Chapter 6: The Truth Between Us
The recording ended with my father giving the name of a bank and a deposit-box number.
Mother straightened her dress.
“A sick man’s rambling proves nothing.”
“You knew about the second will,” I said.
“I knew your father enjoyed punishing me.”
“You kept my wife and child inside a lodge for three years.”
“I protected this family from Lucia.”
Lucia stepped toward her.
“You posted guards outside every door.”
“You had access to the garden.”
“The gate was chained.”
“You could have shouted.”
“To whom?
The men you paid?”
Mother turned to me.
“Ask your wife why she waited until tonight to escape.”
Lucia’s face changed.
“Go on,” Mother said.
“Tell him what happened to the first two messages you sent.”
I looked at Lucia.
“What messages?”
“I gave letters to Adrian Cole, one of the guards.
He promised to deliver them.”
Mother laughed.
“Adrian worked for me.”
Lucia slapped both hands against my chest and pushed me back.
“You never came.”
“I never received them.”
“You had a thousand people searching, Roman.
How did none of them search property owned by your own family?”
I had no answer.
Lucia’s voice broke.
“You believed I left because that was easier than believing your mother could lie.”
“Lucia—”
“No.
Say it.
Say why you stopped questioning her.”
Mother watched us from between the officers.
I forced the words out.
“Because she raised me to believe love always leaves, but family power remains.”
Lucia covered her mouth.
Sophie looked from one of us to the other.
“You were supposed to know me,” Lucia whispered.
“I should have known you.
I failed you.”
She struck my chest again, but this time her hands stayed there.
“I called your name every night.”
I held her wrists gently.
“I cannot return those nights.
But I will spend every day proving I hear you now.”
Her knees gave way.
I went down with her, and she wept against my shoulder while Sophie wrapped both arms around our necks.
Ellis turned his back to give us privacy.
Dr.
Mercer removed his glasses and wiped his eyes.
Mother’s voice cut across the room.
“How touching.
When Lucia learns what your father left her, she’ll leave you again.”
Lucia raised her head.
“What did he leave me?”
Mother smiled.
“Control.”
Ellis’s phone rang.
He answered, listened, then put it on speaker.
A man’s voice filled the study.
“My name is Adrian Cole.
I guarded the north lodge.”
Lucia gripped my hand.
“Where are you?” I asked.
“At Evelyn’s private hangar.
She ordered a plane prepared under Victor Hale’s name.”
Mother snapped toward Victor.
He stepped away from her.
“Adrian,” Lucia said, “what happened to my letters?”
“I kept them.
Mrs.
D’Angelo ordered me to destroy them, but I couldn’t.”
“Why contact us now?”
A car door slammed through the speaker.
“Because she just offered me half a million dollars to take the letters out of the country—and because there’s a little girl who used to wave at me through a locked window.”
Mother pulled free of the nearest officer.
“He is an admitted liar.
You cannot trust him.”
Adrian’s voice dropped.
“You can trust the video I made of Evelyn moving Lucia and Sophie into the lodge.”
The call ended with a sharp crash.
“Adrian?” Ellis shouted.
“Adrian!”
No one answered.
May you like
Mother looked at the silent phone and smiled.
“You should have accepted my offer, Roman.”
