Chapter 8 - THE FAMILY THAT CHOSE SILENCE
“Then what was supposed to happen?”
Alessandro stood inches from his uncle.
Vittorio looked older than he had an hour earlier.
His shoulders had fallen.
His carefully controlled expression was gone.
“I wanted your mother to stop interfering.”
Alessandro's voice sharpened.
“Answer the question.”
Vittorio looked toward the window.
“She threatened to expose the financial arrangements. She said she would tell Lily everything when the child was old enough.”
“And?”
“I ordered someone to keep her from leaving the house until we could talk.”
My stomach tightened.
“You detained your own sister-in-law?” I asked.
Vittorio didn't look at me.
“She fell during an argument.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“Who was there?”
Vittorio swallowed.
“A security contractor.”
“Name.”
“Peter Grayson.”
Daniel immediately wrote it down.
“Where is he now?” Alessandro asked.
“I haven't spoken to him in years.”
My mother shook her head.
“That's not true.”
Vittorio turned.
“Margaret.”
“You sent him to me last spring.”
The old man's face changed.
My mother continued.
“He wanted the necklace. He said Elena had left something dangerous with me.”
Alessandro looked at Daniel.
“Find Grayson.”
Then he turned back to Vittorio.
“You knew my mother might have been killed. You let me bury her believing it was an accident.”
Vittorio lowered his eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“Of prison?”
“Of losing the family.”
Alessandro stepped away.
“You lost it anyway.”
Those four words seemed to hurt Vittorio more than anything else.
He sat heavily in my mother's chair.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then my mother began coughing.
I rushed to her.
“Mom?”
She pressed a hand against her chest.
Alessandro immediately called for medical help.
Within minutes, paramedics arrived.
As they examined her, my mother caught my wrist.
“Claire, listen.”
“Don't talk.”
“Please.”
I leaned close.
“Elena wasn't afraid of Alessandro.”
I looked toward him.
“She was afraid of what he would do if he discovered the truth.”
“What do you mean?”
“She believed he would destroy himself trying to punish everyone.”
My eyes filled.
“She wanted Lily to have a father who was alive and free.”
The paramedics helped my mother onto a stretcher.
Before they carried her outside, Alessandro approached.
“Margaret.”
She looked at him.
“Thank you for protecting my daughter.”
My mother began crying.
“I should have told you sooner.”
He shook his head.
“We'll talk when you're better.”
For the first time that night, I saw him choose kindness instead of anger.
At the hospital, my mother was stabilized.
The doctors said the stress had aggravated her condition, but she was expected to recover.
I sat beside her bed for nearly an hour.
Then Alessandro entered.
He carried two cups of coffee.
One for me.
One for himself.
“You should rest,” he said.
I accepted the cup.
“So should you.”
He smiled faintly.
Neither of us felt like smiling.
“Daniel found the account used to pay Scarlett,” he said.
I looked up.
“It wasn't my mother's.”
“No.”
“Who opened it?”
“A company controlled by Vittorio.”
I closed my eyes.
Relief washed over me.
My mother hadn't paid Scarlett.
Her name had been used to frame her.
“Why?”
“To make us distrust one another.”
Alessandro sat down.
“Vittorio knew Margaret might still have the necklace. He wanted her discredited before anyone listened to her.”
I stared at my mother's sleeping face.
“She spent years protecting a secret.”
“And someone tried to turn that protection into evidence against her.”
Alessandro lowered his voice.
“I'm sorry, Claire.”
I looked at him.
“For what?”
“For doubting you.”
“You had reasons.”
“I had fear.”
He paused.
“That's not the same thing.”
I didn't answer.
He continued.
“Scarlett has agreed to speak with investigators.”
“Did she admit what she did?”
“She admitted switching the dessert.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“She says Vittorio promised to help her pay for her younger brother's medical treatment.”
I stared at him.
“She has a brother?”
“Yes. He's twenty-one. He was seriously injured in an accident.”
I had never heard Scarlett mention him.
“Was that why she wanted to marry you?”
“Partly.”
Alessandro looked tired.
“She also wanted the life she believed I could give her.”
I thought about the cruel woman who had humiliated me.
It was difficult to imagine her frightened for someone she loved.
But I knew what it meant to worry about medical bills.
I'd lived with that fear for years.
“Does that change what she did?” I asked.
“No.”
Alessandro shook his head.
“Having someone to love doesn't excuse hurting someone else's child.”
I nodded.
He continued.
“She claims Vittorio told her the cake only needed to frighten Lily. She says she didn't know the consequences could be fatal.”
I felt anger rise inside me.
“She knew Lily had an allergy.”
“Yes.”
“Then she knew enough.”
Alessandro didn't disagree.
He looked toward my mother.
“Tomorrow, we're opening Elena's deposit box.”
I glanced at the necklace on the bedside table.
“Do you think it'll tell us where she is?”
“I hope so.”
Then he hesitated.
“Claire, there's something I haven't told you.”
I looked at him.
“After Elena disappeared, I received one letter.”
My heart pounded.
“From her?”
“I think so.”
“What did it say?”
“Only that I should protect Lily and not look for her.”
“Did you believe it?”
“I didn't know what to believe.”
He looked down.
“Vittorio told me it was written before she died.”
I thought about the photograph dated after Elena's death.
The forged records.
The intercepted letters.
“Do you still have it?”
“Yes.”
“Then we should compare the handwriting.”
Alessandro nodded.
But before he could say more, Daniel entered.
His face was tense.
“Sir, we found Peter Grayson.”
Alessandro stood.
“Where?”
“In custody. He's been cooperating with investigators.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel hesitated.
“He says Rosa Romano didn't die because she fell.”
The room became silent.
“He says someone administered medication to her after the argument.”
Alessandro gripped the chair.
“Who?”
Daniel looked at him.
“The same physician who treated Elena.”
Dr. Hale.
I felt sick.
Hale had helped rescue Lily.
He'd spoken about Elena's records.
He'd seemed ashamed.
Now everything changed again.
Alessandro looked toward the door.
“Where is Hale?”
Daniel swallowed.
“He left the hospital twenty minutes ago.”
“Find him.”
Then Daniel added something worse.
“Sir, before he left, Hale requested access to Lily's updated medical records.”
Alessandro stared at him.
“Why?”
Daniel handed him a printed request.
At the bottom was a handwritten note.
THE CHILD MUST BE EXAMINED BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
May you like
And beneath it was a diagnosis Lily had never received.
SUSPECTED INHERITED CARDIAC CONDITION.
