Chapter 10
The last thirty seconds destroyed the marriage completely.
The investigator asked young Marco:
“Why didn't you open the door?”
Marco sobbed on the tape.
“Because my father told me if Enzo came out, he would tell Angelo everything.”
A pause.
“And then?”
“My father said we would lose the house. The company. Everything.”
“Did you believe him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hear Enzo inside?”
The room became completely still.
Then young Marco whispered:
“He was hitting the door.”
Camilla stopped breathing.
Domenico’s eyes moved slowly toward present-day Marco.
The tape continued.
“He yelled my name.”
Camilla’s knees weakened.
She caught herself against the table.
Marco stepped toward her instinctively.
She recoiled.
“Don't touch me.”
Her voice was almost inaudible.
The investigator asked the final question.
“How long did you stand there?”
Young Marco cried harder.
“I don't know.”
“How long, Marco?”
“Until he stopped.”
The tape clicked off.
Nobody spoke.
Not even Domenico.
The silence did what violence could not.
It forced every person in the room to remain inside the truth.
Marco had not merely witnessed his father killing Enzo.
He had helped trap Enzo inside.
Then he spent the next twenty-two years living with the result.
But the major betrayal went further.
Domenico opened Angelo’s accompanying letter.
His father had confronted Marco privately years after the fire.
Marco confessed.
Angelo wanted him to tell Camilla.
Marco begged for time.
Then Angelo died before forcing the issue.
Eleven years later, Marco found Locker Seventeen, removed the evidence, burned part of it and kept the rest hidden.
He married Camilla while knowing her father had died calling his name.
And whenever Camilla’s anger toward Domenico weakened, Marco reminded her that the Lombardis had “destroyed Enzo.”
He needed her hatred pointed away from himself.
Camilla slowly removed her wedding ring.
Her hand shook so badly the ring struck the table twice before she managed to set it down.
“You let me hate him.”
She looked toward Domenico.
Then back at Marco.
“You watched me blame his father.”
Marco’s eyes were wet.
“I loved you.”
Camilla stared at him.
Her face twisted.
“That makes it worse.”
Domenico said nothing.
Marco’s breathing became ragged.
He looked toward Domenico as if expecting judgment.
Domenico finally spoke.
“You didn't marry the daughter of the man you watched die.”
A pause.
“You married the only witness whose hatred could protect you.”
Marco’s face collapsed.
Then Camilla whispered something that shifted the room one more time.
“I knew you were lying about that night.”
Domenico looked at her.
Marco did too.
May you like
Camilla’s tears stopped.
“I just never knew what the lie was.”
