Chapter 7 - THE FIANCÉE WHO CHOSE THE WRONG FAMILY
“You helped Aaron remove my mother from her own foundation?”
Dante stood across from Sabrina in the study.
The engagement ring on her finger caught the lamplight.
For several seconds, she seemed unable to speak.
Then she whispered, “I helped him prepare the paperwork.”
Nina stared at her.
“You knew?”
“Not everything.”
“That's becoming your favorite answer,” Nina said.
Sabrina flinched.
Dante placed the property notice on the desk.
“Explain what you did know.”
Sabrina slowly sat down.
“Aaron's shipping company started losing money eighteen months ago. He borrowed from Rourke to cover fuel costs, maintenance, and payroll.”
“How much?” Dante asked.
“Nearly two million at first.”
“And then?”
“Rourke demanded repayment. Aaron borrowed more.”
She rubbed her forehead.
“By spring, the company was barely operating. Aaron said if it collapsed, eighty-three employees would lose their jobs.”
Her eyes filled.
“He also said our mother's treatment would stop.”
Evelyn watched her quietly.
“So you helped him take money from the foundation?”
“I thought the foundation advances were temporary.”
Nina stepped closer.
“Six million dollars isn't temporary.”
“I know that now!”
Sabrina's voice cracked.
She looked toward Dante.
“I was terrified. Every time I asked Aaron a question, he said I didn't understand business. He said you would hate me if you found out how badly he'd failed.”
Dante's expression remained cold.
“You had eight months to tell me.”
“I was afraid you'd leave.”
“And instead, you hurt my mother and locked my sister in a room.”
Sabrina began crying openly.
“I never intended for anyone to get hurt.”
Nina lifted her bruised wrists.
“Intentions don't erase what happened.”
Sabrina couldn't look at her.
Then Evelyn spoke.
“What happened yesterday?”
Sabrina took a shaky breath.
“Aaron said the foundation needed a temporary board change. He brought me an authorization form and told me to submit it through the administrative office.”
“Did you sign my name?” Evelyn asked.
“No.”
“Then who did?”
Sabrina looked toward the doorway.
“Teresa.”
Dante's face hardened.
Sabrina continued.
“She had copies of your old correspondence. Aaron said she could prepare the paperwork while you recovered from your arthritis treatment.”
Evelyn stared at her.
“You allowed a stranger to use my signature?”
Sabrina lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
The admission was quiet.
And devastating.
Dante removed the engagement ring from his pocket.
It was a second ring, the one Sabrina had chosen for him.
He placed it beside her hand.
“Our engagement is over.”
Sabrina looked up.
“Dante, please.”
“I loved you. I trusted you with my home.”
His voice thickened.
“You stood beside my bleeding mother and blamed a woman who had tried to protect her.”
Sabrina looked toward me.
For the first time that evening, she seemed truly ashamed.
“Lucy…”
I didn't move.
She swallowed.
“I owe you an apology.”
“Yes,” I said quietly. “You do.”
She waited.
But I said nothing else.
An apology wasn't enough to repair eight months of fear.
Dante turned toward Frank.
“Sabrina will remain here until investigators can interview her. Make sure she's treated respectfully.”
Sabrina nodded through her tears.
Then she said something unexpected.
“Aaron isn't afraid of losing his company anymore.”
Dante stopped.
“What?”
“He knows it's already gone.”
“Then why continue?”
“Because Rourke promised him a ten-percent interest in the redeveloped waterfront.”
Nina closed her eyes.
“Forty-two elderly residents would lose their homes.”
Sabrina nodded.
“And Aaron would become wealthy again.”
Dante looked toward Evelyn.
His mother sat very still.
“What did you receive for helping him?” she asked Sabrina.
Sabrina began crying harder.
“Nothing.”
Evelyn's voice was gentle but firm.
“That's not true, dear. You received the ability to keep pretending your brother was a good man.”
Sabrina covered her face.
Nobody spoke for several moments.
Then she reached into her handbag.
She removed a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
It showed Aaron and Rourke standing beside a scale model of the proposed waterfront development.
The photograph had been taken eight months earlier.
Before Sabrina and Dante announced their engagement.
Before the first supposedly emergency loan.
Before Rourke had approached the Marchetti family with his most recent offer.
Nina stared at it.
“They were planning this before Aaron claimed he needed help.”
Sabrina nodded.
“I found that photograph two weeks ago.”
“Why didn't you show Dante?” Nina asked.
“Because Aaron said if I exposed him, he would make sure our mother's medical bills were never paid again.”
Dante looked at the photograph.
Then he looked at Sabrina.
“Where is your mother now?”
“At her treatment center.”
“Does she know any of this?”
Sabrina shook her head.
“Not that I know of.”
Frank studied the photograph more closely.
He pointed toward a paper beside the model.
A document lay open on the table.
Across the top were three words.
ST. AGNES REDEVELOPMENT.
Below them appeared a projected closing date.
Tomorrow.
Then Nina noticed something else.
The proposed property plan included a rectangular building at the far edge of the waterfront.
A building that wasn't part of the Marchetti family's commercial holdings.
“That's our mother's house,” she whispered.
Evelyn leaned forward.
Her face drained of color.
May you like
Because Rourke hadn't merely planned to take the pier and evict the residents.
He had planned to demolish the family home too.
