Chapter 25 - MY NAME
I stood before twenty-three cameras.
Alone.
Roman was not beside me.
That was deliberate.
“My husband did not ask me to surrender this money.”
Flashbulbs.
“He actually tried to make the decision without me.”
Some reporters laughed.
Roman, watching from home, probably did not.
“I stopped him.”
More laughter.
Then I became serious.
“Our children did not earn this money. Neither did we.”
I explained the trust.
The victims.
The contamination.
The court process.
I refused to turn Roman into a hero.
“He benefited from a family system that harmed people. So did I after I married him. Accountability is not generosity. Returning what should never have belonged to you is not charity.”
That quote went everywhere.
Martin Devereux hated it.
We knew because two days later, he made his first mistake.
He contacted Leah.
Not directly.
Through an attorney.
He offered her three million dollars.
In exchange for documents from my foundation and testimony that Roman had pressured me into the restitution plan.
Leah brought the offer to federal investigators.
Agent Avery smiled.
“He’s nervous.”
Roman disagreed.
“No.”
Everyone looked at him.
“He’s desperate.”
Roman knew desperate powerful men.
Then Sophia called.
Her condo had been broken into.
Nothing valuable taken.
No jewelry.
No cash.
Only one thing missing.
Isabella’s original brass key.
Meaningless now.
The wall was already open.
Unless the key opened something else.
Sophia sat on our couch while police dusted her condo.
“I should have told you.”
Roman looked exhausted.
“Which secret are we on now?”
She almost smiled.
“The key opened two locks.”
“Of course it did.”
“Sophia,” I warned.
She continued.
“The second was a bank box.”
Roman stared.
“Where?”
“Lake Geneva.”
“Contents?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who does?”
“Your mother did.”
Roman closed his eyes.
“And presumably Martin.”
Sophia shook her head.
“No.”
“Then who broke into your house?”
“I think Martin finally learned the key exists.”
We drove to Wisconsin the next morning.
The bank had changed names three times.
Records survived.
Safe-deposit box 714.
Registered to:
ISABELLA MARIN.
Her maiden name.
The bank manager opened it under federal warrant.
Inside was a single sealed envelope.
Not for Roman.
For Sophia.
Sophia opened it.
Read.
Then began to cry.
Roman looked frightened.
“What?”
She handed him the letter.
His mother had written:
SOPHIA, IF THEY LEARN THE TRUST EXISTS, TELL ROMAN THE TRUTH ABOUT HIS FATHER.
Roman went completely still.
“What truth?”
May you like
Sophia looked at the man she had helped raise.
“Salvatore was leaving.”
