Chapter 9 - The Will Nobody Saw
Maria’s apartment looked like a storm had passed through it.
Drawers open.
Pictures smashed.
Cabinets emptied.
No blood.
That was something.
Detective Mills searched while Alessandro stood in his mother’s bedroom.
“Original will,” he muttered.
Nathan looked around.
“If Vittorio had another will, where would he hide it?”
Alessandro thought about his father.
Old-fashioned.
Suspicious.
Obsessed with privacy.
Then he remembered something from childhood.
The chessboard.
His father never let anyone touch it.
Alessandro crossed the room to a built-in bookshelf.
An antique wooden chess set sat on the top shelf.
It had belonged to Vittorio.
He lifted it.
Heavy.
Too heavy.
He turned it over.
A small latch.
Inside was an envelope.
ALESSANDRO.
His hands went cold.
He opened it.
The document inside had been signed four days before Vittorio died.
The first pages were ordinary.
Property.
Accounts.
Trusts.
Then Alessandro reached the shares.
Fifty percent to Alessandro.
Twenty percent to Maria.
Thirty percent to—
Enzo Romano.
Alessandro stared.
His father had planned to acknowledge him.
There was more.
A handwritten letter.
Alessandro,
If you are reading this, then I failed to tell you something while I still had time. Enzo is my son. None of this is his fault. I was the coward.
Alessandro stopped reading for a moment.
Then continued.
I have also discovered that money has been taken from the company. I believe Enzo is involved. I intend to confront him tomorrow. If anything happens to me, do not assume my death was natural.
Alessandro’s chest tightened.
“Sarah.”
Detective Mills crossed the room.
He handed her the letter.
Her expression changed as she read.
“This is evidence.”
“Against Enzo?”
“Possibly.”
“Of my father’s murder?”
“Possibly.”
Alessandro rubbed his forehead.
Four years.
His father might have known he was going to die.
And nobody had listened.
Mills’ phone rang.
She answered.
Then quickly put it on speaker.
A surveillance unit had located Isabella’s vehicle.
Parking garage near St. Vincent’s Hospital.
“Hospital?” Alessandro asked.
Mills looked at him.
“Your mother has a heart condition, right?”
Alessandro’s stomach dropped.
He called Maria’s cardiologist.
No answer.
Then Isabella texted him.
A photograph.
Maria lay unconscious in a hospital bed.
Beside her was a glass of water.
And a small white pill.
BRING THE WILL. ALONE.
Alessandro immediately headed for the door.
Mills blocked him.
“You’re not going alone.”
“She’ll kill my mother.”
“She may kill you too.”
“Then you follow without being seen.”
Mills studied him.
“You understand she may be baiting you.”
“She is.”
“And you’re still going?”
Alessandro opened the door.
“My mother spent her whole life cleaning up my father’s secrets.”
May you like
His eyes hardened.
“I’m not letting her die because of one more.”
