Chapter 7: Vivien’s Last Bargain
I folded the trust letter inside my jacket and walked toward the chapel.
Rocco caught my shoulder.
“You’re not going alone.”
“She has my mother and Mia.”
“Mercer is covering both exits.”
“If Vivien sees her, she may panic.”
Elena stepped from the library.
Her face had gone white, but her voice did not shake.
“You bring my daughter back.”
“I will.”
“No promises meant to calm me, Lorenzo.
Bring her back.”
I held her gaze.
“I will bring her back.”
The chapel door opened before I touched it.
“Inside,” Vivien said.
Mia sat beside Isabella near the altar.
Neither appeared hurt, but the door behind them had been tied shut with curtain cord.
“Uncle Lorenzo,” Mia whispered.
“I’m here.”
Vivien held up her phone.
“Show me the letter.”
“Release them first.”
“No.”
“You wanted me.
They have nothing to do with this.”
“They are why you stopped trusting me.”
“Your own actions did that.”
She tilted the phone toward me.
A file-transfer bar glowed on the screen.
“If I press this button, every newspaper receives a recording of you ordering Rocco to move trust funds through private accounts.”
“I never gave that order.”
“Your voice did.”
“You created it.”
“Who will the public believe?
The frightened fiancée or Lorenzo Duca, the man everyone crosses the street to avoid?”
For one moment, the chapel became completely silent.
Vivien smiled.
“Put the letter on the altar and sign the marriage declaration in my bag.
Then I’ll tell everyone Elena acted alone.”
“You still think I’ll sacrifice her.”
“I think powerful men always sacrifice servants.”
Isabella stood.
“My son made mistakes,” she said.
“But he came when a child called him.”
“Sit down.”
“No.”
Vivien stepped toward her.
Mia reached up and touched the brooch on Isabella’s collar.
“Grandma, the little light is blinking.”
Vivien froze.
Inspector Mercer’s voice came through the brooch.
“We heard every word, Vivien.”
Vivien grabbed it and threw it against the wall.
The chapel doors opened.
Mercer entered with two officers while Rocco came through the side passage.
Vivien seized a candle and held it over the documents on the altar.
“One more step and the evidence burns.”
“Those are copies,” I said.
Her hand stopped.
“The original trust letter is with Mercer’s financial unit.”
“You lied.”
“I learned from you.”
Vivien dropped the candle onto the papers.
I swept them to the stone floor and crushed the flame beneath my shoe.
She ran toward the side door, but Elena stood there.
Vivien stared at her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“You’re still the maid.”
Elena took Mia into her arms.
“And I’m the mother whose child defeated you.”
Mercer took Vivien’s phone.
“The transfer stopped at ninety-eight percent.”
“You have nothing,” Vivien said.
Daniel appeared behind Rocco.
“They have my recording.”
Mrs.
Keane raised her phone.
“And my photograph.”
Isabella pointed at the hidden safe.
“And my original medicine.”
Rocco placed the bank ledger on the altar.
“Owen Price gave up every account when Mercer reached his office.”
Vivien looked at me as the officer secured her wrists.
“You’ll always be feared, Lorenzo.
No matter how many children you rescue.”
I stepped aside.
“Perhaps.
But you will never use that fear again.”
As Mercer led her through the doorway, Vivien turned back.
“You should have married me.
I could have made you untouchable.”
“Mia touched my hand,” I said.
“That was enough to bring you down.”
Behind me, Isabella suddenly gripped the altar.
“Lorenzo…”
Her knees folded before I could reach her.
Dr.
Malik arrived minutes later and checked her pulse.
May you like
“The altered medicine has strained her heart,” he said.
“The next twelve hours will tell us how much damage was done.”
