Chapter 5: What Elena Left Behind
Rico took Leo and Clara upstairs to his private office.
Dante locked Marco in the wine-storage room with two guards outside.
Leo sat beside Clara on the leather sofa.
“Daddy’s angry,” he whispered.
Rico stopped pacing.
“Not at you.”
“You sound angry at everybody.”
The words landed harder than an accusation.
Rico lowered himself into the chair opposite his son.
“I’m sorry.”
Leo reached for Clara’s hand instead of his father’s.
Rico watched their fingers join.
“Did Mommy ever tell you she wanted to take you somewhere?”
Leo nodded.
“A quiet house.”
“Where?”
“With yellow flowers.”
Rico looked at Dante as he entered.
“Elena hated yellow flowers.”
“No,” Leo said.
“Daddy hated them.”
Rico’s mouth went still.
Clara leaned toward Leo.
“Did your mommy say who would live there?”
“Me.
Mommy.
Daddy if he got good.”
Rico turned away.
Clara stood.
“Don’t do that.”
He looked back.
“Do what?”
“Hide your face when he says something painful.
He needs to see that the truth won’t make you leave.”
“You have known my son for less than an hour.”
“And he has been trying to reach you for six months.”
Rico’s voice sharpened.
“You think I haven’t tried?”
“I think you tried everything except letting him see you hurt.”
Leo slid off the sofa.
He walked to Rico and touched two fingers to his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
Rico knelt.
“I’m here.”
“Mommy said you made people scared.”
Rico swallowed.
“She was right.”
“Did you make Mommy scared?”
Clara saw Rico’s shoulders fold inward.
“Sometimes,” he said.
“I never touched her.
But I brought danger to our door, and I kept saying I could control it.”
Leo’s lower lip trembled.
“You didn’t.”
“No.” Rico’s voice broke.
“I didn’t.”
Leo began to cry, and Rico reached toward him before stopping his own hand.
“May I hold you?”
Leo looked at Clara.
“It’s your choice,” she said.
After a long moment, Leo stepped into his father’s arms.
Rico held him carefully, as if the slightest pressure might break them both.
Dante turned toward the window.
Clara touched his sleeve.
“You can look.
They shouldn’t have to hide.”
Rico pressed his face against his son’s hair.
Leo’s small fist closed around his lapel.
A knock sounded.
Sarah entered carrying a worn stuffed rabbit.
“Marco kept this in his office safe.”
Rico raised his head.
“How did you get it?”
“I took his keys before Dante locked him downstairs.”
Dante almost smiled.
“You picked his pocket?”
“He withheld my overtime for three months.
I knew exactly which pocket he used.”
Sarah placed the rabbit beside Leo.
“I heard Elena tell Marco to return it the week before she was gone.”
Leo grabbed it.
“Bunny.”
Something clicked inside its cloth belly.
Clara felt along the seam.
“There’s something hard in here.”
Rico handed her a letter opener.
She carefully cut one loose stitch and removed a tiny digital recorder.
Dante examined it.
“The battery is gone.”
Sarah reached into her apron.
“Then it’s fortunate I also took this from Marco’s drawer.”
She held up a small battery and fitted it into the recorder.
Rico pressed play.
Static filled the room.
Then Elena’s voice came through, soft but unmistakable.
“If you are hearing this, Marco found out I copied the accounts.”
Rico gripped the edge of the desk.
Elena continued.
“The danger was never outside the family.
It was sitting at our table.”
A second voice entered the recording.
Marco’s voice.
“You should have minded your own business, Elena.”
The recording crackled, then stopped.
“That can’t be all,” Rico said.
Dante turned the device over.
“The memory card is missing.”
Sarah’s face lost its color.
“What?” Clara asked.
Sarah looked toward the office door.
“Marco wasn’t alone when he opened that safe.”
“Who was with him?” Rico demanded.
May you like
Sarah took one step back.
“Dante was.”
