Chapter 4 - The Night They Both Lied About
Veronica went white.
Marcus noticed.
That frightened him more than the note.
"What aren't you telling me?"
"Not here."
"Veronica."
"Not in front of Amelia."
This time Marcus listened.
Raymond took Amelia downstairs while Marcus led Veronica into his study.
She refused to sit.
"You remember that night," Marcus said.
"Of course I remember."
"Then explain the note."
"I can't."
His eyes hardened.
"Can't or won't?"
She looked toward the door.
"Both."
Marcus moved closer.
"Someone knows about Amelia. Someone knows about us. Whatever secret you're protecting has already stopped protecting her."
Veronica flinched.
He regretted the words immediately.
But they were true.
She sank into a chair.
"The night we were together wasn't the first strange thing that happened."
Marcus waited.
"You came home bleeding."
"I remember."
"You said it was nothing."
"It wasn't."
"I know that now."
She rubbed her palms together.
"Before you came into the kitchen, I heard Giovanni arguing with your father."
Marcus's expression changed.
"About what?"
"You."
She finally looked at him.
"Your father wanted Giovanni to replace you."
Marcus laughed once without humor.
"My father wanted a lot of things."
"Giovanni said you would never step aside."
"And?"
"Your father said you wouldn't have a choice once the board saw you were unstable."
Marcus became still.
Veronica continued.
"They were planning something. I didn't understand what. Then they heard me."
"Did they see you?"
"Giovanni did."
"And you never told me?"
"You came into the kitchen five minutes later with blood on your shirt. I wasn't exactly thinking clearly."
Marcus remembered.
Veronica cleaning his wound.
Her fingers trembling.
Him asking why she was afraid.
Her answering, I'm not afraid of you.
He had kissed her.
She had kissed him back.
For six years, he'd remembered that night as one reckless moment of weakness.
Now it looked different.
"What happened afterward?"
"Nothing until I discovered I was pregnant."
"Who knew?"
"My doctor."
"Anyone here?"
"No."
Marcus watched her.
"You're holding something back."
Tears appeared in her eyes, but she blinked them away.
"Two days before I was fired, your father stopped me in the hallway."
Marcus's blood chilled.
"What did he say?"
"He asked whether I was feeling well."
"That's it?"
"He looked at my stomach."
Marcus stopped breathing.
"He knew."
"I think so."
"How?"
"I don't know."
Marcus walked to the window.
Vittorio Duca had died four years earlier.
Dead men were difficult to interrogate.
But they left records.
"Raymond."
The door opened almost instantly.
"Find everything my father did during Veronica's last month here. Calls, doctors, payments, everything."
Raymond nodded.
Veronica stood.
"Marcus."
He looked at her.
"There's more."
His face hardened.
"Of course there is."
"The money wasn't why I signed."
"What?"
She swallowed.
"Raymond told me no police, no questions. But before I went into your office, Giovanni found me."
Marcus said nothing.
"He told me if I fought the accusation, your father would find out about the pregnancy."
"Giovanni knew?"
"I hadn't told him. He just knew."
Marcus's hand closed into a fist.
"What exactly did he say?"
Veronica remembered every word.
"He said, 'If you want your baby to grow up outside this family, sign whatever Marcus gives you and disappear.'"
Marcus turned away.
For six years, he had hated Veronica for stealing money.
For six years, Veronica had believed Giovanni helped her escape.
Now neither story made sense.
A knock came.
Raymond returned carrying a tablet.
"Found something."
Marcus took it.
A payment record.
Vittorio had transferred $75,000 to a private obstetrician three days before Veronica's dismissal.
Another payment went to an investigator.
A third to a company specializing in private genetic testing.
Veronica stared.
"He tested something?"
Raymond nodded.
"We found an archived laboratory invoice."
Marcus read it.
Prenatal relationship analysis.
His face became unreadable.
"Sample A. Sample B."
Veronica shook her head.
"I never gave them anything."
"They may not have needed your permission."
Marcus remembered something.
The blood.
His blood.
The night Veronica cleaned his wound.
A towel had disappeared afterward.
"No."
Veronica understood.
"Your father had your DNA."
"And somehow he got enough biological material from you."
Her hand flew to her mouth.
"The bathroom."
"What?"
"I got sick at work. I thought it was food poisoning. One of the housekeepers brought me water."
Marcus stared.
"Who?"
Veronica searched her memory.
"Teresa."
Marcus looked at Raymond.
"Find her."
"She died three years ago."
Of course.
Marcus read further.
Then he reached the result.
Probability of biological relationship.
99.8%.
His father had known.
Before Marcus.
Before Veronica was fired.
Before Amelia had even been born.
Vittorio Duca had known Veronica carried his granddaughter.
"Why send her away?" Raymond asked.
Marcus already understood.
"Because an heir changes succession."
Veronica frowned.
"She wasn't even born."
"In my family, that doesn't matter."
Vittorio had been trying to remove Marcus from control.
If Marcus had a child, especially one whose existence could later strengthen his position, Giovanni's path narrowed.
Veronica's firing had never been about forty thousand dollars.
The theft was theater.
She had been removed because she was pregnant.
Suddenly the study door opened.
Amelia stood there.
Everyone froze.
"What's an heir?"
Veronica hurried toward her.
"Sweetheart—"
"And why does it change succession?"
Marcus stared at Raymond.
"You were supposed to watch her."
"She said she needed the bathroom."
"I did," Amelia said. "Then I heard people talking."
Veronica crouched.
"You can't listen at doors."
"Everybody in this house listens at doors."
Marcus coughed to hide a laugh.
Veronica shot him a look.
Amelia turned toward Marcus.
"Am I an heir?"
He crouched beside Veronica.
"Technically, you're my daughter."
"I know that."
"Which means some people might think you're important because of my family."
"I'm already important."
Marcus blinked.
Veronica smiled despite herself.
"Yes," Marcus said softly. "You are."
"Then what's different?"
Nothing, he wanted to say.
Everything, was the truth.
Before he could answer, the lights went out.
The mansion fell into darkness.
Raymond reached for his weapon.
Marcus grabbed Veronica and Amelia and pulled them behind the desk.
A second later, glass shattered downstairs.
Men shouted.
An alarm began screaming.
Emergency lights flashed red.
Marcus pressed Amelia against his chest.
"Stay down."
She trembled.
For the first time since meeting her, she had no questions.
Marcus looked toward Veronica.
Fear filled her eyes.
Not fear for herself.
For their daughter.
Footsteps thundered outside.
Raymond spoke into his radio.
No response.
"Communications are down."
Marcus drew his weapon.
Veronica stared at him.
"This is your safe house?"
"It's having a bad evening."
Even terrified, she looked offended.
Then a voice came through the mansion's internal speaker system.
"Marcus."
He froze.
Giovanni.
"Brother," the voice continued. "I think it's time we finally told Veronica why she was really allowed to leave."
Veronica stared at Marcus.
Marcus's face changed.
"Allowed?"
Giovanni laughed through the speakers.
"You still don't understand, do you?"
A pause.
Then came the sentence that shattered six years of assumptions.
"Father didn't order Veronica's disappearance."
May you like
Marcus tightened his grip on the gun.
"I did."
