Chapter 4 - The Price of a Bowl of Soup
By morning, Ivy had lost her job.
By noon, she was losing her apartment.
Her landlord stood in the hallway.
"Friday, Ivy. That's all I can give you."
"I understand."
She closed the door.
Then someone knocked.
She opened it.
Adrian.
"No."
"I haven't said anything."
"You came here in a coat worth my annual income. Whatever you're about to say is going to annoy me."
He held up an envelope.
She glared.
"Absolutely not."
"It's not money."
She opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Elias as a young man outside the abandoned garage.
Beside him stood a woman.
"My mother," Adrian said.
Ivy looked at him.
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Because my father asked me to."
On the back, Elias had written:
REMEMBER WHO YOU WERE BEFORE PEOPLE BECAME AFRAID TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH.
Ivy handed it back.
"That's for you."
"I know."
Adrian hesitated.
"I'm bad at this."
"Being human?"
"Apologizing."
"Same neighborhood."
He almost smiled.
Then his phone rang.
Marco's voice came through.
"We have a problem."
Adrian's expression changed.
"What?"
"Someone accessed the clinic's records."
"Who?"
"We don't know."
Adrian looked at Ivy.
"Move away from the window."
She frowned.
"What?"
"Now."
His men appeared from the stairwell.
Ivy stepped back.
"Adrian, what is happening?"
"Someone knows my father is alive."
"Why does that matter?"
"Because during his absence, people moved into positions they wouldn't have touched if they believed he was coming back."
Ivy understood.
"You have enemies."
"Yes."
"Elias has enemies."
"Yes."
"And now they know I found him."
Adrian didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
Ivy grabbed her coat.
"I'm going to the clinic."
"No."
"He's alone."
"He's guarded."
"By men?"
"Yes."
"The same kind of men who failed to find him for eleven months?"
Adrian stared at her.
Twenty minutes later, she was in the SUV.
At the clinic, Elias was furious.
"I'm leaving."
"No," Adrian said.
"I didn't ask permission."
Ivy entered.
"Elias."
He looked at her.
"Ivy."
"Sit down."
He sat.
Adrian stared at her.
"You've got to teach me how you do that."
Elias ignored him.
"I won't spend the rest of my life hiding."
Adrian stepped closer.
"Then come home."
"No."
"Why?"
"Because nothing there has changed."
Adrian's patience broke.
"What do you want from me?"
"The truth."
"About what?"
"Everything."
Elias looked toward Ivy.
"The organization has legitimate businesses. It also has old arrangements, old debts, old methods. I ordered Adrian to end them."
Adrian's voice was cold.
"And I told you that doing it overnight would start a war."
"So you did nothing."
"I kept people alive."
"You kept yourself powerful."
Adrian slammed a hand onto the table.
"I kept your empire from collapsing!"
Elias stood.
"I never asked you to save the empire!"
Silence.
Adrian stared at him.
Elias's voice softened.
"I asked you to save the family."
Adrian looked suddenly tired.
Not dangerous.
Not powerful.
Just tired.
Ivy spoke.
"Then stop arguing about eleven months ago."
Both men turned.
"You found each other," she said. "Figure out tomorrow."
Elias studied his son.
"What would tomorrow look like?"
Adrian slowly sat.
"We close the illegal operations."
Elias said nothing.
"Carefully," Adrian continued. "One at a time. We protect employees who had nothing to do with them. We restructure the docks. We cut ties with people who won't change."
"And the men who resist?"
Adrian's expression hardened.
"We let lawyers and federal investigators become their problem."
Elias raised an eyebrow.
"No blood?"
"No blood."
A long silence followed.
Then Elias extended his hand.
Adrian stared at it.
He took it.
Ivy exhaled.
Her phone rang.
Wade again.
She nearly ignored it.
Then answered.
"What?"
His voice was panicked.
"Ivy, you need to get down here."
"Why?"
"Rosie's is being sold."
She frowned.
"To who?"
Wade swallowed audibly.
"Apparently... Elias Vale."
Ivy slowly turned toward the hospital bed.
Elias smiled.
May you like
"Oh, absolutely not."
---
