Chapter 5 - What Isabelle Already Knew
Victor Vale stepped from the elevator and said, "Your husband is going to kill you if I don't stop him first."
Luca held Elena Marchetti's old photograph beside Victor's face.
A scar crossed the same place that had been scratched from the picture.
The missing man had finally returned.
Victor was seventy-one.
Lean.
Gray-haired.
Expensively dressed.
He did not look like a ghost.
But everyone in the room reacted as though one had arrived.
Vanessa stood behind Isabelle.
"You died."
Victor looked at her.
"No."
"You abandoned us."
His face tightened.
"Yes."
Vanessa slapped him.
The sound made Isabelle flinch.
Victor accepted it without moving.
"I deserved that."
"Why are you here?"
"Because Damien found me."
Isabelle's hand moved to her belly.
"When?"
"Two years ago."
That was before the financial theft.
Before the pregnancy.
Before Vanessa became Damien's mistress.
Everything led back two years.
Victor sat under the watch of Isabelle's brothers and explained.
Damien had discovered an old letter proving Marcus wasn't his biological father.
He traced Victor through shell companies.
Then he made a deal.
Victor would help Damien unlock Marcus's trust.
Damien would help Victor reclaim money Marcus had hidden decades earlier.
"And Vanessa?" Isabelle asked.
Victor looked ashamed.
"I didn't know Damien was involved with her until six months ago."
"Did you tell her?"
"No."
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
"Of course not."
Isabelle studied Victor.
"Did you kill my mother?"
"No."
Samuel stepped forward.
"Her brake lines were cut."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because I was supposed to be driving that car."
Silence.
Victor looked at Isabelle.
"Elena wasn't the target."
The words chilled the room.
Victor explained that he had arranged to meet Elena that night.
He planned to surrender evidence against several criminal partners.
Someone learned.
The car was sabotaged.
Elena arrived first.
She drove it.
She died.
Victor disappeared because he believed the people responsible would kill Vanessa and her mother next.
"Who ordered it?" Isabelle asked.
Victor stared at the floor.
"Marcus."
Samuel exploded.
"That's a lie."
Victor reached into his jacket.
Luca immediately moved.
Victor slowly withdrew a cassette tape.
"Listen."
The recording was old.
Damaged.
But the voice was Marcus's.
"Take care of the car before Victor talks."
Five seconds.
That was all.
Isabelle felt something inside her collapse.
Her biological father had ordered the act that killed her mother.
Or appeared to.
Matteo took the tape.
"Context matters."
Victor nodded.
"That's why I came."
"What context?"
"Marcus wasn't talking about murder."
He had ordered a mechanic to repair Victor's car because he knew someone had tampered with it.
The recording had been edited.
Victor had spent decades believing Marcus responsible because someone sent him only those five seconds.
"Who?"
Victor looked toward the frozen transfer records.
"The same person Damien works for now."
"Name."
Victor hesitated.
Then said:
"Richard Hale."
Isabelle stared.
Damien's business partner.
The man who had acted shocked at the gala.
The man who had confronted Damien publicly.
The man everyone had assumed was another victim.
"Richard was there," Isabelle whispered.
Victor nodded.
"He wanted you to freeze the accounts."
"Why?"
"Because while everyone watches Damien, Richard is moving something much bigger."
Enzo was already at his laptop.
"What?"
Victor looked at Isabelle.
"Your inheritance."
A notification appeared.
One of Marcus's oldest properties had just been pledged as collateral.
The authorization carried Isabelle's digital signature.
She had never signed it.
Matteo leaned closer.
"It's forged."
"For how much?" Luca asked.
Enzo swallowed.
"Seventy-two million."
Isabelle stared at the screen.
Damien had been stealing millions.
Richard Hale was stealing the empire.
And someone had just used her name to do it.
Her phone rang.
Richard Hale.
Everyone stared.
Isabelle answered.
"Richard."
"Isabelle, thank God. Are you safe?"
She looked at Victor.
"Yes."
"You need to get away from your brothers."
Luca's eyebrows rose.
"Why?"
"They're not telling you everything."
"Neither are you."
A pause.
Then Richard sighed.
"Damien is dangerous."
"I noticed."
"He knows where you are."
Isabelle's eyes moved toward the windows.
"How?"
Another pause.
Too long.
Then Richard said something that made every person in the room freeze.
"Because one of your brothers told him."
The line disconnected.
Isabelle slowly looked at Luca.
Then Matteo.
Then Enzo.
Three brothers.
Three men she trusted more than anyone alive.
One of their phones vibrated.
Not hers.
Not Luca's.
Not Matteo's.
Enzo looked down.
A message appeared on his screen.
SHE KNOWS. GET OUT NOW.
Isabelle stared at her youngest brother.
May you like
Enzo's face went white.
Then someone began pounding on the front door...
