Chapter 4 - THE RABBIT’S SECOND SECRET
-4
For the rest of that day, Adrian avoided Lily.
Not because he blamed her.
Because every time he looked at the child, his father’s face appeared in pieces.
The eyes.
Maybe.
The stubborn mouth.
Maybe imagination.
Blood makes people hallucinate resemblance after the fact.
He refused to turn biology into prophecy.
Still.
His niece.
Salvatore’s granddaughter.
Hannah spent hours crying in Mrs. Ricci’s quarters.
She had married Elias at twenty-four.
She knew he had been raised by a single mother.
She knew his father was “someone who never stayed.”
That was all.
Elias apparently discovered truth only in final year of life when Salvatore approached him.
Why hide from wife?
Fear.
Perhaps protection.
Adrian understood too well.
Mateo read every page from locker.
The ledger documented suspicious payments.
Rinaldi.
Bellhaven before formal creation.
Private investigators.
A security firm controlled by Carlo Ventresca, longtime Moretti associate.
One payment appeared five days before Elias’s crash.
“Vehicle surveillance.”
No explicit murder instruction.
But close.
Adrian wanted Carlo brought in immediately.
Mateo stopped him.
“Too soon.”
“My brother died.”
“Half-brother.”
“He died.”
“Yes.”
“Three years.”
“And if you move before knowing structure, everyone disappears.”
Adrian hated patience.
But three years of exhaustion had already taught him what happened when he acted while impaired.
“Dominic?”
Mateo asked.
“Watch.”
“Mother?”
“Watch.”
“Rinaldi?”
“Bring him later.”
Then flash drives.
One encrypted.
Northstar? No. Mateo's tech contact decrypted after hours. Elias had used a simple passphrase hidden in letter:
THE LION SLEEPS LAST.
Inside were scans.
Board drafts.
Medical memos.
Emails.
One audio file.
Adrian played.
Salvatore’s voice.
Older.
Rough.
Elias:
You need to tell Adrian.
Salvatore:
I will.
Elias:
When?
Salvatore:
After vote.
Elias:
There may not be after.
Salvatore:
Don’t talk like a frightened clerk.
Elias:
I’m frightened because your wife knows.
Silence.
Then Salvatore:
How?
Elias:
Someone accessed paternity report.
Salvatore cursed.
Then:
Vittoria won’t touch you.
Elias laughed.
Not humor.
You don’t know your wife.
Salvatore:
I know exactly who I married.
Elias:
Then why are we hiding?
That line.
Adrian paused file.
His father had known Vittoria dangerous.
Still.
Maybe.
Continue.
Salvatore:
Because if Adrian learns before I fix the vote, he will confront her.
True.
Elias:
And Dominic?
Salvatore:
Dominic wants power. Vittoria wants control. Those are not same thing.
Important.
Then:
Dominic can still be pulled back.
Vittoria cannot.
Adrian closed eyes.
His father’s assessment.
Three years late.
Elias:
What about Adrian’s health plan?
Salvatore:
I stopped it.
Elias:
How?
Salvatore:
Rinaldi swore nothing happened.
Elias:
You believe him?
Salvatore:
No.
Then recording ended.
Adrian felt physically ill.
“Health plan.”
Not future idea.
Salvatore knew.
He had “stopped” it.
Then died.
Mateo said:
“Your father never told me this.”
“Of course.”
Adrian laughed bitterly.
“Moretti family motto.”
Secrets until funeral.
Second audio.
Vittoria.
How did Elias record?
Meeting perhaps.
Her voice unmistakable.
Vittoria:
You mistake Adrian’s ambition for virtue.
Unknown male—Rinaldi?
He wants to dismantle everything your husband built.
Vittoria:
My husband is old enough to romanticize surrender.
Male:
And Dominic?
Vittoria:
Dominic understands survival.
Male:
He also understands money.
Vittoria:
That makes him useful.
Adrian’s stomach turned.
Useful.
Then:
Male:
How sick do you need Adrian?
Vittoria:
Not sick.
Tired.
Adrian stopped breathing.
Vittoria continued:
Exhaustion makes men doubt themselves. Doctors call it stress. Boards call it instability. Brothers call it opportunity.
Silence.
That was it.
The plan.
Not kill.
Not poison to death.
Exhaust.
Make every flaw self-explanatory.
Male:
For how long?
Vittoria:
Until he signs what he would never sign awake.
Adrian stood so suddenly chair moved.
Hannah flinched.
Mateo said:
“Sit.”
“No.”
“Adrian.”
“She did this.”
“Yes.”
“For three years.”
“Probably longer.”
“She said it.”
“Yes.”
“Who’s male?”
