Chapter 9
Lorenzo was furious when he learned.
“You brought federal agents into this house.”
“No,” Marisol said. “Marco walked out and into lawful custody.”
“You arranged it.”
“Yes.”
“He belongs before the family council.”
“He belongs before a judge.”
Lorenzo looked as though the stone room had become too small.
Emma sat on the floor drawing purple circles.
“Are you mad?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“At Mama?”
“No.”
“At the lady?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t yell.”
“I am not yelling.”
“You’re yelling with your eyebrows.”
Marisol covered a cough.
The phone contained twelve weeks of messages.
Payments from Ashford accounts to three Duca captains.
Instructions to alter security schedules.
Photographs of confidential dock routes.
Voice notes.
The first relevant recording was Victoria speaking to Marco two hours before the shooting.
Lorenzo knows the shipment was compromised. He will ask about the route tonight. Keep him near the window. One shot. Make it high enough to create blood loss but not immediate collapse. If the fall does not kill him, the search team will.
Another message followed.
Afterward, you become acting head. We marry when the mourning period is respectable. You will have everything he kept from you.
Marco’s response was shorter.
And you?
Victoria answered:
You will have me as long as you remain useful.
The room went quiet after the recording ended.
Lorenzo’s face did not move.
That made his grief visible in a different way.
Marco had traded fifteen years of loyalty for a future Victoria never intended to give him.
The phone also contained photographs of the Ashford Heights safety memorandum.
Victoria knew the file existed inside the Duca archives.
She had instructed Marco to destroy it after Lorenzo’s death.
The central betrayal became clear.
Victoria wanted Lorenzo’s business authority, the dock consolidation, and control over records connecting her company to Daniel’s death and other construction injuries.
Marco was the weapon.
The engagement was camouflage.
My husband’s death was not the reason she tried to kill Lorenzo.
It was one of the truths his survival might uncover.
The FBI obtained warrants.
Marisol wanted Emma and me removed immediately.
This time, I agreed.
A child-safety nonprofit arranged an apartment in Queens with independent security, no Duca ownership, and locks controlled by me.
Vincent prepared a quiet exit through the laundry gate.
We planned to leave at eight forty-five.
At eight twenty, Victoria entered the servants’ corridor.
She wore a burgundy dress and carried my missing employment folder.
Two guards followed.
“Bring Sophia Rivera to the great hall,” she said. “And find the child.”
Vincent stepped into view.
“On what authority?”
Victoria smiled.
“The authority of the woman Lorenzo intended to make his wife.”
“Intended.”
The word sharpened her expression.
“I have evidence that Sophia stole from my private rooms.”
She held up a diamond bracelet.
One of the guards carried Emma’s small coat.
The bracelet had been placed inside its pocket.
The frame was obvious.
The danger was not.
Emma appeared at the end of the corridor holding Bunny.
She had left Marta’s room because she heard my voice.
Victoria saw her.
Then the sound of a distant siren reached the windows.
Soft.
Approaching.
Her plan changed in her eyes.
She grabbed Emma.
I moved.
A guard blocked me.
Victoria pulled a pearl-handled pistol from beneath her dress and pressed it against the side of my daughter’s coat.
Everyone stopped.
“Tell Lorenzo to come out,” she said.
My mouth went dry.
“He is dead.”
“Then you have nothing to lose by shouting.”
Emma stared at the gun.
Her small fingers tightened around Bunny.
“Shh,” she whispered.
Not to herself.
To me.
The same word she had given Lorenzo in the shed.
A command to stay alive long enough for the next moment.
Vincent slowly lifted both hands.
“Victoria, the federal agents outside have a warrant.”
“Then they can collect bodies.”
She dragged Emma toward the great hall.
I followed because there was no version of the night in which she took my child out of my sight.
The chandelier burned at full brightness.
Three compromised captains waited near the staircase. Two looked surprised by the gun. One reached beneath his jacket and stopped when Vincent entered behind us.
May you like
Victoria positioned Emma in front of her.
“Call him.”
