Chapter 5 - What She Knew
“Daniel made unfortunate choices,” Vittoria said.
My skin went cold.
Daniel had died eighteen months earlier in a crash on an icy road.
A delivery truck.
A guardrail.
A police officer standing on our porch with his hat in his hands.
I looked at Lorenzo.
He looked back without understanding.
“What is she talking about?” he whispered.
I couldn’t answer.
Vittoria’s voice filled the dark room.
“You have worked so hard to give Emma a good life. Don’t throw that away for a man who never bothered to learn your name.”
That part landed because it was true.
Rosa reached for the speaker switch and shut it off.
“Cruelty isn’t proof,” she told me.
I swallowed.
“My husband drove for Duca Freight.”
Lorenzo’s face tightened.
“That company is under Vittoria’s office.”
“Convenient.”
“Nora—”
“Don’t.”
Emma began crying quietly against my neck.
Not a tantrum.
That was worse.
I kissed her damp hair.
“I’m here. I’ve got you.”
Rosa found a battery lantern.
Its light made everyone look sick.
I checked Lorenzo’s dressing. More blood had soaked through.
“We need the ambulance inside.”
“They’ll meet resistance,” he said.
“Then you’d better start thinking like someone who owns this place.”
He looked toward the ceiling.
“The loading entrance. Manual shutters. There’s a release beside the old bakery.”
Rosa nodded.
“I have the key.”
“Can we reach it?”
“Through the service hall.”
I took the ledger from my pocket.
A folded sheet slipped out.
It held delivery dates, payment amounts, and names.
Halfway down the page, I saw Daniel Bell.
Beside his name were two words.
REFUSED TRANSFER.
Underneath, in different handwriting:
SETTLED.
I stared until the letters blurred.
Lorenzo leaned toward me.
“Nora. What does it say?”
I showed him.
He read it once.
Then again.
“I don’t know what this means,” he said.
That was the only answer I could have believed.
From the other side of the linen-room door came a soft knock.
No pounding.
No shouting.
“Nora,” Marco said. “I have Daniel’s last message.”
May you like
I stopped breathing.
“Open the door, and you can hear what your husband was trying to tell you.”
