Chapter 6 - The Cost of Being a Duca
Adrien’s first instinct was to send men.
He knew which men would come.
He knew how quickly.
Then Charlotte’s words reached him again.
Listen before you do anything.
He stopped with his hand on the door.
“Are you and the boys inside?”
“Yes.”
“Are the doors locked?”
“Yes. Police are on their way.”
“Good. What do you need from me?”
There was a pause.
He heard how much that question surprised her.
“Information. Does someone have a reason to follow me because of what you’re investigating?”
“Yes.”
He would not protect her with half an answer.
“I believe Leonard may be involved in the financial activity Daniel reported. Elena is arranging a meeting with investigators.”
Charlotte closed her eyes.
“And now he knows you’re asking questions.”
“Possibly.”
“My children are not leverage.”
“I know.”
“No, Adrien. You need to understand what that means.”
“I’m listening.”
“If your world reaches them, I stop the visits until we have a safe arrangement.”
The words hurt.
He did not argue.
“Understood.”
Police documented the vehicle. It left before officers arrived, but Charlotte had preserved the plate and the time.
Through counsel, Adrien disclosed the incident to investigators handling the financial evidence.
He offered temporary lodging at a property he owned.
Charlotte declined.
Her attorney helped arrange an alternative address through a trusted service while the threat was assessed.
Adrien paid his agreed share through the formal support arrangement.
He did not demand the location.
That was harder than he expected.
At midnight, he stood in his kitchen imagining every danger he could not personally control.
Marcus found him there.
“You can ask whether they’re safe.”
“I did.”
“And?”
“They are.”
Marcus leaned against the counter.
“Then you have an answer.”
Adrien looked at him.
“How did I become a man who thinks loving people means knowing where they are every second?”
Marcus considered him.
“You were frightened early. You became powerful later. Nobody made you separate the two.”
Adrien let out a humorless breath.
“Charlotte tried.”
“Yes.”
The next morning, Leonard appeared at Adrien’s office without an appointment.
At sixty-seven, he still moved like a man who expected doors to open before he reached them.
He looked around the room.
“I hear you’ve been letting outsiders review our accounts.”
“Independent counsel.”
“Same thing.”
Adrien remained seated.
Leonard smiled.
“Family matters should stay in the family.”
“Charlotte and the boys are family.”
The smile thinned.
“A woman who hid your children for five years?”
“She contacted me.”
“So she says.”
Adrien slid the registered delivery receipt across the desk.
Leonard did not look at it.
That told him more than outrage would have.
“Did you know?” Adrien asked.
“About the boys?”
“About all of it.”
Leonard sighed.
“Charlotte was becoming a problem. Reeves was frightened. Victoria was available. You needed stability.”
Adrien stared at him.
“You mean obedience.”
“I mean a wife who understood discretion.”
“She found evidence of theft.”
“She found bookkeeping she didn’t understand.”
“Then why fabricate an affair?”
For the first time, Leonard’s confidence faltered.
Only briefly.
“You’re emotional.”
“Yes,” Adrien said. “And I’m still asking.”
Leonard leaned forward.
“You think these people you’re speaking to won’t examine you? Your signatures? Your methods? Your old arrangements?”
Adrien’s pulse slowed.
Here was the real threat.
Not exposure of innocence.
Exposure of everything else.
He had spent years keeping certain businesses profitable without asking enough questions about how problems disappeared.
“I expect they will.”
“You could lose everything.”
Adrien thought of two boys in a library.
A woman who no longer trusted his voice.
“No,” he said. “I’ve learned what that actually means.”
Leonard left without shaking his hand.
That afternoon, Adrien instructed Elena to expand the review.
His accounts.
His authorizations.
The businesses he had described as legitimate without insisting on proof.
“If we do this,” she warned, “you may discover conduct you’re responsible for.”
“Then we discover it.”
“This won’t be quick.”
“I’m not asking for quick.”
That evening, Charlotte called.
“The boys want to know whether Saturday is canceled.”
Adrien sat down.
“What do you think?”
“I think we use Dr. Brooks’s office this week. Familiar staff. Controlled access. Short visit.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Eleven.”
“Eleven.”
A quiet pause followed.
Then Charlotte said, “You didn’t send anyone.”
“No.”
“Thank you.”
He closed his eyes.
May you like
It was the first thank-you she had offered him that sounded like something more than courtesy.
He would not ruin it by asking for more.
