Chapter 2 - THOMAS VALE
Sofia refused to change out of her wedding dress until she was inside her childhood bedroom.
Only then did she remove the veil.
She placed it on the chair.
Then sat on the edge of the bed while Lorenzo remained near the door.
For the first time that night, neither knew what to say.
Lorenzo wanted to ask whether Gregory had hurt her before.
He wanted to ask what signs he had missed.
He wanted to go back downstairs and demand every truth Gregory possessed.
Instead he asked one question.
“Do you want me here?”
Sofia looked up.
“Yes.”
So he stayed.
A doctor Sofia had known since childhood checked her privately.
Nothing required a hospital.
That did not make what happened small.
When the examination ended, Sofia found Lorenzo still standing exactly where she had left him.
The silver locket rested in his palm.
“Tell me about Thomas Vale.”
Lorenzo looked toward it.
Then sat.
Thomas Vale had been thirty-eight when Sofia’s mother died.
Chief of Lorenzo’s personal security.
More than an employee.
A friend.
Thomas ate at family tables.
Held Sofia when she was a baby.
Stayed beside Lorenzo through his father’s funeral.
Then everything changed in one night.
Fifteen years earlier, Alessandra drove to the old Caruso summer house after an argument with Lorenzo.
A fire started before midnight.
By the time Lorenzo arrived, half the house was burning.
Sofia had already been taken safely to her grandmother’s home.
Alessandra was still inside.
Thomas Vale’s car was found near the property.
Thomas was gone.
So was Alessandra’s locket.
The family assumption formed quickly.
Thomas had been helping Alessandra leave.
Something happened.
The fire started.
Thomas fled.
“Did you believe he killed Mom?” Sofia asked.
Lorenzo’s answer came slowly.
“I believed he was responsible.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Did you look for him?”
“For years.”
“To hurt him?”
Lorenzo did not answer immediately.
Sofia understood.
“Dad.”
“Yes.”
His honesty hurt.
At the time, Lorenzo wanted Thomas found.
He wanted answers first.
After that, he did not know what he would have done.
Sofia looked toward the locket.
“Gregory grew up believing you killed his father.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“He said that?”
“Before the wedding.”
That was new.
Sofia explained.
Gregory rarely spoke about Thomas.
When he did, he called him a man destroyed by the Carusos.
He never directly accused Lorenzo.
He only said powerful families decided who was remembered as loyal and who was remembered as a traitor.
Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.
“And you married him anyway.”
The words came sharper than intended.
Sofia went still.
Lorenzo regretted them immediately.
“No.”
He corrected himself.
“That came out wrong.”
Sofia looked at him.
“I thought he was grieving.”
“Yes.”
“I thought he hated what happened to his father.”
“Yes.”
“I did not think he married me to punish you.”
Lorenzo closed his eyes.
“Of course you didn’t.”
Silence.
Then Sofia asked:
“Why did you approve of him?”
That question landed harder.
Lorenzo had investigated Gregory.
Nothing obvious.
Successful.
Educated.
Polite.
No reputation for violence.
He treated Sofia with almost excessive respect whenever Lorenzo watched.
That final detail now felt like poison.
A knock came.
Marco DeSantis, Lorenzo’s oldest bodyguard, entered.
He had been with the family the night Alessandra died.
His eyes went directly to the locket.
“Where did you find that?”
“Gregory.”
Marco stopped.
Lorenzo noticed.
“You recognize it.”
“Everyone did.”
“That isn’t what I asked.”
Marco looked toward Sofia.
Then back.
“I saw Thomas with it.”
Lorenzo stood.
“When?”
“The night of the fire.”
Sofia’s heart started pounding.
Marco continued.
He arrived at the summer house before Lorenzo.
Thomas stood outside near the garden wall.
His shirt was burned at one sleeve.
There was blood on his forehead.
And the locket was wrapped around his fist.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Marco’s face tightened.
“Because Thomas made me promise something.”
Lorenzo stared.
“You kept a promise to the man we believed betrayed my wife?”
Marco did not back away.
“He told me Alessandra gave him the locket.”
Sofia stood.
“Why?”
“He wouldn’t say.”
“What did he say?”
Marco looked toward her.
“He said, ‘If Lorenzo hears the wrong story tonight, Sofia grows up inside a lie.’”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
“Then where did Thomas go?”
Marco looked ashamed.
“I don’t know.”
“You let him leave?”
“No.”
A pause.
“Cesare did.”
Lorenzo froze.
Cesare Caruso.
His father’s older brother.
The senior family elder who had toasted Sofia’s wedding less than six hours earlier.
The man currently sleeping in the east wing of Lorenzo’s own home.
Marco’s voice became quieter.
“I saw Cesare put Thomas into a car.”
“And you said nothing?”
“He told me Thomas had confessed.”
Lorenzo stared.
“To what?”
Marco swallowed.
“To helping Alessandra run away from you.”
Sofia looked at her father.
Lorenzo looked toward the hallway.
Then Marco delivered the part that changed everything.
“Cesare also told me Alessandra was already dead.”
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A pause.
“But I heard her screaming from inside the house ten minutes later.”
