Chapter 5 - What Elena Left Behind.
Sofia Moretti told the story in Vincent's library with the doors locked.
Rosa took Ethan upstairs despite his protests.
Julian remained by the window.
Vincent stood behind his desk.
I sat in the same chair where, hours earlier, I had demanded to know why my mother had lied to me.
Now I wished I could return to that simpler question.
Sofia held a cup of coffee she never drank.
"Elena came to Isabella because she believed someone had been moving foundation money through shell vendors."
I looked at Vincent.
"You said it was missing money."
"That was all I knew."
Sofia nodded.
"It became larger than that."
Vincent's patience vanished.
"How much larger?"
"Enough that Isabella stopped trusting the internal books."
"Why didn't she come to me?"
Sofia gave him a sad look.
"Because back then, Dominic sat at your right hand."
Vincent said nothing.
I understood.
If Dominic was the one Isabella feared, telling Vincent might have meant telling Dominic too.
"So they investigated him themselves?"
Sofia nodded.
"Quietly."
"And then Isabella died."
The room changed again.
Sofia's fingers tightened around the coffee cup.
"Her car went through a guardrail during heavy rain."
Vincent's voice was flat.
"The investigation found mechanical failure."
"Was that true?" I asked.
"At the time, I believed it."
"And now?"
He did not answer.
Sofia did.
"Now we have to question everything."
I wrapped my arms around myself.
Vincent noticed.
His coat was hanging over the back of another chair.
He moved toward it.
"I'm not cold."
He stopped.
"Fine."
I was cold.
I just did not want anything from him in that moment.
"What happened to my mother?"
Sofia looked at me.
"After Isabella died, Elena panicked."
"She told me we were moving."
A memory returned.
Cardboard boxes in our apartment.
My mother whispering on the phone late at night.
A train ticket on the kitchen table.
I had forgotten all of it.
Or maybe I had trained myself not to remember.
"She planned to take you out of New York," Sofia said.
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"Did Dominic know?"
"Probably."
"Did you help her?"
Sofia swallowed.
"I gave her money."
"How much?"
"Enough to leave."
"Then why didn't she?"
"I don't know."
My voice sharpened.
"You keep saying that."
"Because I failed her."
Sofia's eyes filled, but she did not cry.
"I thought giving her cash and telling her to disappear was helping."
"Then the fire happened."
"Yes."
"Did you identify her body?"
Sofia looked at Vincent.
He understood before I did.
"No," she said.
I stood.
"What?"
"I was told the identification was made through dental records."
"By who?"
"The medical examiner's office."
"Did you see the report?"
"No."
"Did Vincent?"
She shook her head.
Vincent crossed to a cabinet and pulled out his phone.
"Julian."
"On it."
Julian was already typing.
My heart slammed against my ribs.
"Are you saying my mother could be alive?"
Sofia stood.
"I'm saying we don't know enough to say anything."
"That's not the same thing."
"Lily, don't build hope out of missing paperwork."
I hated her for saying it.
Because she was right.
Vincent spoke into his phone.
"I want the original case file."
He listened.
"No favors."
Another pause.
"Do it legally."
He ended the call.
I looked at him.
"You had to tell them not to use favors?"
"Yes."
"That's comforting."
"I didn't say I was a saint."
"Nobody has ever confused you with one."
Sofia actually laughed once.
Vincent looked offended.
For one strange second, the room felt like a normal family room.
Then Julian's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
"Where?"
He listened.
"Send it to me now."
He hung up.
"The park cup was recovered."
Vincent turned.
"And?"
"Police lab found residue consistent with the same medication in Ethan's blood."
Sofia covered her mouth.
"Someone drugged him."
"It appears so."
I remembered Ethan shaking in the snow.
My stomach twisted.
Vincent's voice became dangerously calm.
"Fingerprints?"
"Partial."
"Whose?"
Julian looked at Sofia.
Then at me.
