Chapter 4 - The Woman Behind the Signature
Ava held the phone toward Luca.
"Why?"
Luca read the message.
His face changed.
Margaret stood.
"Don't."
Ava looked at her.
"Don't what?"
"Ask him a question you're not prepared to hear answered."
Ava's pulse quickened.
She turned back to Luca.
"Why?"
He was silent.
That was enough.
"You know."
"Ava—"
"You know what's in that envelope."
"I know what it might be."
"Then tell me."
Luca looked at Margaret.
The older woman shook her head.
Ava snapped.
"Stop looking at each other!"
Silence.
Then Luca said, "Your mother's death wasn't an accident."
Ava stopped breathing.
Elaine had died after her car went off a rain-slick road.
Police called it an accident.
Ava had believed that for four years.
"What are you saying?"
"There were questions."
"What questions?"
"The brake line."
Ava stared.
Luca continued carefully.
"It had been damaged."
"No."
"Your mother knew someone was targeting the trust."
"No."
"She contacted my father two days before she died."
Ava stepped backward.
"Why didn't anyone tell me?"
"Because my father was afraid whoever killed Elaine would come after you."
"You don't know someone killed her."
"No."
That single word mattered.
Luca didn't pretend certainty.
"We know the car had been tampered with. We don't know who did it."
Ava's eyes burned.
"And you watched me spend four years believing she lost control in the rain?"
"I didn't know about you until later."
"When?"
"Two years ago."
"Before Jake disappeared."
"Yes."
"And you still said nothing."
"I was trying to identify who was manipulating him."
Ava laughed bitterly.
"Congratulations."
"Ava."
"No."
She turned away.
Margaret spoke.
"Luca made mistakes."
Ava spun around.
"That's a generous word."
"But he also kept the trust frozen."
"What?"
"If he hadn't intervened through the court, Jake and Marco might already control it."
Ava looked at Luca.
"You did that?"
"Through attorneys."
"Without telling me."
"Yes."
"Everyone keeps making decisions about my life without telling me."
Neither argued.
That somehow made it worse.
Ava took her coat.
"I'm going home."
Luca stepped forward.
"Your apartment may not be safe."
"It's my home."
"I'll have Dante check it first."
Ava wanted to refuse.
Then she thought of Emma.
"Fine."
They arrived twenty minutes later.
No one was inside.
Nothing appeared disturbed.
Except Emma's bedroom.
The stuffed rabbit sat exactly where the photograph showed.
The black envelope waited beside it.
Ava opened it.
Inside was another photograph.
Elaine.
Marco.
And Margaret Vale.
All three stood outside a law office.
On the back:
SHE KNOWS WHO DID IT.
Ava slowly turned toward Margaret, who had followed them.
Margaret's face went white.
"You knew?"
"No."
"Don't lie."
"I knew Elaine was frightened."
"Who damaged her car?"
"I don't know."
"Who does?"
Margaret looked toward Luca.
Then away.
Ava followed her gaze.
"Luca?"
He frowned.
"I don't know."
Margaret whispered, "Your father did."
Silence.
Luca stared at her.
"My father?"
"He learned the name."
"When?"
"The night before he died."
Luca's father had died seven months earlier.
Natural causes, according to everything Ava knew.
Margaret opened her bag.
"I came tonight because I found something among documents your father left with me."
She removed a flash drive.
"He recorded a statement."
Luca took it.
They used Ava's old laptop.
The video began.
An older man appeared.
Luca's father.
His voice was weak.
"If you're watching this, I failed to finish what Elaine Carter began."
Ava moved closer.
"The person behind the Carter trust fraud has been inside our businesses for more than twenty years."
Luca's jaw tightened.
"Jake Martinez was recruited. Marco Bellini was recruited. Neither created this."
The older man coughed.
"The architect is Margaret—"
The video froze.
Ava turned.
Margaret stared at the screen.
"No."
The laptop went black.
Then the apartment lights went out.
Emma screamed from the hallway.
Ava spun around.
"Emma?"
But Emma wasn't supposed to be there.
Mrs. Chen had her.
The scream came again.
From Ava's phone.
A recording.
Her screen lit.
UNKNOWN NUMBER.
One new message.
IF YOU WANT THE REST OF THE VIDEO, COME TO MARINO'S.
Then another.
AND BRING MARGARET.
Ava looked up.
The front door slowly opened.
May you like
Someone stood on the other side.
Marco.
