Chapter 16 - THE WOMAN WHO CHOSE HER OWN END
Gabriel denied ever receiving the prescription.
Thomas confirmed the prescription was issued using his old identity.
Daniel Caruso.
Someone had reactivated medical records that should not have existed.
The pharmacy footage changed everything.
Maria was visible collecting the medication.
Gabriel was not.
When confronted, Maria finally talked.
We met her inside a federal interview room.
No disguises.
No running.
She looked exhausted.
I sat across from her.
“Did you kill my mother?”
Maria looked directly at me.
“No.”
“You collected the medication.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Alessandra asked me to.”
“Why?”
Maria’s eyes filled with tears.
“She wanted control over the end.”
I felt sick.
“She asked you to help her die?”
Maria nodded slowly.
My anger disappeared.
Something heavier replaced it.
“She was in pain?”
“Constantly.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“Because you begged her to keep fighting.”
Tears burned my eyes.
Maria continued.
“She loved you too much to tell you she was tired.”
I looked down.
My mother’s final week returned.
The forced smiles.
The moments she stared at nothing.
Her repeated apologies.
I had thought she was apologizing for dying.
Maybe she had been saying goodbye on her own terms.
“Did she take the medication herself?”
“Yes.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
“What about Gabriel?”
“He left hours earlier.”
I closed my eyes.
Jonathan had weaponized another partial truth.
Again.
“Why use Daniel’s name for the prescription?”
“Alessandra insisted.”
“Why?”
“So if Julian discovered the record, he would suspect Daniel.”
I stared.
“She intentionally created suspicion?”
Maria nodded.
“That doesn’t sound like protection.”
“It wasn’t.”
“What was it?”
Maria hesitated.
“Punishment.”
I looked toward the observation glass where Gabriel stood.
My mother had never forgiven him completely.
Even at the end.
Love and anger had lived beside each other.
Messy.
Human.
Nothing like the pure martyr everyone wanted to make her.
I appreciated her more for it.
“Where is Elena?”
Maria looked down.
“Marco took her.”
“How?”
“He has people inside the federal office.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect us to believe that?”
“I know one person.”
“Name.”
Maria looked toward the glass.
“Thomas Reed.”
My body went cold.
Thomas stood on the other side.
He could not hear us because Maria had demanded audio isolation.
Or so I had been told.
I stared at her.
“Thomas is working for Marco?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
“Years.”
“Why surrender to his office?”
“Because I wanted him to think I still trusted him.”
I stood.
“We need to leave.”
Maria grabbed my wrist.
“Wait.”
I looked down.
“There is one more thing.”
“What?”
“Marco did not kidnap Elena.”
I froze.
“What do you mean?”
“She went willingly.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena believes Marco has the original documents showing what Antonio built.”
“What did Antonio build?”
Maria’s face became grim.
“A financial structure using Belladonna Foundation charities.”
“Money laundering?”
“Among other things.”
“And my mother discovered it?”
“Yes.”
“Why does Marco have it?”
“Because he helped build it.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“Alessandra was listed as beneficiary on several structures.”
“So?”
“So when she disappeared, the accounts froze.”
“And now?”
“Her death activated succession.”
My stomach tightened.
“To me.”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
Maria swallowed.
“Enough to make every person involved desperate.”
“How much?”
“Approximately four hundred and eighty million dollars.”
I stared.
“That’s impossible.”
“It isn’t cash.”
“Companies.”
“Real estate.”
“Trusts.”
“Offshore holdings.”
“Some legitimate.”
“Some not.”
I felt nauseated.
“So I inherited criminal money.”
“Potentially.”
“That’s what Marco meant.”
“Yes.”
“If I claim the inheritance…”
“You become legally connected to assets investigators have been tracking for years.”
“And if I refuse?”
“Control may revert through secondary structures.”
“To whom?”
Maria looked at me.
“Jonathan.”
Everything clicked.
He did not need the Moretti name anymore.
He needed me to reject the estate.
Then he would become successor.
I stood.
“We have to tell Vincent.”
Maria tightened her grip.
“Not through Thomas.”
“Agreed.”
We left the room.
