Chapter 11 - A HOUSE FULL OF LOCKED DOORS
Alessandro wanted to send armed guards after the person threatening Celia. Mara refused to let the fear become another excuse for private punishment.
"Give the message to Rios," she said. "If you start a war, the people who work for you will pay for it."
He turned over the phone and records. Investigators traced the message to a prepaid device bought near one of Enzo's warehouses. Celia agreed to move to a protected location with her adult daughter.
Before leaving, she pressed something into Mara's hand: an old grocery receipt covered in numbers.
"Isabella gave me this the day she disappeared. She said if I ever saw you again, I should give it back. I never understood it."
Mara recognized the numbers as dates rather than amounts. They matched her childhood birthdays, except the last: 09/17/08. Beside it Isabella had drawn a little hawk.
At the estate, contractors had begun removing Victoria's belongings. Mara came to retrieve a notebook from the servants' quarters and discovered all her things piled in garbage bags.
"Who authorized this?" she asked.
The assistant manager looked at the floor. "Victoria. Before she left."
In the bottom bag lay a crumpled envelope containing every paycheck Mara had saved to cover law-school application fees.
Alessandro offered to replace it.
"No," she said. "Help me document the theft. Stop offering money to make the feeling go away."
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A maid named Nina came forward with a security-card log showing Victoria had entered the room while Mara was at the hospital. The housekeeper who feared losing her job agreed to sign a statement.
That night Rios phoned with news from Matteo. He had regained consciousness and asked for protective custody. He would talk, he said, but only if Mara came to hear what he had done.
