Chapter 11 - THE AUNT WHO SOLD HER OWN BROTHER
Marianne Bennett had been part of the network.
Not from the beginning.
Later.
After Thomas discovered the stolen funds, Marianne became frightened.
Victor offered her money and protection.
She gave him information.
Thomas’s schedules.
Safe locations.
Eventually, details about the medical tests he arranged before his death.
Norah sounded numb as she explained.
“She helped them kill Dad.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
“Where are you?”
“At a police station.”
Relief again.
Sharp enough to hurt.
“Can I come?”
Long pause.
“Yes.”
One word.
Matteo arrived alone except for his attorney.
No guns.
No convoy.
No soldiers.
Norah noticed.
She sat beneath fluorescent lights wrapped in a gray blanket.
Seven months pregnant.
Hair messy.
Face pale.
Beautiful.
Alive.
Matteo stopped six feet away.
Every instinct told him to touch her.
He didn’t.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“How did you get away?”
Norah looked toward the interview-room glass.
“Luca underestimated pregnant women.”
Despite himself, Matteo smiled.
She had realized something was wrong at the paper mill when Marianne refused to enter first.
Norah delayed.
Asked for a bathroom.
Created enough noise and confusion for workers in a nearby building to notice.
She ran toward people.
Not into isolation.
Luca abandoned the plan rather than risk witnesses.
Marianne was arrested nearby after investigators arrived.
Luca disappeared.
Victor too.
But now authorities had Marianne.
And Marianne wanted a deal.
She started talking.
Everything.
The money.
Thomas.
Adrian.
The trust.
The attempt to frame Norah.
The plan involving the baby.
Then came one more revelation.
“Harper,” Norah said.
Matteo’s jaw tightened.
“What?”
“She wasn’t only bait.”
“We know her identity was used.”
“No.”
Norah shook her head.
“Marianne says Luca intended Harper to become your wife.”
Matteo stared.
“Why?”
“Because Harper was easier to control.”
Norah said it without jealousy.
That made it worse.
Luca believed Matteo would eventually divorce Norah.
Harper would replace her.
Harper’s shell companies would then receive legitimate Rossi assets.
Luca and Victor controlled the paperwork behind those companies.
Slowly, they would move pieces of Matteo’s empire away from him.
“And if I didn’t marry Harper?”
“Marianne said they thought you would.”
Matteo laughed bitterly.
Everyone had been calculating his weaknesses.
His ego.
His appetite.
His belief Norah would never leave.
They had all been right.
Until Norah changed the game.
He looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes.
“We’re past apologies tonight.”
“I know.”
“No, Matteo.”
Her eyes opened.
“I need you to understand something.”
He waited.
“I didn’t leave because Harper was prettier.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know.”
“I didn’t leave because you stopped loving me.”
“I know.”
“I left because every time you hurt me, you expected your money, your house, your protection, and your name to erase the cost.”
Silence.
“You treated forgiveness like something you owned.”
Matteo could not defend himself.
So he didn’t.
Norah’s voice softened.
“I cannot raise Elena inside that.”
The name hurt beautifully.
“What do you want me to do?”
“I don’t know.”
For once, she truly didn’t.
Then she handed him something.
Her wedding ring.
He stared.
“I already left it.”
“I know.”
“Then why—”
“Arthur returned it with my things.”
She placed it in his palm.
“This belongs to the version of us that ended.”
Matteo closed his fingers around it.
“Is there another version?”
Norah looked at him for a long time.
“I don’t know.”
Not no.
But not hope either.
Then an investigator entered.
Luca Rossi had finally been found.
At Logan Airport.
May you like
Trying to leave for Lisbon.
And Victor Shaw was sitting beside him.
