Chapter 6 - The Word Bruno Remembered
Salvatore stared at the evidence.
“You’re making a mistake.”
Adrienne nodded toward the ledger.
“One-point-eight million dollars.”
“It was going back.”
“The burner phone.”
“Not mine.”
“The SUV.”
“Not mine either.”
“The man driving it works for you.”
Salvatore smiled weakly.
“Lots of people work for me.”
Adrienne tapped Mia’s photograph.
“This?”
Salvatore’s smile disappeared.
Adrienne leaned forward.
“You photographed a three-year-old.”
“I never ordered anyone to harm that girl.”
“You ordered them to frighten her mother.”
“That’s different.”
Elena’s voice came from the doorway.
“No, it isn’t.”
Salvatore turned.
Adrienne did too.
“Elena.”
She stepped inside.
“I told you to stay upstairs.”
“And I told you my daughter is involved.”
Salvatore studied her.
“You’re the maid.”
Elena stared back.
“I’m Mia’s mother.”
Adrienne almost admired the distinction.
Salvatore stood.
“This has nothing to do with you.”
Elena laughed once.
“You took a dog my daughter loves, then sent men around my home because she saw it.”
She stepped closer.
“You made it about me.”
Adrienne said, “Sit down, Salvatore.”
He did.
Elena remained near the doorway.
Adrienne folded his hands.
“You have two choices.”
Salvatore’s eyes narrowed.
“I’m listening.”
“You return every dollar.”
“And?”
“You resign from every company connected to mine.”
Salvatore scoffed.
“That isn’t happening.”
“You will give my attorneys full records showing where the money went.”
“No.”
“And you will never contact Elena Rossi, Mia Rossi or anyone in this household again.”
Salvatore stood again.
“You think you can erase me?”
Adrienne did not move.
“I think I already did.”
Salvatore stared.
Adrienne slid a document across the table.
Salvatore picked it up.
His face changed.
“What is this?”
“Your partners.”
“What about them?”
“They sold their shares.”
“To whom?”
“Me.”
Salvatore looked up.
Adrienne continued.
“Your lenders also called tonight.”
Salvatore went pale.
“You spoke to them?”
“I bought your debt.”
Silence.
Elena looked from one man to the other.
Adrienne’s voice remained measured.
“I now own the note on your warehouse, your construction equipment and the property beneath your office.”
Salvatore stared.
“You planned this.”
“I had three hours.”
Adrienne almost smiled.
“You made it unusually easy.”
Salvatore’s shoulders sagged.
“What do you want?”
“The truth.”
Salvatore looked toward the floor.
Finally he said, “Vivien approached me first.”
Adrienne’s eyes sharpened.
“She wanted the dog gone?”
“She wanted him moved.”
“Why?”
“He scared her.”
“That’s not enough.”
Salvatore exhaled.
“She knew Bruno reacted whenever I went near your study.”
Adrienne said nothing.
“She was afraid you’d notice.”
“And the money?”
“She knew.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
Salvatore continued.
“She helped.”
Adrienne looked toward the cold fireplace.
“Of course she did.”
Salvatore leaned forward.
“I never wanted the dog killed.”
Adrienne’s eyes snapped back.
“You drugged an elderly animal and abandoned him in winter.”
“I told Franco to leave him somewhere someone would find him.”
“An abandoned industrial building.”
Salvatore had no answer.
Adrienne stood.
“You’re done.”
Salvatore rose.
“You’re choosing a dog and a maid over family.”
Adrienne’s jaw tightened.
“You are not my family.”
He looked toward Elena.
“And neither is she.”
Elena’s face stayed neutral.
Adrienne continued.
“But she didn’t steal from me.”
Then he looked toward the hallway where Mia slept.
“And her daughter didn’t lie to me.”
Tony opened the door.
Salvatore walked out.
By sunrise, he was gone from the estate and effectively finished in every Moretti-connected business in New York.
Vivien left for Europe two days later.
Adrienne never spoke to her again.
Bruno returned home Friday afternoon.
The veterinary van pulled into the circular drive.
Adrienne was already outside.
So were Elena and Mia.
Dr. Blake opened the rear door.
Bruno stood shakily.
Mia gasped.
“Bruno!”
Elena caught her before she ran.
“Slowly.”
Mia struggled.
“But he’s home.”
“He’s still weak.”
Adrienne approached.
Bruno stepped down.
His legs trembled.
Adrienne put one hand beneath the dog’s chest.
“Easy.”
Bruno leaned heavily into him.
Then he saw Mia.
His entire body changed.
Tail.
Once.
Twice.
Mia broke free.
She stopped three feet away.
“Bruno?”
The mastiff made a low sound.
Not a growl.
Something softer.
Mia crouched.
Bruno slowly walked to her.
He lowered his enormous head.
Mia wrapped both arms around his wrinkled neck.
Everyone became silent.
“You came home.”
Bruno licked her cheek.
Mia laughed.
Adrienne looked away for a second.
Elena noticed.
“You all right?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t look all right.”
“I’m fine.”
“That sounded convincing.”
Adrienne looked at her.
She smiled.
He surprised himself by smiling back.
Then Mia touched Bruno’s collar.
“What’s this say?”
Adrienne froze.
Her finger rested on the carved word.
Resta.
Elena glanced at him.
“Italian.”
Mia looked up.
“What does it mean?”
Adrienne crouched.
“It means stay.”
Mia thought seriously.
“Stay where?”
He stared at the collar.
Twenty-three years collapsed into a single moment.
His mother’s hospital room.
Her thin hand.
Her failing breath.
Resta...
Stay...
He had spent half his life wondering what she had meant to say next.
Mia touched his sleeve.
“Mr. Addy?”
Adrienne looked at her.
Then Mia hugged Bruno again.
“Maybe Bruno knows.”
Adrienne smiled faintly.
“Maybe.”
Elena watched him.
“Your mother?”
He looked at her sharply.
“How did you know?”
“The way you said the word.”
Adrienne sat on the stone edge beside Bruno.
“She died when I was fifteen.”
Elena waited.
“She tried to tell me something in Italian.”
“Resta?”
“Yes.”
“What came next?”
“I never heard it.”
Mia suddenly spoke.
“Con me.”
Adrienne stared.
“What?”
Mia looked confused.
“Elena says it.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“I say what?”
“When I have bad dreams.”
Elena understood.
She whispered, “Resta con me.”
Adrienne went completely still.
Stay with me.
The second half.
The obvious second half.
Maybe his mother had meant something else.
Maybe not.
He would never know.
But for the first time in twenty-three years, the unfinished sentence no longer felt like a wound.
Mia smiled.
“See?”
Adrienne swallowed.
“Yes.”
She patted Bruno.
“Bruno stayed.”
Adrienne touched the collar.
“Yes.”
Then Mia took his hand.
“You stay too.”
May you like
And somehow, impossibly, Adrienne Moretti obeyed.
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