Chapter 3 - TWO MEN ACCUSED EACH OTHER OF MURDER
Vivian read Lorenzo’s message until the words blurred.
Antonio did not ask what it said.
He knew.
“He thinks I killed Nathan.”
“Did you?”
Antonio’s expression did not change.
“No.”
“That was very fast.”
“Because I have answered that question in my own head every day for seven years.”
Vivian slid the phone across the table.
Antonio read Lorenzo’s message.
Then sighed.
“Vittorio told him.”
“Told him what?”
“That I ordered the car hit.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
“Were you there?”
“Yes.”
Vivian stood so abruptly the chair scraped backward.
Antonio raised both hands.
“Sit down.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
“Fair.”
He remained seated.
“The night Nathan died, he called me. He had proof Vittorio was using Falcone companies to move money through government contracts.”
“Why involve you?”
“I was the family attorney.”
“For the Falcones.”
“Yes.”
“You betrayed them?”
“I chose the man trying to prevent a war.”
Vivian wrapped both arms around herself.
“What happened?”
“Nathan wanted to meet federal investigators.”
Her father.
Talking to federal agents.
The idea seemed impossible.
Antonio continued.
“I drove him halfway.”
“Halfway?”
“He changed cars.”
“With whom?”
Antonio hesitated.
That pause told her the answer mattered.
“Lorenzo.”
Vivian stopped breathing.
“No.”
“He was twenty-six.”
They had not met yet.
“Lorenzo knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he ever tell me?”
Antonio looked tired.
“Because your father asked him not to.”
Vivian laughed bitterly.
Apparently every man in her life had considered silence a form of protection.
“What did Lorenzo do?”
“He agreed to drive Nathan to the meeting.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Vittorio intercepted them.”
Her stomach tightened.
Antonio explained.
Vittorio convinced Lorenzo that Nathan was setting up the entire Falcone family.
That federal agents planned to arrest dozens of men.
That Nathan had already named Lorenzo.
“Lorenzo believed him?”
“He was twenty-six and terrified of his father.”
Vivian closed her eyes.
“What happened next?”
“Lorenzo left Nathan at a safe house.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“I saw him alive the next morning.”
“Then how did he die?”
Antonio’s jaw tightened.
“Someone found the safe house.”
“Who?”
“I never knew.”
Vivian pointed toward the ring photograph.
“What about this?”
“Nathan gave Vittorio the ring years earlier as collateral in a card game.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No. I expect you to verify it.”
At least Antonio did not demand trust.
Then Vivian’s phone rang again.
This time Lorenzo left a voicemail.
She listened.
His voice was controlled.
Too controlled.
“Vivian, I know you’re angry. You should be. I’m not asking you to come back.”
A pause.
That surprised her.
“But Russo is dangerous. My father showed me evidence linking him to your father’s death. If you want the truth, I’ll send everything. Just stay somewhere public.”
Vivian almost laughed.
Public.
As though she could check into a Hilton under her own name.
Then Lorenzo said something else.
“And Vivian... what I said last night was a lie.”
She stopped breathing.
“I loved you before I married you.”
Another pause.
“I was just too much of a coward to tell you why.”
The message ended.
Antonio looked at her.
“You want to know what he means.”
“Yes.”
“I can answer.”
Vivian stared.
“How?”
Antonio opened another envelope.
Inside was a photograph.
Three years before Vivian and Lorenzo’s wedding.
A fundraiser in Manhattan.
Vivian stood beside her father, laughing at something out of frame.
In the background stood Lorenzo.
Watching her.
Not casually.
The way a man watched something he was afraid to approach.
On the back, Nathan had written:
Lorenzo asked me today if he could take Vivian to dinner.
I told him no.
Vivian sat down slowly.
Her father had known Lorenzo wanted her before any marriage treaty existed.
Then Antonio turned the photograph over completely.
May you like
Below Nathan’s first line was another.
If Lorenzo ever learns why I refused, Vittorio will kill him too.
