Chapter 13 - THOMAS VALE
Nora refused.
Thomas Vale laughed.
“So much like your mother.”
“Don't talk about her.”
“I loved her.”
“You terrorized her.”
Silence.
Then:
“Giovanni told you that?”
“Did he lie?”
Thomas changed the subject.
“I want to meet you.”
“No.”
“I wasn't asking.”
Lorenzo took the phone.
“You speak to my wife that way again and—”
“Lorenzo Moretti.”
Thomas sounded amused.
“The little prince.”
Lorenzo’s face became expressionless.
“You know who I am.”
“I knew you before you knew yourself.”
“Stay away from my family.”
“You married my daughter. That makes us family.”
Nora looked physically sick.
“No,” she said.
Thomas heard.
“You can hate me later.”
“I already do.”
“I have something you need.”
“What?”
“The truth about Margaret’s death.”
Nora froze.
Her mother had died from cancer.
At least, that was what Nora believed.
Thomas said:
“Margaret Hale did not die naturally.”
The call ended.
Nora nearly dropped the phone.
Within hours, Lorenzo’s investigators reopened Margaret’s medical history.
The official record said ovarian cancer.
But several pages were missing.
And her final doctor no longer existed under the name listed.
Nora spiraled.
Every piece of her childhood seemed to be collapsing.
“I watched her die,” she said.
Lorenzo sat beside her on their bedroom floor.
“I was fourteen. I helped her when she couldn't stand.”
He held her.
“What if somebody poisoned her?”
“We don't know that.”
“She was sick for months.”
“I know.”
“I thought cancer took her.”
Lorenzo tightened his arms.
“We will find out.”
Nora looked at him.
“And if my father did it?”
Lorenzo didn't answer.
She already knew.
Later that day, Alexander joined the family for dinner.
Evelyn insisted despite his injuries.
The atmosphere was surreal.
Giovanni sat across from the son he had never publicly acknowledged.
Lorenzo sat beside the brother he had met one day earlier.
Nora sat beside a mother-in-law-adjacent stranger whose former relationship with Giovanni nobody wanted to discuss.
Lily ate pasta.
“This family is confusing.”
Marcus nearly choked.
Celeste whispered, “Finally, someone said it.”
Even Giovanni smiled.
Then Lily looked at Alexander.
“Why didn't Grandpa know you?”
Alexander answered gently.
“He knew.”
Lily frowned.
“Then why weren't you here?”
Silence.
Giovanni looked ashamed.
Evelyn answered.
“Because adults sometimes make decisions because they're scared.”
“Grandpa isn't scared.”
Nora looked at Giovanni.
“Yes, he is.”
Everyone stared.
Nora continued.
“Everyone is scared sometimes.”
Lily considered this.
Then pointed her fork at Giovanni.
“You should have called him.”
Giovanni nodded.
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
She resumed eating.
Alexander stared at her.
“That's it?”
Lily shrugged.
“You can call now.”
The simplicity broke something in the room.
After dinner, Giovanni found Alexander alone.
“I should have fought harder.”
Alexander did not look at him.
“My mother asked you not to.”
“I accepted too easily.”
“You had Lorenzo.”
Giovanni flinched.
Alexander finally faced him.
“You had a son in your house. I was easier to forget.”
“No.”
“That's how it felt.”
Giovanni nodded slowly.
“I cannot change what you felt.”
Alexander’s anger softened slightly.
“But I can tell you I thought about you every birthday.”
Alexander looked away.
“I hated you every birthday.”
“I deserved some of them.”
“Most.”
“Fair.”
Alexander almost smiled.
Then gunfire erupted outside.
Security lights flooded the lawn.
A drone crashed through the dining room window.
Lorenzo tackled Nora.
Glass exploded.
Marcus shot the drone before it reached the floor.
A small device attached to it began projecting a video onto the wall.
Margaret Hale appeared.
Young.
Terrified.
Nora stopped breathing.
It was a recording.
Her mother looked directly into the camera.
“If Nora ever sees this, Thomas is alive.”
Nora began crying.
Margaret continued.
“And if Thomas is alive, do not believe anything he tells you.”
Then someone off-camera entered the frame.
Margaret looked toward him.
Her face changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
The image froze.
Lorenzo enhanced the final frame.
The man reflected in a mirror behind Margaret became visible.
Giovanni looked at him.
And whispered:
“No.”
Nora turned.
“Who is that?”
Giovanni’s face drained of color.
“Your mother’s doctor.”
Lorenzo stared.
Giovanni added:
“And my brother.”
Nora’s blood turned cold.
“Elias?”
Giovanni shook his head.
May you like
“My other brother.”
A brother Lorenzo had never heard existed.
