The Maid Knew Where His Mother Was Buried—And His Fiancée Knew Why

Alessandro caught Mara at the loading dock. “Stay behind me.”

Inside, dust hung in the air. A metal door banged somewhere ahead. Officers swept past them, calling for the people inside to show themselves.

They found Victoria in an office with a broken window. She was holding her left arm against her chest. Blood marked her sleeve.

“I wasn’t going to let him take her,” she said when she saw Alessandro.

“Where’s Isabella?”

Victoria pointed toward the lower floor. “He took her through the old cold rooms.”

Alessandro hesitated. He had caught her lying too many times.

Victoria saw it. “I know you don’t believe me. Go look.”

An officer stayed with her while the others went downstairs. Mara followed close enough to hear Isabella’s voice before she saw her.

“Enzo, please. He knows.”

“Then he knows what you did,” Enzo answered.

The cold-room door stood open. Isabella sat on a chair inside, her wrists bound. Enzo stood several feet away. He held a handgun, its barrel angled toward the floor.

Alessandro stopped. Mara stepped out beside him.

Isabella looked up.

For a moment, all Mara could see was how tired her mother was. Then Isabella’s eyes found Alessandro, and tears filled them.

“You got so tall,” she whispered.

He gave a short, broken laugh. “It’s been eighteen years.”

“I know.”

Enzo raised the gun. “Put down the ledger.”

Mara held it against her chest. “You want this because it shows where the money went.”

“It shows what Isabella thought she saw.”

“It shows what Helen helped you hide,” Alessandro said.

Enzo’s hand shook. He was older than the man Alessandro remembered from the funeral, but his voice had the same hard edge.

“You think she’s innocent? Ask her why she waited years to tell the police about the warehouses.”

Isabella closed her eyes.

Mara felt the floor shift beneath her. “Mom?”

“I found the records before I vanished,” Isabella said. “I copied them. But when Enzo found out, he had men outside your school. I agreed to leave. After that, I kept trying to find a way to bring proof forward without putting you both at risk.”

Enzo gave a bitter smile. “She signed a statement saying the accounts were legitimate.”

“I signed it because you threatened my children.”

“And then you ran.”

“I took the child I could reach.”

Alessandro went rigid.

Enzo looked straight at him. “She left you because I made sure she had to.”

A voice rang from the doorway. “Put the gun down, Mr. Romano.”

The detectives had reached them. Enzo turned toward the sound.