Chapter 6 - The Night Lorenzo Chose a Side
Beatrice grabbed her mother's face and whispered, "Tell me you're real."
Eleanor held both of her hands.
Before either woman could say more, Lorenzo appeared through the darkness with blood on his white sleeve.
It was not his blood.
Behind him, Charles Gallagher had vanished.
And the guardianship order was gone with him.
"Mom?"
It was the only word Beatrice could manage.
Eleanor touched her cheek.
"Yes."
Beatrice slapped her.
The sound shocked everyone.
Eleanor stumbled half a step.
Beatrice burst into tears.
"Nine years."
"I know."
"You left me for nine years."
"I know."
"You let him tell me you hated me."
Eleanor's own tears came.
"I know."
Beatrice hit her chest once with both hands.
Then she collapsed into her arms.
For several minutes, there was no Mafia debt.
No trust.
No forged court documents.
Only a daughter holding the mother she had buried in every way except physically.
Eleanor whispered apologies into her hair.
Not explanations.
Apologies.
That mattered.
Eventually Lorenzo approached.
"We need to move."
Eleanor looked at him.
"Lorenzo Vitale."
"You know me."
"I know what you tried to do for the clinic patients."
"You were there."
"Yes."
His expression tightened.
"I failed."
"You were twenty years younger and fighting your own brother."
"Still failed."
Eleanor studied him.
"Then perhaps you can do better tonight."
Lorenzo nodded.
They relocated to a fortified property before dawn.
Charles had escaped Villa San Corvo through a tunnel Vanessa had not known existed.
One of his armed men was captured.
Another was injured.
No one knew where Charles had gone.
But he had the guardianship order.
And possibly access to judges he had bribed years earlier.
Eleanor spent the morning telling Beatrice the truth.
Not all at once.
Some truths needed room.
Charles had not always been cruel.
That surprised Beatrice.
"When I married him, he was ambitious," Eleanor said. "But he wasn't this."
"When did he change?"
"When ambition started paying him."
Charles met Alessandro Vitale through shipping contracts.
Alessandro taught him how easy it was to hide money inside legitimate trade.
Charles learned faster than expected.
Then he learned something else.
People were easier to control than accounts.
When Eleanor questioned him, he isolated her from Mara.
When Vanessa discovered documents, Charles threatened Beatrice.
When Beatrice became old enough to ask questions, he began building a medical history around her.
Anxiety.
Dependency.
Emotional instability.
Every ordinary reaction became evidence.
"He planned the guardianship for years," Eleanor said.
Beatrice felt ill.
"Why didn't it control everything?"
"Because I created the trust before he obtained it."
"The Palermo facility."
"Yes."
"Why me?"
Eleanor looked at her.
"Because you were the only person he underestimated."
Beatrice laughed bitterly.
"He spent my entire life telling me I couldn't do anything."
"Exactly."
"He was preparing to control me."
"Yes. But he also believed you would never challenge him."
Eleanor took her hand.
"That was his mistake."
Lorenzo entered carrying coffee.
He placed a cup near Beatrice without interrupting.
Eleanor watched him.
Beatrice noticed.
"What?"
Her mother almost smiled.
"Nothing."
"Mom."
"You look at him differently than I expected."
Beatrice's face warmed.
Lorenzo raised an eyebrow.
Eleanor sipped her tea.
"I was in hiding, not dead. I still recognize tension."
"Please stop."
For several seconds, the room felt almost normal.
Then Matteo entered.
"The guardianship order is valid."
The warmth disappeared.
Beatrice looked at him.
"How?"
"Validly filed. Fraudulently obtained, but until overturned, Charles retains limited authority over certain financial decisions."
"So he can access the trust."
"Not directly."
"What can he do?"
"Prevent you from accessing it."
Lorenzo crossed his arms.
"That gives him leverage."
Matteo nodded.
"And time."
Eleanor stood.
"We don't give him either."
They needed evidence that the guardianship had been obtained through fraud.
Dr. Rizzo was the key.
But Dr. Rizzo had disappeared five years earlier.
Vanessa believed he was dead.
Eleanor did not.
"Rizzo kept insurance," she said.
"What kind?" Lorenzo asked.
"Recordings."
Beatrice stared.
"He recorded patients?"
"He recorded Charles."
Eleanor explained that Rizzo distrusted everyone.
He kept private copies of conversations.
If they found them, they could prove Charles paid him to falsify Beatrice's evaluations.
"Where?" Matteo asked.
"Rizzo owned a clinic apartment in Taormina."
Lorenzo checked the time.
"We leave now."
Beatrice stood.
"So do I."
Eleanor protested.
Lorenzo did not.
Beatrice noticed.
"You've stopped telling me to stay behind."
"You've stopped pretending you might listen."
The apartment had been abandoned for years.
Dust covered furniture.
Medical books lined shelves.
They searched for two hours.
Nothing.
Then Beatrice noticed a framed certificate hanging crookedly.
She straightened it.
A key fell from behind the frame.
