Chapter 8 - THE ENGAGEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Six months passed.
Adrien remained under federal investigation, but his cooperation changed everything.
His evidence led to the arrest of Enzo Varelli, Celeste Marrow, dozens of corrupt officials, and several senior members of the Moretti organization.
Gabriel Reyes was publicly cleared.
A newspaper printed his photograph beneath the headline:
THE HERO HISTORY CALLED A TRAITOR.
Lena framed the article for Rosa.
Her grandmother’s surgery was successful. She grew stronger every week.
Lena left Lavelle and returned to school, enrolling in a nursing program she had abandoned years before.
She should have felt free.
Instead, every time she passed a charcoal suit in a crowd, her heart stopped.
Adrien sent no messages.
No flowers.
No explanations.
He had promised to give her a reason to wait.
Then he disappeared behind lawyers, courtrooms, and sealed testimony.
One rainy Thursday, Lena saw his face on television.
Adrien stood outside the federal courthouse.
Beside him was Bianca Moretti.
A reporter shouted, “Mr. Varelli, is it true that you and Miss Moretti are engaged?”
Bianca lifted her hand.
A diamond ring flashed beneath the cameras.
Lena dropped the coffee cup she was holding.
Adrien did not smile.
But he did not deny it.
The news spread across every social media platform within minutes.
THE MAFIA WEDDING THAT COULD END CHICAGO’S BLOOD WAR.
Lena turned off the television.
Rosa found her in the kitchen cleaning coffee from the floor with shaking hands.
“Perhaps there is an explanation,” Rosa said.
“There always is.”
Lena wiped harder.
“He told me his family always chooses power. I was foolish enough to believe he was different.”
That evening, someone knocked on the apartment door.
Marco stood outside.
“Mr. Varelli needs to see you.”
“No.”
“It is urgent.”
“He had six months.”
“Lena, the engagement is not what you think.”
She laughed bitterly.
“It usually isn’t.”
“Vittorio Moretti escaped the federal raids. Bianca came to us three weeks ago. She has been working against her father.”
Lena stopped.
“The engagement is bait,” Marco continued. “Vittorio believes Bianca has returned to him. The public announcement is meant to draw him out.”
“Why didn’t Adrien tell me?”
“Because Vittorio watches everyone Adrien contacts.”
“That didn’t stop you from coming here.”
Marco looked troubled.
“That is why we need to leave now.”
A car engine roared outside.
Gunfire shattered the front window.
Marco pulled Lena to the floor.
Rosa screamed from the bedroom.
Men entered through the rear stairwell.
Marco fired twice, but a bullet struck his side.
Lena crawled toward Rosa.
A masked attacker grabbed her by the hair.
She fought, kicking and clawing until a cloth covered her mouth.
The last thing she saw was Marco bleeding beside the doorway.
When she woke, she was inside a moving van.
Rosa lay unconscious beside her.
Vittorio Moretti sat across from them.
“You should have accepted that your fairy tale was over,” he said.
Lena stared at him.
“What do you want?”
“Adrien destroyed my family. Tonight, he watches his future disappear.”
He held up Lena’s phone and began recording.
“Tell him to come to Saint Aurelia Church at midnight.”
Lena said nothing.
Vittorio slapped the wall beside her face.
“Tell him.”
She looked directly into the camera.
“Adrien, don’t come.”
Vittorio smiled.
“He will.”
“Then you don’t understand him.”
“No, child. You do not.”
Vittorio stopped the recording and sent it.
Across the city, Adrien watched the video once.
Bianca stood beside him in a bridal fitting room filled with white silk and armed guards.
“My father will expect you to arrive alone,” she said.
Adrien removed the microphone hidden beneath his collar.
“Then I will.”
Marco’s voice came weakly through the phone from an ambulance.
“It is a trap.”
“Yes.”
“You cannot walk into that church alone.”
Adrien picked up his gun.
“I have spent my entire life making people fear what I might do.”
May you like
His eyes returned to Lena’s frozen image on the screen.
“Tonight, Moretti learns what I will do.”
