Chapter 10 - Vittorio's Version
Vittorio did not deny the handwriting.
He denied everything else.
Adrien found him at Teresa's house before midnight, sitting at the kitchen table with his sister-in-law as though families in crisis naturally gathered around old wood and untouched coffee.
Teresa stood by the sink.
Vittorio looked exhausted.
"I left the envelope," he said.
Adrien stopped in the doorway.
"Why?"
"Because you wouldn't answer my calls."
"You could have written call me."
"You wouldn't have."
That was probably true.
Adrien remained standing.
"Who told you Elena was pregnant eight months ago?"
Vittorio looked at Teresa.
Teresa's face gave nothing away.
"Salvatore," Vittorio said.
Adrien frowned.
"Dad told you?"
"He confronted me. Accused me of threatening her. That's how I learned."
"You expect me to believe that?"
"Believe whatever makes you feel righteous. It won't change the truth."
Vittorio stood.
He was shorter than Adrien and heavier through the shoulders, a man who had spent his life hating the fact that older brothers inherited authority before younger ones had a chance to prove they deserved it.
"I thought Elena was wrong for you," Vittorio said. "I said so. I told Salvatore she made you hesitant. I told him a child with her would complicate succession. I said ugly things at a dinner table. But I never approached her."
Adrien watched him.
"Mercer works for you."
"Mercer loads lettuce."
"Nico says you told him to check the hospital."
"I did. I wanted to know whether you had lost your mind over an ex-girlfriend or whether there was actually a child involved."
Teresa closed her eyes.
Vittorio continued, "That was stupid. It was invasive. It was not a death threat."
Adrien said nothing.
The distinction mattered, however much he disliked it.
"And the note tonight?"
"Mine. I wanted you to meet me away from the house because I needed to tell you something your mother won't."
Adrien looked at Teresa.
She stiffened.
"What?"
Vittorio's face changed.
For the first time, anger left it.
"Your father didn't just suspect me," he said. "He suspected Marco too."
Adrien felt the floor shift.
"Why?"
"Because Marco knew Elena's clinic schedule. He drove you there once. He knew she was trying to get pregnant because you told him after too much bourbon at Nico's engagement party."
Adrien remembered the night.
Barely.
He had told Marco more than that. He had said Elena wanted a baby and he was terrified of becoming his father.
Marco had replied, Then don't.
"That's not proof," Adrien said.
"No. It isn't."
Vittorio sat again.
"But when Salvatore asked Marco whether he'd helped Elena leave, Marco lied."
Adrien's eyes narrowed.
"How do you know?"
"I was outside the study."
Teresa turned sharply. "You never told me that."
"Because by then Salvatore had the stroke and everybody wanted a villain. I was already the easiest one."
"You enjoyed being feared," Teresa said.
"Until fear became evidence."
The kitchen went quiet.
Adrien thought of Marco in the hospital doorway, losing color when he saw Sofia.
Of Marco admitting he had helped Elena leave.
Of Marco insisting he had tried to identify the man who threatened her and failed.
Of Marco finding Adrien at the hospital despite being told nothing.
Then another memory surfaced.
The night Elena left, Marco had called him at 2:13 a.m.
Adrien had ignored it because he was angry and drunk.
Marco had never mentioned the call again.
"Where is Marco now?" Teresa asked.
Adrien took out his phone.
No messages for almost two hours.
He called.
Straight to voicemail.
He called again.
Nothing.
Vittorio looked at him.
"Before you decide he's guilty, remember what your mother told you. Suspicion is not certainty."
Adrien hated receiving good advice from Vittorio.
He dialed Elena instead.
She answered on the second ring.
"What happened?"
"Is Marco there?"
A pause.
"No. Why?"
Adrien looked at his mother and uncle.
"Lock the door. Don't open it for anyone except police."
"Adrien."
"I'm not coming over. I'm not sending anyone. Just lock the door."
Elena's voice sharpened. "Tell me why."
He forced himself not to protect her with partial truth.
"My father suspected Marco might have known more about the threat than he admitted. I don't know if that's true."
Silence.
Then Elena said, "Adrien, Marco knew where I was in Pittsburgh."
His stomach dropped.
"You said you disappeared from him."
"I thought I did. But six weeks after I left, somebody broke into my apartment. Nothing was taken. I moved the next day."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't tell anyone. Not Teresa. Not Marco. No one."
A sound came through the line.
Three hard knocks.
Elena stopped breathing.
Adrien stood completely still.
The knocking came again.
Then a man's voice from the hallway.
"Elena. It's Marco."
Before going to Teresa's, Adrien called Detective Brooks and told her about Vittorio's handwriting.
"Do not meet him alone," she said.
"I'm not. My mother is there."
"Mr. Moretti, your mother is not what I meant by backup."
Adrien almost smiled.
"You haven't met her."
Brooks did not laugh.
"Send me the address. If this turns into anything other than a conversation, you call me before you call one of your people."
May you like
There it was again: one choice offered in place of the reflex he already knew. Adrien sent the address.
When he reached Teresa's block, an unmarked police sedan sat half a street away. It irritated him. It also made him feel safer. He disliked both reactions enough that he decided not to examine them until later.
