Chapter 4 - VIVIAN’S FIRST LIE
The chapel stood at the western end of Villa Moretti.
It was small compared to the rest of the estate.
White candles burned beneath paintings of saints.
A stone altar faced three rows of wooden benches.
Vivian stood behind the priest near the altar.
Her arm was locked around his neck.
A pistol pressed beneath his jaw.
Her crimson gown spread around her feet.
Two wounded guards lay near the entrance.
Both were breathing.
Neither could stand.
Alessandro entered first.
Clara followed with Emma in her arms.
Don Ricci and Cesare remained behind them.
Moretti guards aimed their weapons from every doorway.
Vivian smiled.
“Thank you for accepting my invitation.”
Alessandro stopped ten feet from the altar.
“Release him.”
“No.”
Father Matteo’s face was pale.
A thin line of blood marked his temple.
“Vivian,” he whispered.
“You do not need to do this.”
She tightened her grip.
“You have spent thirty years telling frightened people that confession brings peace.”
Her smile widened.
“Let us test the theory.”
Alessandro kept his pistol lowered.
“What do you want?”
“The key.”
“No.”
“The paper.”
“No.”
“The recording.”
“No.”
Vivian’s expression sharpened.
“You would sacrifice a priest?”
“I would sacrifice no one.”
“You are forcing me to kill him.”
“No.”
Alessandro’s voice remained steady.
“You decided what you were willing to become before we entered this room.”
Vivian’s eyes moved toward Clara.
“This began because of you.”
Clara felt Emma’s arms tighten around her neck.
“No.”
Clara took one step forward.
“This began before I ever entered this house.”
“You should have stayed invisible.”
“You should have kept your hand off my face.”
Vivian’s mouth twisted.
“You think that slap matters?”
“It mattered to my daughter.”
“A maid’s child will forget.”
Emma lifted her head.
“I won’t.”
Vivian stared at her.
Emma’s voice trembled.
“You’re mean.”
Several guards looked away to hide their reactions.
Vivian pressed the pistol harder against the priest.
“Bring me the rabbit.”
Clara held the damaged toy beneath one arm.
“No.”
“Your husband died for what was inside it.”
“You seem disappointed I still have it.”
“I am disappointed Daniel married someone too stupid to understand what he gave her.”
Clara’s anger burned through her fear.
“Yet you needed fourteen years of Alessandro’s trusted security chief, armed men, a blackout, and a priest just to steal a child’s toy.”
Vivian’s face darkened.
Alessandro looked toward Clara briefly.
The smallest hint of approval entered his eyes.
Vivian saw it.
Her fury became immediate.
“You believe he respects you?”
She laughed.
“He is using you.”
“Perhaps.”
Clara held her gaze.
“But he hasn’t slapped me.”
Vivian’s finger tightened on the trigger.
Father Matteo closed his eyes.
Alessandro raised one hand.
“Give her the rabbit.”
Clara turned.
“No.”
“Trust me.”
She did not trust him.
Not completely.
But she trusted Vivian less.
Clara lowered Emma to the floor and handed her to Don Ricci.
Then she walked forward carrying the torn rabbit.
Vivian’s eyes fixed on it.
“Place it on the altar.”
Clara approached slowly.
When she reached the altar, she set the rabbit beside a silver crucifix.
“Step back.”
Clara obeyed.
Vivian released the priest with one arm and reached for the rabbit.
Father Matteo moved.
He dropped suddenly.
Alessandro fired.
The bullet struck Vivian’s pistol.
Metal spun from her hand.
She screamed and stumbled backward.
Clara grabbed the rabbit.
The guards rushed forward.
Vivian pulled a blade from her hair and seized Clara by the shoulders.
The diamond pins scattered across the stone floor.
“Move and she dies.”
Alessandro stopped.
Vivian held the blade against Clara’s cheek.
The same cheek she had slapped.
“You see?” Vivian whispered.
“You should have learned your place.”
Clara stared into the woman’s eyes.
“I know my place.”
She drove the back of her head into Vivian’s mouth.
Vivian cried out.
Clara twisted free.
A guard seized Vivian’s wrist.
Another forced her to the floor.
Her crimson gown twisted around her legs.
For the first time that evening, Vivian looked small.
Her lip bled.
Her blonde hair hung loose around her face.
Clara stood over her.
Emma ran forward.
“Mommy!”
Clara caught her and lifted her into her arms.
Vivian looked up at Alessandro.
“You cannot imprison me.”
“I can.”
“My father will come for me.”
“I am counting on it.”
Alessandro ordered the guards to bind Vivian’s hands.
She began laughing.
“You still do not understand.”
“Explain it.”
Vivian looked toward Clara.
“Daniel was not trying to expose the Circle.”
Clara’s breathing stopped.
“He worked for us.”
“That is a lie.”
“He kept our accounts.”
“That is a lie.”
“He identified which deaths would produce the largest transfers.”
Clara took a step toward her.
“Stop.”
“He chose the roads.”
“Stop.”
“He selected the dates.”
Clara’s vision blurred.
Vivian smiled through the blood on her mouth.
“Your husband was not murdered because he discovered us.”
“He was murdered because he betrayed us.”
Clara could not breathe.
Emma touched her face.
“Mommy?”
Alessandro moved beside her.
“Do not listen.”
Vivian laughed.
“Ask Don Ricci.”
Clara looked toward the older man.
His silence felt like a confession.
“You knew Daniel.”
Don Ricci lowered his eyes.
“How?”
“He attended Circle meetings.”
Clara’s knees weakened.
“How many?”
“At least five.”
“You said you knew of him.”
“I was trying to protect you from information I could not confirm.”
“Protect me?”
Her voice cracked.
“You let me stand here while she told me my husband helped murder your daughter.”
Don Ricci’s face tightened.
“I do not know whether he did.”
Vivian spoke from the floor.
“He did.”
Clara turned toward her.
“Then why hide evidence in Emma’s rabbit?”
“Because he became frightened.”
“Of you?”
“Of what we would do when we learned he was stealing.”
Alessandro crouched in front of Vivian.
“What did he steal?”
She smiled.
“The same thing someone will steal from you before sunrise.”
“What?”
“Your name.”
Alessandro’s expression did not change.
Vivian leaned closer.
“By morning, every family in this house will believe Alessandro Moretti created the Circle.”
Cesare Bellandi laughed once.
“That is impossible.”
Vivian looked toward him.
“Is it?”
The chapel bells began ringing.
No one had touched the ropes.
The sound thundered through the villa.
A guard ran to the nearest window.
Orange light flickered against the glass.
“Fire!”
Alessandro turned.
“Where?”
“The archive wing.”
Don Ricci’s face changed.
“The family records.”
Vivian smiled from the floor.
Smoke began curling beneath the chapel doors.
Then every phone in the room received the same message.
Clara looked at the screen held by the nearest guard.
A photograph had been sent to all twelve families.
May you like
It showed Alessandro standing beside Daniel Bennett.
The date beneath it was three days before Daniel’s supposed death.
