Chapter 5 - THE APARTMENT ABOVE THE BAKERY
Mara had not seen the apartment since childhood. Elena secured the owner's permission while Detective Rios arranged a supervised search.
"You don't trust your own guards?" Mara asked Alessandro.
"I don't trust a system that has kept this secret for eighteen years."
Under a kitchen floorboard, investigators found a blue biscuit tin. Inside lay a roll of film, a folded marriage certificate, a ledger page, and a letter addressed to Mara in Isabella's handwriting.
Mara asked for a moment alone to read it. Elena remained in the doorway while Alessandro waited outside.
My darling girl, the letter began. If you're reading this, I couldn't make the people in that house listen. You are not a secret. You are loved. Whatever anyone says, your name is yours to keep.
Mara read those lines three times before she could see the rest.
Isabella wrote that Enzo and Vittorio Sterling had built a false shipping company to hide stolen money. When Daniel discovered falsified port records, they offered him cash. He refused. Isabella had made copies and taken photographs. She had intended to testify.
One line stood alone near the bottom: Alessandro did not order this. They will tell him I betrayed him before I can prove the truth.
Mara brought the page into the hallway.
"She tried to protect you," Mara said. "And you believed she sold you out."
"I did," he answered. "There isn't an excuse big enough for that."
Rios interrupted. The roll of film had been developed at a police facility. One image showed Daniel leaving a meeting with Vittorio. Another showed Isabella beside a shipping container stamped with an obsolete company logo.
The last frame showed someone behind her, half hidden by a warehouse door.
May you like
Alessandro recognized the man's watch before he recognized the face.
"That's my father's," he said.
