The admission played through the speakers.
Julian had confessed.
Perhaps he knew it. Perhaps rage had made him forget the channel remained open. Perhaps he simply believed no one capable of hearing him would live long enough to matter.
Adrian answered.
“You could have accepted that the empire was never yours.”
A shot sounded.
Nico flinched.
Elena covered his ears.
Several seconds passed.
Then Adrian’s voice returned.
“Tomas.”
“Yes, boss.”
“Secure my brother. He stands before the council alive.”
Gabriel exhaled.
May you like
Elena closed her eyes.
Adrian had not killed him.
