Chapter 6
Sofia found the black rings.
Not all of them.
One.
Marco left it inside a jacket after a family dinner.
Sofia noticed because she had seen my signet every day for years and knew this one was wrong.
She asked Camilla.
Camilla lied.
Sofia asked Marco.
He threatened her.
Camilla snapped immediately.
“He did not threaten her.”
Interesting.
“You weren’t there?”
Silence.
“You were.”
Camilla looked away.
Sofia confronted both of them in the winter garden ten days before the crash.
She told them she knew they were pressuring older captains to oppose my plan to move Livia and me away from the main estate.
That had been our plan.
Another memory.
Sofia wanted a house near the mountains.
I kept delaying.
Always one more meeting.
One more crisis.
One more family obligation.
Camilla hated the move because distance meant less access to Livia.
“What did Sofia say?”
Camilla swallowed.
“She said she would tell you.”
“And?”
“Marco laughed.”
Of course.
“What did you say?”
Her eyes filled.
“I told her you wouldn’t believe her.”
That hurt because she had reason to think so.
I had defended Camilla repeatedly.
“She threatened to leave with Livia if you didn’t listen.”
My stomach tightened.
That was the argument Sofia and I had the night before her crash.
She said:
If you keep pretending your family’s control is just affection, I’ll protect our daughter myself.
I heard threat.
She meant warning.
“What happened after the garden?”
Camilla shook her head.
“Nothing.”
Rafe spoke.
“Wrong.”
Everyone turned.
He had been staring at the old cassette box.
One tape remained beneath my father’s recorder.
Different handwriting.
Sofia’s.
My wife.
I crossed the chapel in two steps.
The label read:
IF DOMENICO FINALLY OPENS THIS.
I looked at Camilla.
She began crying.
“You knew that was there.”
“No.”
“You knew Sofia found the chapel.”
Camilla said nothing.
I inserted the cassette.
Static.
Then Sofia’s voice.
“Domenico, I hope you never hear this.”
I closed my eyes.
May you like
Her voice continued.
“Because if you do, it means I failed to get you away before Camilla and Marco decided Livia belonged to the family more than she belonged to us.”
