Chapter 3 - My Mother’s Secret
My mother had been lying to me for eleven years.
I discovered that before lunch.
Isabella Duca was seventy-one years old, elegant even when illness confined her to the private suite upstairs. After a stroke eighteen months earlier, she used a wheelchair and rarely left the estate.
She had also apparently owned Hawthorne Advisory since I was twenty-seven.
"Don't confront her," Rocco warned.
We were standing in the garage beneath the mansion, far from staff and cameras.
"My mother?"
"Anyone."
"You think she's involved?"
"I think we don't know who's involved."
That distinction mattered.
I had survived because I learned not to confuse suspicion with proof.
"Daniel Marquez worked for Hawthorne."
Rocco nodded.
"Seven years."
"And died three years ago."
"Six weeks after requesting access to archived financial records."
"What records?"
"We haven't found them."
I thought about Elena.
She knew more.
I found her that afternoon in the greenhouse.
Mia was asleep on a cushioned bench while Elena trimmed dead leaves from my mother's orchids.
"Daniel wasn't just an accountant."
The scissors stopped.
I closed the door.
"I know Hawthorne belonged to my mother."
Elena stared at me.
"Does Isabella know you know?"
"No."
"Keep it that way."
"Why?"
She set the scissors down.
"Because I don't know whether she's protecting you or protecting herself."
That hurt more than I expected.
"My mother built half of what this family owns."
"I know."
"Then tell me what Daniel discovered."
Elena looked toward Mia.
"Three years ago, Daniel noticed payments routed through Hawthorne to companies that didn't exist. He thought someone was stealing from the Duca family."
"How much?"
"Millions."
"Why didn't he come to me?"
"He tried."
I went still.
"What?"
"Twice."
"I never heard from him."
"Exactly."
Elena reached beneath her collar and pulled out a thin chain.
A small brass key hung from it.
"Daniel became frightened when his requests to meet you disappeared. Then somebody searched our apartment."
"Who?"
"We never found out."
She closed her fist around the key.
"The night before he died, Daniel told me that if anything happened to him, I was supposed to get inside this house."
"So that's why you took the job."
"Yes."
"You've been investigating my family."
"I've been trying to learn who killed my husband."
Her eyes filled with tears, but none fell.
I couldn't blame her.
"What does the key open?"
"I don't know."
"Daniel didn't tell you?"
"He said I'd know when I found it."
Footsteps sounded outside.
Elena shoved the key beneath her dress.
Vivien entered.
"There you are."
She looked from Elena to me.
Again, that flash of suspicion.
"I've been looking everywhere for you, darling."
"Why?"
"The wedding planner is here."
I'd forgotten.
Our wedding was twelve days away.
"Tell her we're postponing."
Vivien's face emptied.
"What?"
I deliberately smiled.
"Business problem. I may need to travel."
"For how long?"
"A week. Maybe two."
"We've already postponed once."
"I know."
Her eyes flicked toward Elena.
Then back to me.
"Can we speak privately?"
"Tonight."
I kissed her forehead.
She left.
Elena exhaled.
"She knows something changed."
"Good."
"Good?"
"People make mistakes when they're nervous."
That evening, Vivien made hers.
She entered my study at 11:20.
I wasn't there.
But the camera Rocco had installed six hours earlier was.
Vivien locked the door.
She went directly to my desk.
She searched the drawers.
Then the cabinet.
Then my safe.
She knew the combination.
I'd given it to her months earlier.
Inside, we'd deliberately placed a fake investigative report.
Vivien found it.
She photographed every page.
Then she made a call.
The camera had audio.
"He's looking into Hawthorne," she whispered.
A pause.
"No, I don't think he knows about Daniel."
Another pause.
Then:
"We need to move Isabella before he finds the ledger."
My blood turned cold.
Rocco paused the recording.
"Ledger."
"The key."
"What?"
I stood.
"Daniel gave Elena a key."
We found Elena in the staff wing.
Mia was asleep.
Elena followed us to Isabella's suite.
My mother was awake.
She looked annoyed when we entered.
"Lorenzo, it is nearly midnight."
"What's the ledger?"
Her expression changed.
Barely.
Enough.
"Close the door."
I did.
Elena stepped forward.
My mother's eyes widened.
"Daniel's wife."
"You knew him?"
"Of course."
Isabella looked at Elena for a long moment.
"I'm sorry."
Elena stiffened.
"Why?"
"For failing him."
My mother turned toward me.
"Hawthorne was created by your father and me as an emergency reserve. Money outside the visible Duca network. Insurance against enemies."
"Vivien knows about it."
"I know."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because Vivien isn't the person I'm afraid of."
Silence filled the room.
"Who?"
Isabella looked toward the door.
Then whispered a name.
"Rocco."
Elena gasped.
I didn't.
I couldn't.
Rocco had practically raised me.
My father trusted him.
I trusted him.
"That's impossible."
"I thought so too."
My mother opened a drawer.
Empty.
Her face changed.
"The ledger."
"Gone?"
"It was here this morning."
Elena pulled out Daniel's key.
Isabella stared at it.
"Where did you get that?"
"Daniel."
My mother's hands began trembling.
"That's not for the ledger."
"What is it for?"
Isabella looked at me.
"Your father's private archive."
My father had been dead eleven years.
I thought I knew every secret he'd left behind.
Apparently not.
"Where?"
"Behind the old wine cellar."
A sound came from the hallway.
We all turned.
The handle moved.
Locked.
Then stopped.
A second later, my phone rang.
Rocco.
I answered.
"Yes?"
His voice was calm.
"Lorenzo, where are you?"
I looked at my mother.
She shook her head slowly.
"In bed."
A pause.
Then Rocco said:
"Good. Stay there."
May you like
The line disconnected.
And outside my mother's locked bedroom, somebody began turning a key.
