Chapter 10 - The Sister Who Came Back
Adelaide did not scream.
She grabbed Chloe.
“Basement.”
They moved through darkness.
Outside, glass shattered.
A man shouted.
Adelaide remembered Maya’s instructions.
Safe room.
Old wine cellar.
Steel door.
They reached the basement stairs.
Chloe slipped.
Adelaide caught her.
“Move.”
They made it inside the cellar seconds before footsteps entered the kitchen above.
Adelaide locked the steel door.
Chloe was shaking.
“Call Mateo.”
Adelaide stared at her phone.
No signal underground.
“Of course.”
“What do we do?”
“Think.”
“You always say that.”
“It usually works.”
The cellar contained wine.
Shelving.
Emergency supplies.
An old landline.
Adelaide grabbed it.
Dead.
Chloe laughed hysterically.
“We're going to die surrounded by wine.”
“Chloe.”
“At least it’s expensive.”
Adelaide almost smiled.
Then someone began hitting the door.
Chloe covered her mouth.
A male voice called:
“Miss Jones.”
Adelaide recognized it.
Luca Moretti.
Mateo’s cousin.
“Open the door.”
No response.
“I only need the drive.”
Adelaide looked at Chloe.
The evidence.
Kane’s communications.
“You won’t be harmed.”
Chloe whispered, “That sounds very murdery.”
Adelaide agreed.
Then another sound erupted upstairs.
Gunfire.
Men shouting.
The pounding stopped.
Silence.
Minutes passed.
Adelaide did not move.
Then a familiar voice came through the door.
“Adelaide.”
Mateo.
Every muscle in her body loosened.
Then tightened again.
Could be a trick.
“What did I call your breakfast habits?” she shouted.
Silence.
Then:
“You said I eat like a disappointing mafia boss.”
Adelaide almost cried.
She opened the door.
Mateo stood outside.
Blood on his collar.
Not his.
Adelaide crossed the distance and hit him.
Hard.
His eyes widened.
Chloe said, “Interesting reunion.”
“You were supposed to stay away from me.”
Mateo rubbed his chest.
“I did.”
“You’re here.”
“Men with guns arrived.”
“That is generally when staying away becomes optional.”
Then Adelaide kissed him.
Chloe turned around.
“I’ll be upstairs experiencing trauma privately.”
Mateo’s hands settled carefully at Adelaide’s waist.
The kiss ended too soon.
Adelaide stepped back.
“This doesn’t fix anything.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
“It was still encouraging.”
She rolled her eyes.
Luca had escaped.
Two of Kane’s men were captured.
One carried orders on his phone.
Retrieve Jones data. Eliminate complications if required.
Chloe read it.
“Complications means us?”
“Yes,” Mateo said.
“I preferred ugly one.”
Adelaide looked at her.
Chloe shrugged.
“Growth.”
They returned to the Moretti estate under heavy security.
For the first time, Adelaide entered by choice.
That mattered.
Mateo handed her a document before midnight.
“What is this?”
“Release.”
“Of?”
“Every conversion right tied to your father’s debt.”
Adelaide stared.
“You’re giving up control of Jones Financial.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you were right.”
She looked up.
“I frequently am. Be specific.”
His mouth curved.
“I treated you as leverage before I met you.”
Adelaide waited.
“I won’t do it again.”
The document transferred Moretti’s debt claims into a neutral restructuring trust.
No marriage advantage.
No forced control.
No hidden clause.
Adelaide read it twice.
“You already signed.”
“Yes.”
“What if I never forgive you?”
Mateo’s expression was steady.
“Then at least I stop deserving your anger for the same reason.”
That mattered more than an apology.
Adelaide signed as witness.
Then she asked, “What do we do about Kane?”
Mateo smiled without humor.
“We make him believe he won.”
Adelaide understood immediately.
The fifteen-million-dollar debt gave Kane leverage.
Luca gave him access.
Evelyn gave him old secrets.
So they would feed him one more thing.
Greed.
They constructed a trap.
Jones Financial would announce emergency restructuring.
Kane would be invited to acquire the distressed company.
Adelaide would appear desperate.
Mateo would publicly withdraw.
Kane would believe the alliance had collapsed.
Chloe would play the decorative sister.
She disliked that part.
“I finally become useful and my job is to look pretty?”
Adelaide smiled.
“Weaponize your skill set.”
Chloe considered.
“Fine.”
Rockford agreed to cooperate.
His testimony could destroy Kane.
It could also send Rockford himself to prison for obstruction and financial crimes.
He accepted.
“I should have done this fifteen years ago,” he told Adelaide.
“Yes.”
No comfort.
Just truth.
The operation centered around a gala at Jones Financial headquarters.
Kane loved public victories.
Mateo knew he would attend.
Adelaide knew he would want to humiliate the Jones family before acquiring them.
What Kane did not know was that every room would be monitored.
Federal investigators waited nearby.
Mateo’s legitimate security remained outside.
No guns in the ballroom.
Adelaide insisted.
“This ends with evidence.”
Mateo frowned.
“Evidence doesn’t stop bullets.”
“Neither does becoming the thing we’re trying to escape.”
He looked at her for a long time.
Then agreed.
The night before the gala, Adelaide stood in front of the mirror.
No attempt to cover the scar.
Chloe entered carrying a silver dress.
“No.”
Adelaide laughed.
“What?”
“You are not wearing gray.”
“Why?”
“Because tomorrow you’re destroying a billionaire.”
Chloe held up the dress.
“You should look expensive.”
Adelaide stared at her sister.
Then laughed.
Really laughed.
And for the first time in fifteen years, Chloe laughed with her instead of at her.
Downstairs, Mateo waited.
Not to choose Adelaide’s clothing.
Not to rescue her.
To ask whether she was ready.
She looked at him.
“Yes.”
May you like
Mateo nodded.
“Then tomorrow we let them underestimate you one final time.”