Thomas waited outside.
His expression was calm.
Too calm.
“Everything okay?”
I smiled.
“Yes.”
Maria looked at me.
She understood.
Thomas walked with us toward the elevators.
Vincent and Gabriel were downstairs.
Vivian and Camille remained at Belladonna House.
The elevator doors opened.
Thomas stepped inside.
Maria stopped.
“Aren’t you coming?”
She shook her head.
“I forgot my coat.”
Thomas looked toward her.
“It’s in the interview room.”
“Yes.”
His eyes narrowed.
Then he smiled.
“No problem.”
The doors closed with only Thomas and me inside.
My pulse pounded.
He pressed the lobby button.
“Maria say anything useful?”
“Not really.”
“That’s unfortunate.”
“Very.”
We descended.
Fifteen floors.
Fourteen.
Thirteen.
Thomas suddenly pressed the emergency stop.
The elevator halted.
I backed toward the wall.
His expression changed.
The friendly federal investigator disappeared.
“Where is the ledger?”
I stared.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t.”
His voice became cold.
“I have protected you from several stupid people this week.”
“You worked for Marco.”
“I work for whoever prevents chaos.”
“That sounds noble.”
“It isn’t.”
He stepped closer.
“Where is the real ledger?”
“With Vincent.”
“No.”
I blinked.
“He moved it.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I watched him.”
My stomach tightened.
“Through Belladonna security?”
“Through everything.”
Thomas smiled.
“You still think this is about old men and family feuds.”
“It isn’t?”
“No.”
“It is about information.”
“People like Vincent control buildings.”
“People like Salvatore control politicians.”
“People like Marco control fear.”
He tapped his temple.
“I control what everyone knows.”
I realized what he was.
Not loyal to Marco.
Not loyal to Moretti.
A broker.
The person selling pieces of truth to everyone.
“You contacted Salvatore the night of the party.”
“Yes.”
“You stole Page 214?”
“No.”
“Elena did.”
“The key?”
“Yes.”
“You put it in Vivian’s pocket.”
“Yes.”
“You wanted us suspicious.”
“I wanted movement.”
“Why?”
“Secrets have no value while buried.”
My earpiece suddenly crackled.
Vincent’s voice.
“Isabella?”
Thomas heard it.
His face changed.
I smiled.
“You forgot something.”
“What?”
“I stopped trusting everyone two chapters ago.”
Thomas lunged toward my ear.
I moved.
The elevator doors were forced open from outside.
Vincent stood there with two federal agents.
Thomas froze.
Vincent’s expression was terrifyingly calm.
“Step away from her.”
Thomas raised his hands.
Then laughed.
“You really think arresting me fixes this?”
“No.”
Vincent entered.
“But it improves my afternoon.”
Thomas was detained.
His laptop revealed communications with Marco, Salvatore, Jonathan, and multiple officials.
He had played all sides.
Yet one message mattered most.
Sent thirty minutes earlier.
TO: J. REED.
ELENA HAS THE ORIGINAL FOUNDATION FILES.
DESTINATION: BELLADONNA CHAPEL.
Jonathan was going back to the estate.
Vivian and Camille were still there.
I called Vivian.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Vincent called security.
No answer.
We drove.
Belladonna House came into view twenty minutes later.
The front gates stood open.
The guards were gone.
The chapel door was open.
Inside, Vivian sat alone in the first pew.
Her hands were covered in blood.
I ran toward her.
“Where is your mother?”
Vivian looked up.
Her face was empty.
“He took her.”
“Jonathan?”
She shook her head.
“My father.”
Salvatore.
I stared.
“He escaped?”
“He was never being held by Jonathan.”
“What?”
Vivian began laughing.
A broken, furious sound.
“The photograph was staged.”
“The bruises were makeup.”
“The restraints were fake.”
“He and Jonathan were working together.”
My stomach dropped.
Vivian looked toward the chapel altar.
“They took Camille.”
“Why?”
Her eyes filled with tears.
“Because my mother finally remembered where she hid the original paternity documents.”
“Where?”
Vivian pointed toward the altar.
May you like
“Inside Elena Moretti’s coffin.”
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