Chapter 7 - The Secret of the First Accident
Antonio was discharged from the hospital three days later and transferred to a private recovery residence under police protection.
Luca visited him every morning.
He didn't know how to forgive his father, but he couldn't abandon him.
On the fourth morning, Antonio asked him to bring Clara.
"I owe her the truth," he said.
Clara sat beside the bed, hands folded in her lap.
Antonio took a long breath.
"Your mother, Maria, wasn't killed by a drunk driver."
Luca stared at him.
"Then who killed her?"
"Richard Sterling."
The room seemed to lose its air.
Antonio explained that Maria had discovered irregularities in the Moretti company's charitable medical fund. Money intended for children's hospitals had been diverted through shell organizations controlled by Richard Sterling and Vincent.
Maria had collected documents and planned to give them to a prosecutor.
"She told me she was going to expose everything," Antonio said. "I begged her to wait. I was afraid the scandal would destroy the family."
Luca's face hardened.
"So you let her go alone?"
Antonio nodded, tears slipping down his cheeks.
"She left the estate that night. Richard followed her. The car went off the road. The police called it an accident because the evidence had been altered."
"And you knew?"
"I knew Richard had threatened her. I suspected he had arranged the crash. But I couldn't prove it, and Vincent convinced me that if I kept quiet, you and Gabriel would be safe."
Luca rose and walked to the window.
For years, he had believed his mother had died because of a stranger's recklessness.
Instead, she had died trying to expose the corruption that had infected their family.
"And Gabriel found the evidence," Luca said.
Antonio nodded.
"He discovered the original medical fund records. He was going to take them to the authorities. Vincent learned about it and ordered him stopped."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this?"
"Because I was a coward."
The answer hung in the room.
Antonio did not try to excuse himself.
"I told myself I was protecting you. In truth, I was protecting my reputation and the business. Every day I remained silent made it harder to speak."
Luca turned back.
"Did Richard Sterling kill Gabriel himself?"
"No. Vincent arranged it. Richard supplied the men and helped cover the evidence. Vanessa was involved afterward, when Vincent used her fear to keep me isolated."
Clara spoke softly.
"Why did you trust her with your care?"
Antonio looked at her.
"Because she knew what her father had done. I thought she might finally help expose it."
Vanessa had not simply been trying to keep a dying old man away from a wedding.
She had been trying to keep him from revealing a crime that implicated her own family.
Luca sat down again.
"Where are the original records?"
Antonio reached beneath his pillow and pulled out a small envelope.
"Gabriel hid a copy with someone he trusted. A former accountant named Evelyn Shaw. She left the country after his death, but she sent me this address last month."
Luca opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter and a photograph of a woman standing outside a small house near Boston.
The letter read:
I have the original ledger and the medical fund records. I will testify if someone can guarantee my safety.
At the bottom was a phone number.
Luca immediately called Marco.
"Find Evelyn Shaw. Tell her we're ready to protect her and deliver the evidence to the prosecutor."
Then he turned to his father.
"You're going to testify too."
Antonio nodded.
"I will."
"You may lose everything."
"I should have lost it years ago."
For the first time since the wedding, Luca believed his father meant it.
But as Marco prepared to leave, a message arrived on Luca's phone from an unknown number.
A photograph showed Evelyn Shaw standing outside her house.
May you like
Beneath it were six words:
SHE WON'T LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO TALK.
