Chapter 8
Nobody spoke for several seconds.
Dad looked at his phone as if it had become something dangerous.
“My mother is dead.”
His assistant sounded close to tears.
“I know.”
“Then who did you see?”
“I don’t know.”
Dad demanded security footage.
We drove directly to Moretti Shipping.
Lily stayed with police and Mom in a protected hotel suite.
I hated leaving her.
But after she fell asleep clutching my sweater, Detective Brooks promised two officers would remain outside the room.
At the company headquarters, Dad’s assistant met us in the lobby.
Her face was pale.
“The woman went upstairs.”
“When?”
“Twenty minutes before I called.”
“Did she leave?”
“We didn’t see her leave.”
Police searched the building floor by floor.
Nothing.
Then we watched the camera footage.
At 6:42 p.m., an elderly woman entered through the private garage.
She wore a black coat.
A scarf covered most of her hair.
But when she looked toward the camera, Dad gasped.
I understood why.
She looked exactly like Grandmother Elena.
Same narrow face.
Same eyes.
Same posture.
But she could not be my grandmother.
I had attended her funeral.
I had touched her coffin.
“Could it be old footage?” Marcello asked.
“No,” the security manager said.
The timestamp was live.
Dad watched the woman enter his office.
Six minutes later, the camera went dark.
When it returned, nobody exited.
Detective Brooks searched Dad’s office.
Grandfather’s portrait had been moved.
Behind it was the safe Adrian described.
Open.
Empty.
Dad whispered, “Someone got here first.”
Elena examined the safe.
“No forced entry.”
“Adrian knew the code.”
“So did whoever came in.”
I looked at the hallway.
“Where could she go without appearing on camera?”
Dad frowned.
“There used to be a private stairwell.”
He moved toward a bookcase.
Behind it, hidden by wood panels, was an old service door.
The stairwell led to the archive level.
Police searched downstairs.
Then an officer shouted.
We found the woman inside a records room.
She didn’t resist.
When police brought her into the light, Dad stared.
“Celeste.”
Mom’s sister.
She looked incredibly similar to Grandmother.
Older now.
Thin.
Silver-haired.
But unmistakably the woman from Lily’s kidnapping.
Marcello clenched his fists.
“You took my niece.”
Celeste looked at him calmly.
“I kept her safe.”
I almost attacked her.
Detective Brooks stopped me.
“You kidnapped my daughter.”
“I prevented Adrian from doing something worse.”
“By taking her?”
“Adrian wanted leverage.”
“So did you.”
Celeste looked away.
Police searched her coat.
Inside they found passports.
Cash.
And a flash drive.
No documents from the safe.
Dad asked, “Where are they?”
Celeste smiled sadly.
“Your father’s secrets?”
“Yes.”
“Gone.”
“Who took them?”
She looked toward the doorway.
“Adrian.”
“But you opened the safe.”
“I arrived after him.”
Detective Brooks frowned.
“Then why are you here?”
Celeste looked at me.
“To surrender.”
Nobody expected that.
She sat down.
“I’m tired.”
Marcello laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
“You think I don’t know what I’ve done?”
“You abducted a child.”
Her face tightened.
“I know.”
“And Sofia?”
“I never wanted Sofia hurt.”
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Celeste looked ashamed.
“She was supposed to give birth safely and disappear with enough money to start again.”
“That is still trafficking.”
“Yes.”
Her answer silenced me.
No excuses.
Just yes.
Detective Brooks asked about Adrian.
Celeste sighed.
“He stopped caring about the original plan months ago.”
“What changed?”
“He discovered evidence that Lorenzo’s father had framed him.”
Dad stared.
“So the company no longer mattered?”
“It mattered.”
Celeste looked at him.
“But proving he wasn’t the thief mattered more.”
“Then why target my children?”
“Because Adrian became what your father told everyone he was.”
Dad flinched.
“He spent so long planning revenge that revenge became his identity.”
Celeste started crying.
“I loved him once.”
Mom stood in the doorway.
Celeste looked at her.
“Sister.”
Mom’s face was hard.
“Don’t.”
Celeste lowered her gaze.
“I know.”
I had never seen Mom so cold.
“You used my granddaughter.”
“I protected her.”
“You took her from her mother.”
Celeste cried.
“I know.”
“Then stop calling it protection.”
Silence.
Celeste nodded.
“You’re right.”
For the first time, I understood that justice would not feel clean.
There were no simple villains anymore.
Only people who had made terrible choices for complicated reasons.
Except Lily.
Sofia.
Marcello.
They had simply been used.
Detective Brooks inserted Celeste’s flash drive into an isolated computer.
It contained recordings.
Dozens.
Adrian had secretly recorded Victor.
Isabella.
Celeste.
Even himself.
The files documented the entire conspiracy.
Fraud.
Forged medical records.
The illegal adoption scheme.
Foundation theft.
Surveillance.
Everything.
Marcello stared at the screen.
“Why keep evidence against himself?”
Celeste answered.
“Insurance.”
The final file was different.
It was recorded only that morning.
Adrian sat alone.
“I know police will eventually find this.”
He looked exhausted.
“I’m finished running.”
Dad stepped closer.
Adrian continued.
“Lorenzo, Father did frame me.”
“But I still chose what came afterward.”
Dad’s eyes filled.
“I chose bitterness.”
“I chose manipulation.”
“I chose innocent people as weapons.”
He looked down.
“Those choices belong to me.”
Then he raised his eyes.
“There is one thing left.”
Detective Brooks leaned closer.
Adrian named a location.
The old family cemetery.
“Tomorrow. Noon.”
Marcello whispered, “A meeting?”
Adrian continued.
“I will bring the original ledgers.”
Dad looked stunned.
“They still exist.”
“Yes.”
Adrian seemed to answer him from the recording.
“And I will surrender them.”
Then his face hardened.
“But Victor escaped custody during transport thirty minutes ago.”
Everyone froze.
Detective Brooks immediately grabbed her radio.
Nobody had told her yet.
Adrian continued.
“He will come after Sofia.”
My heart raced.
“He knows she can identify everyone.”
Marcello was already calling the hospital.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Then Detective Brooks received confirmation.
Victor had escaped.
Two officers were injured.
Marcello ran.
We reached the hospital fifteen minutes later.
Sofia’s room was empty.
The bed sheets were torn loose.
A nurse lay unconscious in the hallway.
But Sofia was not gone.
We heard screaming from the maternity stairwell.
Marcello reached it first.
Victor had Sofia by the arm.
She was doubled over.
Her face twisted with pain.
“I’m in labor!” she screamed.
Victor dragged her toward the stairs.
Marcello stepped between them.
“Let her go.”
Victor smiled.
“You really do want someone’s baby.”
Marcello’s face changed.
“No.”
He took another step.
“I want her to keep hers.”
May you like
Then Sofia screamed again.
And water spread across the floor beneath her.