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Apparently inconvenient works."
The key opened a desk drawer.
Inside were memory cards.
Dozens.
Each labeled with initials.
E.G.
V.G.
C.G.
And one marked:
B.G. — GUARDIANSHIP.
Beatrice's fingers went cold.
Matteo loaded the card onto a laptop.
Audio.
Charles's voice.
"She doesn't need to be actually incompetent. She only needs to look dependent on paper."
Rizzo answered.
"The evaluations require clinical findings."
"Then find them."
"She's never been hospitalized."
"Her mother has."
"That doesn't transfer."
Charles laughed.
"Everything transfers if you know which judge to call."
Beatrice closed her eyes.
There it was.
Proof.
But the recording continued.
Rizzo asked, "And if Eleanor resurfaces?"
Charles's answer changed the room.
"Then Beatrice becomes useful."
"How?"
"Alessandro's facility is in her trust. If I can't control Eleanor, I'll control the girl."
Beatrice's hands clenched.
Then another voice appeared.
A third man.
Lorenzo froze.
Beatrice turned toward him.
"Who is that?"
His face went pale.
Matteo knew too.
"Lorenzo?"
He stared at the speaker.
"My brother."
Alessandro.
Alive in a recording from six years after his supposed death.
Beatrice stopped breathing.
"That's impossible."
Lorenzo looked at the date.
"Apparently not."
The recording continued.
Alessandro said, "If the girl reaches Sicily, Vitale will take her."
Charles asked, "Your brother?"
"Yes."
"And if he doesn't?"
"He will."
"Why?"
A pause.
Then Alessandro laughed.
"Because Lorenzo has always confused damaged things with things worth saving."
Lorenzo's face turned to stone.
Beatrice felt something twist inside her.
The entire arrangement had been designed with Lorenzo in mind.
They had predicted his behavior.
His instincts.
His weaknesses.
Charles had not randomly chosen him.
Alessandro had.
Six years earlier.
"Your brother planned this?" Beatrice whispered.
Lorenzo stared at the laptop.
"He may still be planning it."
Matteo immediately began making calls.
Eleanor looked frightened in a way Beatrice had not seen yet.
"If Alessandro is alive—"
"Don't," Lorenzo said.
"Lorenzo."
"I buried him."
"Did you see the body?"
Silence.
That was answer enough.
The laptop chimed.
Incoming email.
Unknown sender.
Subject:
FOR LORENZO.
Matteo disconnected the internet.
Too late.
A video automatically opened.
A man sat in darkness.
Older.
Thin.
But Lorenzo recognized him instantly.
Alessandro Vitale.
"Little brother," he said.
Lorenzo did not move.
Alessandro smiled.
"You always did collect wounded birds."
Beatrice bristled.
Lorenzo stepped closer to the screen.
"What do you want?"
"You know."
"The archive."
"Correct."
"You staged your death."
"I improved my freedom."
"Charles works for you."
Alessandro laughed.
"Charles works for Charles. That's why he's useful."
Beatrice stepped into view.
Alessandro's smile changed.
"Beatrice."
She hated the way he said her name.
As though he had known her for years.
"You built this around me."
"No. Your mother did when she gave you the facility."
"What do you want from it?"
"Something that belongs to me."
"You mean evidence."
"I mean history."
Lorenzo's voice hardened.
"Stay away from her."
Alessandro smiled.
"There it is."
Beatrice looked at Lorenzo.
"Don't."
He glanced at her.
She stepped closer to the camera.
"I'm not his weakness."
Alessandro tilted his head.
"Not yet."
She hated him immediately.
"What happens if we release the archive?"
His smile vanished.
"You won't."
"Why?"
"Because it doesn't only destroy criminals."
Beatrice stared.
"It destroys judges, police officers, corporations, families."
"Then maybe they deserve it."
"Even Lorenzo?"
She looked at him.
Alessandro smiled again.
"You haven't told her?"
Lorenzo went still.
Beatrice turned.
"Told me what?"
Alessandro answered.
"The Palermo archive contains Lorenzo's signature too."
Silence.
Beatrice stared at Lorenzo.
His face gave nothing away.
But he did not deny it.
"What did you do?" she whispered.
Lorenzo looked at her.
"Something I should have told you."
Her chest tightened.
Alessandro laughed softly from the screen.
"Ask him what happened the night your mother escaped St. Augustine's."
Beatrice's blood turned cold.
She faced Lorenzo.
"What happened?"
He opened his mouth.
Before he could answer, gunfire exploded outside.
Windows shattered.
Matteo dragged Eleanor down.
Lorenzo pulled Beatrice behind the wall.
A car crashed through the outer gate.
Men shouted.
Then every light died.
Lorenzo reached for Beatrice's hand.
She caught it.
A speaker somewhere in the apartment crackled.
Charles's voice filled the darkness.
"Beatrice."
She froze.
"Your mother already chose Vanessa once."
May you like
A pause.
"Now let's see who Lorenzo chooses when he can only save one of you."