"They match a Moretti Group employee."
"Name."
"Marcus Hale."
Vincent frowned.
"My operations chief?"
Sofia stared at him.
"Marcus has worked for us fifteen years."
Julian nodded.
"And he wears one of the rings."
I remembered the photograph lineup.
"He was too short."
"The man you saw may not have handled the cup."
That meant more than one person could be involved.
Vincent picked up his phone again.
"Bring Marcus in."
Julian did not move.
"There's another problem."
"What?"
"He didn't come to work this morning."
"Find him."
"His apartment is empty."
The silence in the room became heavy.
Sofia whispered.
"Dominic."
Vincent's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe."
"You still won't say it?"
"I won't accuse family based on fear."
Sofia's anger flashed.
"That's exactly what Isabella was afraid of."
Vincent stared at her.
"Careful."
"No."
She put the untouched coffee down.
"You built your entire life around loyalty."
"And people learned they could hide behind that word."
Vincent looked wounded in a way I had not expected.
Sofia continued.
"Isabella knew Dominic could stand beside you and smile while doing something terrible behind your back because you would always ask for one more piece of proof."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"And what would you have me do?"
"Become the monster everyone says I am and punish him because of a suspicion?"
"No."
Sofia lowered her voice.
"Become a father before you become a Moretti."
Nobody spoke.
I looked at Vincent.
He looked toward the ceiling, where Ethan was sleeping.
That sentence had reached him.
Julian cleared his throat.
"The flash drive from Isabella's drawer is clean."
Vincent turned immediately.
"What's on it?"
"Audio files."
"How many?"
"Seven."
"Dates?"
"The last one was recorded two days before Isabella's crash."
My skin prickled.
Julian connected a small laptop to a speaker.
He clicked the final file.
Static filled the room.
Then a woman's voice began.
I had never heard Isabella Moretti speak.
But Ethan's eyes were in her photograph, and now I heard something of him in her voice too.
Warmth.
Stubbornness.
A tiny edge of humor even when she sounded afraid.
"If you're hearing this, I ran out of time."
Vincent gripped the desk.
The recording continued.
"Elena was right."
I stopped breathing.
"The money was never the real secret."
Static cracked.
"The foundation accounts were being used to cover payments tied to an old Moretti partnership."
Vincent stared at the speaker.
"Dominic believes exposing it will destroy the family."
Sofia closed her eyes.
The recording continued.
"I believe hiding it will destroy us first."
There was a sound in the background.
A door closing.
Isabella's voice became lower.
"Elena copied the records."
"I told her to separate them."
"One set is with someone outside the family."
"The other is somewhere only her daughter can reach when she is old enough."
I looked at Vincent.
"Me?"
The recording continued.
"Lily does not know."
"She must not know until it is safe."
Then Isabella said something that made Sofia gasp.
"Dominic asked me today where Elena's child is."
Vincent's face hardened.
"He knows Lily exists."
The file cut off.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then the house alarm sounded.
A sharp electronic tone tore through the library.
Julian was already at the door.
"Stay here."
Vincent ignored him and followed.
I followed Vincent.
"Lily!"
"I'm not staying alone."
We reached the foyer.
Two security guards were running toward the rear hall.
Rosa appeared at the top of the stairs.
Her face was white.
"Vincent!"
He looked up.
"Where's Ethan?"
Rosa's voice broke.
"I thought he was with you."
Everything stopped.
Vincent took the stairs two at a time.
Ethan's room was empty.
His crutches were beside the bed.
The window was closed.
The hallway camera had gone dark for exactly ninety seconds.
On Ethan's pillow was a blue wooden box.
Vincent stared at it as if it were a bomb.
I stepped closer.
A note rested on top.
This time the handwriting was not anonymous.
Vincent recognized it immediately.
"Dominic."
I read the message.
May you like
YOU WANTED THE TRUTH.
NOW COME GET YOUR SON.
