Chapter 8 - SIX NAMES
Luca did not deny having the page.
That made everything worse.
Vincent unfolded it.
Six names had been typed beneath a date.
August 17, 1998.
Elena Moretti.
Antonio Moretti.
Salvatore DeMarco.
Camille DeMarco.
Daniel Caruso.
Luca Ferraro.
I stared.
Every person we had been investigating was listed.
My mother was not.
Below the names was a handwritten sentence.
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUIRED.
I looked at Luca.
“Consent for what?”
He said nothing.
Vincent’s voice hardened.
“Talk.”
Luca lowered his head.
“It was a meeting.”
“Where?”
“The lake house.”
“When?”
“The night Alessandra disappeared.”
My heartbeat accelerated.
“All six of you met?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked shocked.
“I wasn’t at any meeting.”
Luca looked at him.
“You were supposed to be.”
“I left before midnight.”
“That’s why your signature is missing.”
Vincent turned the page over.
Five signatures appeared.
Elena.
Antonio.
Salvatore.
Camille.
Luca.
Daniel’s line was blank.
I felt sick.
“What were they voting on?”
Luca looked at me.
“Whether Alessandra would disappear.”
My hands went cold.
Vivian stepped forward.
“My mother signed that?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
“She did.”
“Why?”
“To save Alessandra.”
Vivian laughed bitterly.
“That makes no sense.”
Luca sighed.
“Because the disappearance was supposed to be staged.”
Silence.
I stared.
“What?”
“Alessandra wanted out.”
“She wanted Daniel.”
“She wanted her child.”
“She wanted nothing to do with Moretti or DeMarco money.”
“So Elena designed a plan.”
“Alessandra would disappear.”
“A false accident would be reported.”
“She would receive new identification.”
“The trust would remain untouched until her child became an adult.”
Vincent frowned.
“Then why was I told she died?”
“Because that was the plan.”
“For twenty-eight years?”
“No.”
Luca looked at me.
“For six months.”
“Then Alessandra intended to contact the family again.”
“Yes.”
“What changed?”
Luca’s expression tightened.
“Salvatore changed the plan.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
Luca continued.
“He wanted the trust.”
“Antonio wanted control of Moretti Maritime.”
“Elena wanted Alessandra alive.”
“Camille wanted her friend protected.”
“I wanted the family intact.”
“And Daniel wanted Alessandra gone before anyone could hurt her.”
Gabriel spoke quietly.
“I never agreed to the plan.”
Luca looked at him.
“You would have if you had arrived.”
“No.”
“You already gave Salvatore the lake house location.”
Gabriel flinched.
I looked at Luca.
“What did Salvatore do?”
“He arranged for Alessandra’s car to be intercepted.”
“That wasn’t part of the plan.”
“No.”
“He intended to take the trust documents.”
“And?”
Luca hesitated.
“And the baby.”
My blood turned cold.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because without proof Alessandra had a child, inheritance would eventually transfer.”
“To whom?”
Luca looked at Vincent.
“To him.”
Vincent’s face became furious.
“I never knew.”
“I know.”
I stared.
So if I disappeared, Vincent would inherit.
That meant someone could benefit while Vincent remained innocent.
An ideal arrangement.
Vivian looked at the signatures.
“My mother signed because she thought she was helping Teresa escape.”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she die three days later?”
Luca looked away.
“I don’t know.”
“That’s a lie.”
“I swear.”
“Everyone swears.”
Vivian grabbed the page.
“Did my father kill her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Antonio?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Elena?”
“No.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Because Elena was horrified.”
Vivian’s face hardened.
“People can act.”
Luca looked tired.
“Yes.”
“They can.”
Gabriel walked toward the desk.
“Where did you get Page 214?”
Luca hesitated.
“From Elena.”
Vincent stared.
“When?”
“Five years ago.”
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She told me to hide it.”
“Why didn’t you show me?”
“She didn’t trust you.”
That hurt Vincent.
It was obvious.
He covered it quickly.
“Why?”
“Because by then Salvatore had convinced her you were becoming too much like Antonio.”
Vincent laughed once.
“Salvatore again.”
Luca nodded.
“He spent years poisoning everyone against everyone.”
I thought of Vivian.
Her father had convinced her I was dangerous.
He had convinced Elena that Vincent was dangerous.
Perhaps he had convinced my mother that Gabriel was dangerous.
Fear had become his most effective weapon.
I looked at Page 214.
“Why did you bring it tonight?”
“I didn’t.”
Everyone froze.
Vincent’s eyes narrowed.
“It was in your jacket.”
“Yes.”
“But I left it inside my safe.”
“When?”
“Before the engagement party.”
“Who knows the combination?”
“Only me.”
Vincent looked toward the guards.
“Check the safe.”
They left.
I stared at Luca.