Mateo listened.
“Rinaldi.”
Likely.
Adrian wanted to break something.
Instead, Lily entered.
Nobody heard door.
She carried empty juice cup.
“Mama?”
Hannah wiped face quickly.
“What are you doing here?”
“Juice.”
Ricci moved to take her.
Lily saw Adrian.
“You mad?”
He froze.
Children ask dangerous questions without strategy.
“Yes.”
“At me?”
“No.”
“Bunny?”
“No.”
“Uncle Dominic?”
Everyone went still.
Adrian looked.
“Why Dominic?”
“He made Bunny sad.”
No one breathed.
“What does that mean?”
Lily hugged rabbit.
“Yesterday he said Bunny was ugly.”
Adrian almost smiled.
“Anything else?”
She thought.
“He said Mama shouldn’t let me go upstairs.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Before tea revelation.
Dominic had noticed Lily roaming.
Maybe because she could see.
Then Lily said:
“He asked if Bunny opens.”
Hannah’s face drained.
“What?”
“When?”
“Christmas.”
Three weeks earlier.
Dominic had asked about rabbit.
Maybe he knew Elias hid something.
“Exactly what?”
Lily shrugged.
“He squeezed Bunny.”
Adrian and Mateo exchanged look.
Dominic had searched toy casually but missed key because seam.
Why suspect rabbit?
Elias must have told someone.
Or Dominic remembered.
Adrian crouched to Lily’s height.
“Did he take Bunny?”
“No. I bite him.”
Hannah stared.
“You bit Mr. Moretti?”
“Little.”
Adrian covered mouth to hide laugh.
Mateo did not bother.
Then Lily looked serious.
“Uncle Dominic said Daddy gave me bad presents.”
Hannah’s eyes filled.
“What else did he say about Daddy?”
“He said Daddy made people mad.”
“How do you know?”
“He told Mrs. Ricci.”
Ricci frowned.
“When?”
“Kitchen.”
She had not heard? Maybe Dominic spoke to someone else while Lily hiding.
Lily continued:
“He said, ‘That Carter bastard should’ve left things buried.’”
The adults froze.
Lily repeated profanity perfectly.
Hannah covered her ears too late.
Adrian’s voice became cold.
“When?”
“Before Christmas tree.”
Weeks ago.
Dominic knew Elias.
Knew more than admitted.
Then Lily said:
“He talked to Grandma Moretti.”
Vittoria.
“What did she say?”
Lily frowned, trying to remember.
“Find it before Adrian wakes up.”
The room went silent.
Before Adrian wakes up.
Not literally morning.
The phrase was metaphor.
They knew his condition could end.
They were looking for evidence before he recovered.
Hannah pulled Lily close.
“Enough.”
Yes.
Enough child questioning.
Adrian stood.
“We stop asking her.”
Good.
Lily had provided more than any adult.
Then Mateo checked rabbit again.
If Dominic knew, maybe more hidden.
He ran fingers along one ear.
A small hard shape.
Different seam.
Hannah stared.
“Elias repaired that too.”
Mateo opened carefully.
Inside:
A micro memory card wrapped in waxed paper.
Second secret.
The card held one video.
Elias.
Recorded inside a parked car.
Night.
Rain.
His face tired.
Hannah gasped.
He spoke directly to camera.
Hannah, if you see this, I’m sorry.
She began crying.
I should have told you who Salvatore was to me.
I thought ignorance protected you.
I was wrong.
Then:
Adrian, if this reaches you, don’t trust the obvious villain.
Adrian’s chest tightened.
Dominic is greedy, jealous, and involved. But he is also afraid.
Then:
Your mother is building something larger than a transfer of power.
She is trying to make your decline permanent enough that every decision she makes in your name becomes untouchable.
He held a document.
Medical incapacity declaration.
Signed date?
Blank.
Prepared.
Then:
There is one person who can prove when Project Lantern began.
Adrian leaned closer.
Elias said:
Your brother.
Dominic.
Then:
He came to me eight months ago and asked for help stopping Vittoria.
Everyone froze.
Dominic had tried to stop it before Elias died.
Elias continued:
I did not trust him.
Maybe that was my mistake.
He gave me copies, then disappeared from our meetings.
I think she found out.
If Dominic is still bringing Adrian the treatment, then either he chose her—
or she found something that made choice impossible.
Video ended.
Adrian stared.
Dominic.
Not innocent.
But perhaps trapped.
Mateo asked:
“What now?”
Adrian looked toward courtyard.
Dominic was arriving from city.
Car doors closing.
Security moving.
“Now?”
May you like
Adrian’s voice was quiet.
“I let my brother think I still don’t know which side he chose.”
