Chapter 5 - THE PERSON BEHIND CARLO
If Carlo wasn’t the person Lucia feared, then someone else had been standing behind him.
That possibility was worse.
Carlo had access to everything.
My homes.
My companies.
My private schedules.
My security systems.
If somebody could control him, manipulate him, or use his authority, then my family had been vulnerable for years.
Marco searched the red folder again.
Near the bottom he found photographs taken outside one of my downtown offices.
Carlo was visible in several.
So was another person.
A woman.
Tall.
Dark coat.
Platinum-blonde hair.
Her face was turned away from the camera.
Elena studied the image.
“I know her.”
I looked at her sharply.
“Who?”
“She came to the house after Mrs. Moretti died.”
“When?”
“About two weeks after the funeral.”
I had barely been functioning then.
Three newborn babies.
A dead wife.
Funeral arrangements.
Family meetings.
Doctors.
Lawyers.
I remembered almost nothing.
“What did she want?”
“She said she represented the estate planning firm.”
Marco zoomed in.
“She wasn’t on the visitor log.”
“She came with Mr. Carlo.”
That brought us back to him.
Marco’s phone rang.
One of his men had found Carlo.
He was at his Gold Coast condo.
Marco put the call on speaker.
Carlo answered immediately.
“Adrien?”
“Where are you?”
“At home. Why?”
“Did you reactivate Lucia’s network account?”
Silence.
Too long.
Then Carlo said, “No.”
“Did you bring a blonde woman into my house after Lucia died?”
Another silence.
“Adrien, listen to me carefully.”
I gripped the phone.
“I’m listening.”
“Do not discuss this over the phone.”
My eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Because if you found what Lucia hid, then they already know you found it.”
The kitchen suddenly felt colder.
“Who is they?”
Carlo’s breathing changed.
Before he could answer, every light in the estate went dark.
The security screens died.
Marco cursed.
Backup power should have engaged automatically.
It didn’t.
From upstairs came a baby’s cry.
Then another.
I ran.
When we reached my bedroom, Elena grabbed Sophie while Dr. Gable moved toward the triplets.
All three babies were safe.
But something had been placed on my pillow.
A white envelope.
No one admitted entering the room.
Across the front, someone had written:
STOP DIGGING INTO LUCIA’S DEATH.
Inside was a single photograph.
May you like
It showed Sophie standing outside her preschool.
The picture had been taken that morning.
