Chapter 12 - The Woman Who Finally Answered
Vanessa didn’t raise her voice.
“What do you want me to bring?”
“The papers you stole.”
“And then what?”
“We finish this.”
“Sal’s name?”
A pause.
“What about it?”
“You blamed him.”
“An old driver with unexpected money.
People understand that story.”
Mara wrote the time on a legal pad while Vanessa’s attorney listened beside her.
Nobody treated the call like a miracle.
We already had enough painful experience with half a story.
Vanessa’s hand shook.
“I want you to leave Noah alone.”
“Then start behaving like his mother.”
She almost folded.
I saw it happen.
Her shoulders lowered.
Her mouth opened for the apology he expected.
Then Noah laughed in the kitchen.
Sal had put a napkin over his own head and announced that he was officially terrible at sewing.
Vanessa looked toward the sound.
“I’m trying to,” she said.
Victor went silent.
Then he gave her an address and a time.
His office.
Ten the next morning.
After the call, her attorney was clear.
“You are not going there alone.
You are not going there at all without a plan that protects you.”
By then, investigators were reviewing the records.
Mara had delivered copies, the threatening messages, and details of both break-ins.
What happened next would be their decision.
Luca hated that.
I found him in the garage beside the wagon.
The broken glass had been swept away.
He ran a thumb over a scratch on the rear door.
“My father kept evidence in a car.”
“Maybe he ran out of people he trusted.”
“He should have told me.”
“Sal tried.”
Luca nodded once.
That hurt him.
I could tell.
After a while, he asked, “Why did you bring Sal into dinner?”
I thought about saying something noble.
Instead, I told him the truth.
“My mother cleaned offices.
One Christmas, her boss gave everyone a restaurant gift card except her.
Said he forgot she was staff.”
Luca looked at me.
“She cried in the car.
Then told me not to make a big deal out of it.”
“So you made a big deal out of this.”
“I was tired of watching people carry their shame when somebody else earned it.”
He lowered his head.
Inside the house, Mara called our names.
Investigators had found the company behind the account that funded Sal’s payment.
Its listed manager was Victor’s longtime assistant.
And that assistant had just agreed to speak.
May you like
There was one condition.
He wanted protection before Victor realized he had kept a second set of records.