“So someone stole it from your safe and put it in your pocket?”
“Yes.”
Vivian almost laughed.
“That sounds familiar.”
For once nobody disagreed.
Someone inside Belladonna House was moving evidence between people.
First my purse.
Then the key.
Now the ledger page.
Whoever it was wanted us suspicious.
But they also wanted specific clues discovered.
That realization disturbed me.
I looked at Vincent.
“They aren’t only hiding things.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re guiding us.”
Gabriel nodded slowly.
“The photograph.”
“The key.”
“Page 214.”
“Every time something appears, we discover another part of the story.”
Vivian looked around nervously.
“So who wants us to know?”
Nobody answered.
My phone rang again.
Unknown number.
Margaret.
I answered.
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere Salvatore hasn’t found yet.”
“What do you want?”
“To finish what Elena started.”
Vincent stepped closer.
“Margaret.”
The woman became silent.
He spoke.
“My mother trusted you.”
“She did.”
“Then tell me why she signed Page 214.”
“To save Alessandra.”
“That’s what Luca says.”
“Luca is telling the truth about that.”
Everyone looked at him.
Margaret continued.
“But he is lying about something else.”
Luca’s face hardened.
“What?”
Vincent asked.
“Camille DeMarco did not die in a car accident.”
Vivian gripped the desk.
“What happened?”
“She survived.”
Vivian went white.
“No.”
“She was badly injured.”
“No.”
“Salvatore had her declared dead.”
Vivian’s knees buckled.
I caught her instinctively.
She stared at the phone.
“My mother is alive?”
Margaret was silent.
“Is she alive?”
Vivian screamed the question.
Margaret finally answered.
“Yes.”
Vivian began crying.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
The woman who had commanded me to kneel now clung to the edge of the desk as though the world had disappeared beneath her.
“Where?”
Margaret’s voice softened.
“Salvatore knows.”
Vivian looked up.
Hatred replaced grief.
“My father kept my mother from me for twenty years?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Camille saw who attacked Alessandra at the lake house.”
The room went still.
I tightened my grip on the phone.
“Who did she see?”
Margaret breathed.
“I will tell Isabella in person.”
“Why not now?”
“Because this call is being traced.”
Luca immediately looked at his phone.
Margaret continued quickly.
“Tomorrow.”
“Ten in the morning.”
“Saint Cecilia’s Church.”
“Come alone.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Absolutely not.”
Margaret heard him.
“If Vincent comes, I won’t appear.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who attacked Alessandra used a Moretti car.”
Vincent’s face tightened.
The call ended.
Vivian wiped her face.
“I’m going with you.”
I looked at her.
“She said alone.”
“My mother is alive.”
“I heard.”
“If Margaret knows where she is—”
“She might know who nearly destroyed mine.”
Vivian stared at me.
Neither of us moved.
Then Vincent spoke.
“No one is going alone.”
I turned.
“She specifically said—”
“I don’t care.”
“You don’t control me.”
The sentence surprised everyone.
Especially Vincent.
He stared at me.
I expected anger.
Instead he nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then he continued.
“But someone has already sabotaged the house, stolen evidence, manipulated security systems, and infiltrated my staff.”
His voice remained calm.
“So I am asking you not to walk into a church alone simply because a frightened stranger told you to.”
That was reasonable.
I hated that it was reasonable.
Vivian spoke.
“I know Saint Cecilia’s.”
Everyone looked at her.
“My father donated money there for years.”
Gabriel frowned.
“So did Alessandra.”
I looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“It was where we were supposed to meet the night she disappeared.”
The church kept returning to the story.
I looked down at my mother’s locket.
Three generations of secrets seemed attached to it.
Then one of the guards returned from Luca’s office.
His expression was grim.
“The safe was empty.”
Luca nodded.
“I told you.”
The guard continued.
“But we found something else.”
“What?”
“A camera.”
Luca frowned.
“What camera?”
“Hidden inside the air vent.”
The guard placed a tiny recording device on the table.
“It has been filming your office for at least eight months.”
Luca stared.
Vincent looked toward the ceiling.
“Who installed it?”
“We’re checking.”
The guard hesitated.
“There’s one more thing.”
“What?”
“We downloaded tonight’s footage.”
My stomach tightened.
The guard turned a laptop toward us.
At 3:51 a.m., during the blackout, someone entered Luca’s office.
The figure opened his safe.
Removed Page 214.
Then looked directly toward the hidden camera.
The image froze.
I stared at the face.
Vivian whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Vincent didn’t move.
Gabriel looked as if he had seen a corpse.
The woman in the footage was elderly.
Thin.
White-haired.
But Vincent knew her instantly.
“Mother.”
Elena Moretti had supposedly been dead for five years.
May you like
Yet the timestamp showed she had walked through Belladonna House less than four hours earlier.
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