Chapter 7 - A MOTHER'S DARKEST SECRET
Luca couldn't speak.
The room seemed to contract around him. He heard the faint hum of the recorder, the drip of water somewhere in the walls, and Sophie's sharp intake of breath.
His mother had killed his father.
The man whose funeral he'd attended.
The man whose death had shaped every decision Luca had made since.
“Tell me she's lying,” he said to Thomas.
Thomas looked away.
Luca turned back to Eleanor.
“Why?”
His mother folded her hands in her lap.
“Your father had become dangerous. He was preparing to have Gabriel arrested, and he intended to send Isabella away permanently. He said the child was a weakness the family couldn't afford.”
“So you killed him?”
“I wanted to stop him. I thought the poison would make him sick enough to force him to the hospital. I didn't know the dose was fatal.”
“Who gave it to you?”
Eleanor's lips trembled.
“Lydia.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Your sister gave you poison?”
“She told me it was a sedative. She said Dominic needed to sleep before he made a decision he couldn't reverse.”
Luca felt sick.
“And you believed her?”
“I wanted to believe her.”
“Did you call for help?”
“Yes. But when I returned to the study, your father was already dead. Lydia told me the family would be destroyed if the truth came out. She said Gabriel would be blamed, and you would be next.”
Eleanor reached for her son's hand.
“I was frightened. I let her convince me to keep silent.”
Luca pulled away.
For a moment, Eleanor's face crumpled as though she'd been struck.
“I know you hate me,” she whispered.
“I don't know what I feel.”
“That is fair.”
He stood and walked toward the shelves, needing distance from the woman who had raised him.
Sophie followed him into the narrow corridor outside the chamber.
“Luca.”
“Don't.”
“I wasn't going to tell you how to feel.”
“Everyone in this house knew something. My mother knew. Vanessa knew. Gabriel knew. Even you knew there was a letter. I'm the only idiot who believed the story I was given.”
“You weren't an idiot. You were a son.”
He laughed bitterly.
“And what does that make me now?”
“A man who has a chance to stop the people who did this.”
He looked at her.
“Do you think my mother deserves forgiveness?”
“I think she deserves to tell the truth. Forgiveness is something you decide later.”
The words settled between them.
For the first time, Luca noticed how tired Sophie looked. She had spent eleven months caring for his mother while carrying a secret her own mother had entrusted to her.
“Why did you stay?” he asked.
“Because Mrs. Moretti was kind to me. Because my mother loved this family before she understood what it had become. And because I thought if I walked away, the truth would disappear with me.”
Luca reached for her hand, then stopped.
“I'm sorry about Vanessa hurting you.”
Sophie glanced down at her wrist.
“I'm not asking you to rescue me, sir.”
“I know.”
“Then stop looking at me like I'm another problem you have to solve.”
Despite everything, a faint smile touched his mouth.
“That's the first sensible thing anyone has said to me in days.”
A noise echoed from the chamber.
Thomas shouted.
Luca and Sophie rushed back.
The desk had been overturned. The ledger was gone.
So was Vanessa.
One of the guards lay unconscious near the staircase.
Thomas knelt beside him.
“She struck him with a metal lamp. Then she took the ledger and ran through the passage.”
Luca swore.
“Seal the tunnel.”
“Already done. But there's another exit.”
“Where?”
Thomas pointed toward the far wall.
“Under the old chapel.”
Luca's phone rang.
Gabriel.
“Did you listen to the tape?” his brother asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you know what Mother did.”
“I know what she believes she did.”
“Luca, stop protecting her. She helped Lydia cover up Father's murder.”
“And what about Claire?”
Gabriel fell silent.
“Did you kill her?” Luca demanded.
“No.”
“Did you know who did?”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
“Not over the phone. Meet me at the old ferry terminal. Bring Sophie.”
“Why Sophie?”
“Because she's the only one who can identify the person who ordered Claire's death.”
Luca glanced at her.
“Why would she know?”
Gabriel's voice grew urgent.
“Because Margaret Bennett was there that night. And Sophie has her mother's eyes.”
The call ended.
Luca stared at the screen.
Sophie looked pale.
“My mother never told me she witnessed a murder.”
“Maybe she was trying to protect you,” Luca said.
“From what?”
Before he could answer, Thomas's phone buzzed.
A photograph appeared.
Vanessa stood beside a black car, the ledger in her hand.
Behind her was Detective Samuel Cross.
Beneath the image was a message.
BRING THE GIRL, OR THE OLD WOMAN DIES.
Luca looked toward Eleanor.
His mother had vanished from the chamber.
On the desk lay a single sheet of paper in her handwriting.
I have to finish what I started.
And below it, one final line:
May you like
Do not come after me.
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