Chapter 2 - Watch Their Hands
“Gray suit near the bar,” Vivian whispered.
Adrian didn’t turn.
“Councilman Reeves?”
“I don’t know his name.”
“He controls two wards.”
“He’s terrified.”
“Everyone is terrified.”
“Not like him. His hands are shaking, but he keeps looking toward the doors. He wants to leave.”
Adrian lifted a champagne glass without drinking.
“Who else?”
“The older man beside the bishop.”
“Marcus Dane.”
“What does he do?”
“Shipping.”
“That’s the legal answer.”
Vivian glanced at him.
“And the illegal one?”
“Also shipping.”
Despite herself, she nearly smiled.
“His hands aren’t shaking.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning a bullet just came through a window and he’s calmer than the priest.”
Adrian’s expression hardened slightly.
“Interesting.”
“And the woman in silver.”
That got his attention.
“Celeste Ward?”
“You know her?”
“Everyone knows Celeste.”
Vivian watched the elegant woman speaking quietly with two donors.
“She keeps touching her bracelet.”
“Nervous habit?”
“No. Signal.”
Adrian finally looked at Vivian.
“How do you know?”
“Because she only does it when one of the security men looks toward her.”
Across the room, Tommy touched his earpiece.
Adrian murmured, “Tommy.”
His best man approached.
“Talk to me.”
“The rooftop shooter got away,” Tommy said. “Left the rifle.”
Adrian’s jaw tightened.
“Prints?”
“Probably useless.”
“Cameras?”
“Street cameras went dark eleven minutes before the shot.”
Vivian said, “Inside job.”
Tommy looked at her.
Adrian asked, “Why?”
“Because whoever planned this knew exactly when your first dance would happen.”
Tommy’s eyes narrowed.
Vivian continued.
“They knew which windows gave the cleanest angle. They knew the street cameras could be disabled. And they knew your security would be concentrated inside.”
Adrian looked toward the ballroom.
“Someone gave them the schedule.”
“More than the schedule,” Vivian said.
“What do you mean?”
“The shooter waited.”
Adrian faced her.
“He had a shot before I moved.”
Vivian nodded.
“But he didn’t take it.”
Tommy understood first.
“He wanted Adrian killed during the dance.”
“Exactly.”
Vivian looked around the cathedral.
“This wasn’t just murder. It was theater.”
Adrian’s eyes became cold.
“Someone wanted five hundred witnesses.”
Tommy’s phone vibrated.
He checked it.
Then looked at Adrian.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“The rifle case contained one photograph.”
Tommy handed him his phone.
Vivian leaned closer.
The image showed a photograph recovered from the rooftop.
It was a wedding picture.
Not from tonight.
Twenty-eight years old, judging by the clothes.
A younger man stood beside Vivian’s mother.
Vivian stopped breathing.
Adrian noticed.
“You recognize someone?”
“My mother.”
Tommy enlarged the photograph.
There were four people in it.
Vivian’s mother.
Vivian’s father.
A younger Marcus Dane.
And Adrian’s father.
Vivian looked at Adrian.
“What was your father doing at my parents’ wedding?”
Adrian’s expression revealed nothing.
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
Tommy said, “There’s writing on the back.”
“What?”
“One sentence.”
He turned the phone.
Vivian read it.
THE DEBT WAS NEVER HIS.
Her stomach tightened.
“My father’s debt?”
Adrian stared at the message.
The arrangement that had forced their marriage had begun six months earlier, when Vivian’s father, Richard Hale, admitted he owed Adrian nearly eight million dollars.
He couldn’t pay.
Adrian had offered another settlement.
Marriage.
Vivian had hated them both for it.
Now she looked at her new husband.
“What exactly did my father owe you for?”
Adrian was silent.
“Adrian.”
“He stole from me.”
“How?”
“Money moved through companies connected to my organization.”
“Eight million dollars?”
“Seven-point-eight.”
“And you believed him?”
“He confessed.”
Vivian laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“My father confesses to things when he thinks confession is cheaper than the truth.”
Adrian watched her carefully.
“You think he lied?”
“I think my father has spent thirty years surviving disasters by making someone else responsible.”
Tommy looked toward the ballroom.
“Richard is still here.”
Vivian turned.
Her father stood near the back of the cathedral.
He was pale.
And staring directly at Marcus Dane.
Vivian’s eyes dropped to his hands.
Her father’s right hand was clenched around his champagne glass.
His left hand was hidden inside his jacket.
“Adrian.”
“I see it.”
“No, you don’t.”
“What?”
“He isn’t reaching for a weapon.”
“How do you know?”
“Because he’s scared.”
“Scared men carry weapons.”
“My father carries antacids.”
As if on cue, Richard removed a small bottle from his pocket.
Tommy stared at Vivian.
She shrugged.
“I told you. I know him.”
Adrian said, “Bring him upstairs.”
Tommy started away.
Vivian caught his sleeve.
“Quietly.”
Tommy looked at Adrian.
Adrian nodded.
“No scene.”
Ten minutes later, Richard Hale sat inside the cathedral’s private office.
Adrian stood across from him.
Vivian remained beside the door.
Tommy locked it.
Adrian placed the photograph on the desk.
Richard looked down.
All the color disappeared from his face.
Vivian spoke first.
“Who is Marcus Dane?”
Her father swallowed.
“Vivian—”
“Wrong answer.”
“Sweetheart, this isn’t—”
“Don’t sweetheart me.”
Adrian almost smiled.
Vivian pointed at the photograph.
“Why is Adrian’s father at your wedding?”
Richard closed his eyes.
Adrian’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“Answer her.”
Richard looked at him.
“You really don’t know?”
“Know what?”
Richard gave a broken laugh.
“God help us.”
Vivian stepped forward.
“Dad.”
Richard looked at his daughter.
“The eight million dollars wasn’t stolen from Adrian.”
Adrian’s expression froze.
“Then whose money was it?”
Richard whispered two words.
“Marcus Dane’s.”
Silence.
Vivian felt the room shift.
Adrian leaned forward.
“Explain.”
Richard looked between them.
Then he said, “Your marriage wasn’t supposed to settle a debt.”
Vivian’s skin went cold.
“What was it supposed to do?”
Her father stared at the old photograph.
May you like
“Keep you alive.”
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