Chapter 6: The House Beyond the Lake
Roman enlarged the photograph while the officers watched.
Behind Elena was a faded blue wall and one corner of a stone fireplace.
“I know that room,” Rosa said.
“It’s the old lake house.”
Vivian laughed.
“That property was sold years ago.”
“No,” Julian replied.
“You transferred it into a holding company under Caroline’s name.”
Vivian turned on him.
“You will not discuss my affairs.”
“I just did.”
Roman handed Milo to Sophia.
“Stay with him.”
Milo grabbed Roman’s sleeve.
“You’re coming back?”
“With Mama.”
“Promise?”
Roman knelt.
“I should have made that promise before I left six weeks ago.
I’m making it now.”
One officer raised a hand.
“You are not going there alone.
We have enough for an emergency entry, but you will follow our instructions.”
Roman nodded.
“No private revenge.
I want Elena brought home safely.”
At the lake house, Caroline stood beside a desk feeding papers into the fireplace.
An officer forced the door open while Roman called Elena’s name.
“Roman?” came a weak voice from upstairs.
Caroline blocked the staircase.
“One more step, and the rest of those records burn.”
Roman looked at the flames.
“Keep the papers.
Move away from the stairs.”
“You don’t understand what they contain.”
“I understand my wife is up there.”
“If Elena speaks, Mother loses everything.”
“And you?”
Caroline’s chin lifted.
“I lose the company, the house, my accounts—everything that should have been mine before Milo was born.”
“You starved a child for an inheritance.”
“I frightened him.
I didn’t starve him.”
A small voice came through Roman’s phone.
Sophia had called by video, and Milo was listening.
“You took my sandwich,” he said.
Caroline stared at the screen.
Her face emptied.
The officers moved past her.
One secured the fireplace while another placed restraints around Caroline’s wrists.
“You think Elena will forgive you?” Caroline shouted as Roman climbed the stairs.
“Ask her what you chose over her!”
Roman opened the locked bedroom.
Elena sat against the headboard, her wrists free but her legs too weak to hold her.
An empty medicine cup stood beside the bed.
“They kept giving me dr*gs,” she whispered.
“They said you authorized everything.”
Roman dropped beside her.
“I signed nothing.”
“You left without saying goodbye.”
“I thought secrecy would protect you.”
“It protected your business.” Elena caught his sleeve.
“It left Milo with people I begged you not to trust.”
Roman’s shoulders lowered.
“You were right.”
“Say all of it.”
“I chose power over listening to you.
Milo paid for it, and so did you.”
Elena’s anger broke into tears.
Roman did not ask her to forgive him.
He remained on the floor until she reached for his hand.
“Where is our son?” she asked.
Roman turned the phone toward her.
“Mama!” Milo pressed both hands against Sophia’s screen.
“I wasn’t bad!”
Elena covered her mouth.
“No, sweetheart.
You were never bad.
Mama tried every day to come home.”
Milo began to sob.
Sophia held the phone steady and wrapped her free arm around him.
“When can I hug you?” he asked.
“Tonight,” Elena said.
“And I won’t let go until you tell me.”
An officer entered carrying a metal document box.
“Mrs.
Valenti, we found this beneath the floorboards.”
Elena saw the label and gripped Roman’s hand.
“What is it?” he asked.
“The original family trust,” she said.
“Vivian didn’t want Milo’s share.”
May you like
Elena pointed to a sealed amendment inside the box.
“She wanted proof that your father removed her from control before he died.”
