Chapter 13 - VICTORIA’S CHOICE
Victoria slammed the cold-room door shut between Enzo and the detectives.
For one confused second, Alessandro, Mara, and Isabella were locked inside with him.
“Victoria!” Alessandro shouted.
“I’m getting them out,” she called through the metal.
The detectives ordered her away from the door. The latch scraped. It would not move.
Enzo backed toward Isabella. His gun was still in his hand, but his attention had shifted to the sound outside.
Alessandro stepped between them. “This ends here.”
“You don’t get to decide that.”
“No,” Isabella said. “I should have decided years ago.”
She rose from the chair. The loose rope around one wrist fell away; she had been working at it while Enzo spoke. She moved behind Alessandro, toward Mara.
Outside, metal struck metal. Victoria had jammed the latch with a pipe when she slammed it, and the detectives were forcing it open.
Enzo heard Isabella move. He reached for her.
Alessandro caught his arm. They struggled, knocking into a shelf. The gun fell and skidded across the floor. Mara kicked it under a freezer unit.
The door burst open. Officers pulled Enzo away and secured him.
Isabella put both hands on Mara’s face. “Are you hurt?”
Mara shook her head, and then she was crying too hard to speak.
Alessandro stood a few feet away. Isabella reached toward him but stopped short.
“I wanted to come back for you.”
“I know,” he said. “I read your note.”
It was not forgiveness. Mara could hear how much he still needed to ask her. But he stayed when Isabella took his hand.
Upstairs, an officer was questioning Victoria. Her injured arm had been bandaged. She looked up as they passed.
“I stopped him from taking Isabella to the river,” she told Alessandro.
“You also brought her here.”
Victoria had no answer.
“You watched me search for my mother,” Mara said. “You knew she was alive.”
“I knew she might be,” Victoria replied. “My mother’s files were a mess. I thought if I found Isabella, I could get the truth.”
“You found her. Then you used her to get the ledger.”
Victoria looked down.
A detective asked Mara to come outside and identify the phone she’d used for Isabella’s call. As she reached the loading dock, Daniel hurried toward them.
“I found something in Enzo’s car,” he said.
It was a folder of recent bank transfers. The largest had been sent to an account Victoria controlled.
The date was that morning.
May you like
Alessandro looked back toward the stairs. Victoria had followed them close enough to see the folder.
“Tell me,” he said, “what was he paying you to do?”
