Chapter 2
Lucia sat in the first row of funeral chairs with both hands locked together.
Giovanni stood several feet away.
He did not rush her.
The longer he remained silent, the harder it became for her to control her breathing.
Finally she spoke.
“Mom wrote to me three days before she died.”
Giovanni’s eyes sharpened.
“Where is it?”
“I destroyed it.”
Emilio looked toward her.
Clarissa’s lips parted.
Even they had not expected that answer.
Giovanni’s thumb slowly rotated his signet ring.
“Why?”
Lucia stared at Helena’s portrait.
“She was angry.”
“With whom?”
No answer.
Giovanni waited.
Lucia swallowed.
“Emilio.”
Emilio immediately stood.
“She was angry with everyone.”
Lucia turned.
Her grief vanished for a second beneath something colder.
“You were the one she was threatening to expose.”
Emilio’s shoulders stiffened.
Clarissa touched his arm.
He pulled away.
Power shifted.
Giovanni watched.
“What was Helena going to expose?”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“A company.”
Emilio laughed bitterly.
“That’s what you’re calling it?”
Giovanni looked at him.
Emilio’s mouth shut.
Lucia explained.
For nearly two years, Emilio had used a hospitality vendor connected to Serravalle properties to route money into a development company he controlled with Clarissa.
Emilio immediately interrupted.
“It wasn’t theft.”
His voice sharpened.
“It was temporary financing.”
Giovanni’s stare hardened.
“You took family money without approval.”
“I was building something.”
“With Clarissa?”
“Yes.”
Clarissa finally spoke.
Her fingers tightened around a silk scarf from the open suitcase.
“A resort project.”
Giovanni looked toward the tropical luggage.
Now the vacation made even less sense.
“You flew to inspect it after your mother died?”
Emilio’s jaw tightened.
“We needed to close a deal.”
Lucia stared at him.
“At Mom’s funeral week.”
Emilio snapped around.
“You burned her letter.”
Lucia flinched.
Silence followed.
Giovanni looked between his children.
One had fled to the Caribbean.
The other had destroyed their mother’s warning.
Neither looked innocent anymore.
Then Giovanni reopened Helena’s letter.
One phrase had bothered him.
He read it again.
Ask Emilio why he needed me to sign the Seabrook papers.
Giovanni looked at Clarissa.
“What are the Seabrook papers?”
Clarissa’s hand stopped moving.
Emilio answered too quickly.
“Nothing important.”
Giovanni’s eyes remained on Clarissa.
She looked down.
Then Lucia whispered:
“They were worth eighteen million dollars.”
Giovanni slowly turned back to his son.
May you like
The hidden project was not a desperate little investment.
It was large enough to give someone a reason to silence Helena.
