Chapter 63: The Last Threat

The last threat came from a man nobody had considered important.

His name was Adrian Vale, younger brother of Marcus Vale, the intruder killed inside Moretti House. He had spent months hiding behind fake accounts, anonymous messages, and rumors planted in tabloids.

Luca found him after a threatening letter arrived at the lake house.

No bride walks over my brother's grave.

Scarlett read it once, then placed it on Alexander's desk. 'I suppose peace was becoming too convenient.'

Alexander's face was calm in the terrifying way that meant violence was being considered.

'He will be found.'

'Alive,' Scarlett said.

Alexander looked at her.

'Alive,' she repeated. 'I am tired of graves.'

Adrian was found in a cheap motel outside Albany with stolen security maps, photographs of the lake house, and a handgun. He was twenty-four, frightened, furious, and foolish.

Against everyone's advice, Scarlett asked to speak with him after his arrest.

The meeting happened through glass at a county facility. Adrian glared at her as if hatred could break barriers.

'Your brother attacked me,' Scarlett said.

'Because Moretti ruined him.'

'My stepmother hired him. Victor Hale used him. Alexander did not force him into that room.'

'Rich people always have reasons.'

Scarlett studied him. She saw grief twisted into blame, love turned into a weapon by men who had never paid the full price themselves.

'I will not apologize for surviving your brother,' she said quietly. 'But I am sorry you lost him.'

Adrian's anger faltered.

'He said it was one job,' Adrian whispered. 'One job and we could disappear.'

'That is how powerful people recruit desperate ones. They turn survival into crime.'

He looked down.

Scarlett left the meeting shaken but steady. Outside, Alexander waited near the car.

'Why did you need to do that?' he asked.

'Because if I only understand my own pain, I become Evelyn.'

Alexander looked at her for a long moment.

'You will never become Evelyn.'

Scarlett leaned into him.

'No,' she said. 'But I will stay careful anyway.'

Adrian Vale pleaded guilty before the wedding and named two remaining Hale associates.

The final threat closed not with blood, but testimony.

Scarlett slept peacefully that night for the first time in weeks.