Chapter 6 - What Beatrice Never Knew
Beatrice replayed the video.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each time, Mara turned.
Each time, Marcus appeared.
Each time, the screen went black before the answer Beatrice needed.
“Where was this recorded?”
Luca examined the metadata.
“Mercy General.”
“When?”
“Six months after the explosion.”
Beatrice sat down.
Six months after Mara's funeral.
“She was alive.”
Nobody contradicted her.
“I buried an empty coffin?”
Adriano looked at Luca.
Luca nodded grimly.
The original coroner documentation had been falsified.
Mara had survived the blast.
Someone had declared her dead anyway.
Why?
The flash drive answered part of it.
Mara had worked temporary bookkeeping jobs.
One client had been a waterfront logistics company secretly controlled by Carlo Vescari.
She discovered payments for weapons shipments disguised as construction materials.
She contacted someone inside the Sarti organization.
Marcus Vale.
She thought Marcus was helping expose Carlo.
Instead, Marcus and Carlo were partners.
The explosion had not simply targeted Adriano.
It had also been designed to destroy evidence and kill Mara.
She survived.
Theo survived.
So Marcus moved them through compromised medical channels.
Beatrice stared at the screen.
“And me?”
“They convinced you Mara died,” Adriano said.
“Why leave Theo with me?”
“Because killing a four-year-old immediately after the explosion would attract attention.”
Her face twisted.
“But they hurt him later.”
Adriano said nothing.
The second surgery made sense now.
Theo had remembered Marcus.
A frightened four-year-old witness.
They couldn't openly kill him.
So they made his condition worse.
Perhaps they expected complications to do the rest.
Beatrice ran to the bathroom and vomited.
Adriano waited outside.
When she emerged, she looked hollow.
“I worked for you.”
“Yes.”
“For two years.”
“Yes.”
“And all this time—”
“I didn't know.”
“I know.”
Those words surprised him.
She leaned against the wall.
“I believe you.”
It should have relieved him.
Instead, it hurt.
Because he didn't believe himself innocent.
He had built the machine in which men like Carlo and Marcus flourished.
He had rewarded silence.
Demanded obedience.
Accepted convenient answers.
“You shouldn't,” he said.
Beatrice looked at him.
“What?”
“Believe me too easily.”
“I didn't say you were innocent.”
That silenced him.
“I said I believe you didn't know.”
She stepped closer.
“But not knowing isn't the same thing as having nothing to answer for.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
They returned to the files.
One audio recording contained Mara's voice.
“I copied everything. Marcus knows. If I disappear, Carlo is behind it.”
Then another voice.
Male.
“You need to leave Chicago tonight.”
Adriano recognized it.
His father.
Beatrice stared at him.
“Your father knew my sister?”
Apparently.
The recording suggested Lorenzo Sarti had discovered Carlo's betrayal shortly before his own death.
Officially, Lorenzo died from heart failure.
Now Adriano wondered.
Luca searched old records.
Lorenzo died three weeks after the waterfront explosion.
His private physician?
Dr. Elias Mercer.
The same surgeon who later operated on Theo.
A pattern emerged.
Carlo.
Marcus.
Mercer.
Three men.
One network.
Two dead witnesses.
Except Marcus was missing.
And Carlo was alive.
Adriano ordered every legitimate record turned over to federal investigators through an attorney.
Luca stared at him.
“You understand what else they might find.”
“Yes.”
“You could lose everything.”
“Then I lose it.”
Beatrice looked at him.
That was the first moment she realized Adriano wasn't simply trying to save Theo.
He was dismantling part of his own world.
The next morning, Theo returned to Mercy General under heavy security.
Surgery was rescheduled.
Dr. Anand personally verified every medication.
Beatrice sat beside Theo.
Adriano waited outside.
Theo asked, “Is Mr. Sarti scared?”
Beatrice looked through the glass.
Adriano stood motionless.
“Yes.”
“He doesn't look scared.”
“Some people practice.”
Theo thought about that.
“Are you scared?”
“Terrified.”
“You don't look scared either.”
Beatrice smiled.
“See?”
Before surgery, Theo asked Adriano to come inside.
Adriano approached.
Theo held out the stuffed shark.
“You hold him.”
Adriano stared.
“Why?”
“So I know you'll still be here.”
Adriano accepted it.
“I'll be here.”
Theo was wheeled away.
Hours passed.
At 2:06 p.m., Dr. Anand emerged.
Beatrice stood.
The surgeon removed her cap.
“The fragment is out.”
Beatrice's knees weakened.
Adriano caught her elbow.
“Is he okay?”
“He's stable.”
“His legs?”
“We won't know immediately.”
Beatrice cried against both hands.
Adriano looked down at the stuffed shark he was still holding.
For the first time in years, he allowed himself to feel relief.
Then Dr. Anand's pager sounded.
She checked it.
Her expression changed.
“What?”
She looked at Adriano.
“The fragment.”
“What about it?”
“It was sent to pathology as evidence.”
“And?”
“It never arrived.”
Adriano's relief vanished.
The fragment was physical proof linking Theo to the waterfront explosion.
Someone inside Mercy General had stolen it.
A security officer approached carrying an evidence bag.
“We found this in the service elevator.”
Inside was Dr. Anand's access badge.
She touched her chest.
Her badge was gone.
Then an elevator bell sounded.
The doors opened.
A man in a gray coat stood inside.
He looked directly at Adriano.
May you like
Carlo Vescari smiled.
The doors began closing.
