Chapter 12 - THE SCHOOL GATE
Lucy did not return to school.
Vittorio moved her temporarily to a secure apartment registered outside the family companies.
Only Emma, Ruiz, Maya, and Detective Brooks knew the address.
The first night, Lucy asked why the curtains had to stay closed.
"Because adults made a mess," Vittorio said.
"Did I make the mess?"
He knelt beside her bed.
"No. Not one piece of it."
She considered that.
"Can Emma stay?"
"Yes."
"Can you?"
That question nearly broke him.
"Yes."
He canceled every meeting.
For two days, the feared Vittorio D'Angelo made grilled cheese, lost badly at card games, and learned that Lucy hated peas but would eat broccoli if it had too much cheese.
Then someone tried to pick her up from school anyway.
The school called because a woman claiming to be Lucy's aunt presented a signed authorization.
Lucy wasn't there, so no one was taken.
But the authorization carried Vittorio's digital signature.
And a copy of his driver's license.
Someone still had access to his identity files.
Ruiz audited every device.
One tablet in the estate had been remotely active after Marcus's arrest.
It belonged to Bianca.
Police searched her temporary residence.
She was gone.
On the kitchen counter sat her engagement ring.
Beside it, a handwritten note.
Vittorio,
You think I wanted Lucy's money. You still don't understand your own family.
Ask Salvatore what happened the night Elena tried to leave you.
Vittorio read it twice.
Elena had never tried to leave him.
At least, that was what he believed.
Brooks looked uneasy.
"Maybe Bianca is lying."
"Maybe."
Then Maya received an encrypted email.
Attached was a scanned letter written by Elena three days before her death.
Vittorio recognized the handwriting.
May you like
The first line said:
Vittorio, I am taking Lucy away until you finally see what your uncle is doing.
