Chapter 13 - THE TWENTY-SEVENTH PAGE
Twenty-seven pages.
I had almost signed them.
Almost ended my marriage.
Almost handed Samuel exactly what he wanted.
I spread the divorce packet across the desk.
Yellow tabs.
Signature lines.
Asset schedules.
Nothing unusual.
Alina stood opposite me.
“Why would the list be in divorce papers?”
Adrian answered.
“Because Samuel knew Dante would never read every attachment personally.”
That was true.
Painfully true.
I paid people to read details.
I controlled outcomes.
Samuel had built his entire plan around my habits.
Luca counted.
“Twenty-six pages.”
I frowned.
“What?”
“There are only twenty-six.”
I remembered tearing the first sheet.
Then realized.
The cover sheet hadn't been numbered.
One page was missing.
“Page twenty-seven.”
Alina looked toward the fireplace.
“The papers you carried outside the sitting room.”
I had dropped several sheets when I overheard her.
We returned to the hallway.
Nothing.
Maria checked the trash.
Nothing.
Then Alina froze.
“Your mother.”
I looked at her.
“She came through this hallway before dinner.”
Security footage confirmed it.
Caterina had entered the sitting room corridor twenty minutes before I overheard Alina.
She'd bent down.
Picked something up.
Placed it inside her purse.
My missing twenty-seventh page.
We called her.
No answer.
Security went to the main house.
She was gone.
Luca stared at me.
“Mother took it.”
I wanted to believe she was protecting us.
But she'd lied for decades.
Concealed my father's suspicions.
Accessed the codicil.
I was tired of assuming.
An hour later, she called.
“Dante.”
“Where are you?”
“Somewhere Samuel can't reach me.”
“You took page twenty-seven.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it contains a cipher.”
I went still.
“Not the names?”
“No. The location.”
“Of what?”
“Vittorio's final archive.”
“Where are you?”
She ignored me.
“I should have told you the truth years ago.”
“Which truth?”
“That I knew Samuel was stealing.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Caterina continued.
“I helped hide it.”
“Why?”
“Because your father was sick. The company was unstable. If the theft became public, thousands of employees could have lost everything.”
“You protected Samuel.”
“I protected you.”
“No, Mother. You protected the empire.”
Silence.
Then:
“Yes.”
Her honesty hurt more than another lie.
“I thought the company mattered more than truth.”
My gaze moved to Alina.
For most of my adult life, I had done smaller versions of the same thing.
Protected structure.
Avoided emotional risk.
Called distance responsibility.
“Where is the archive?” I asked.
Caterina gave an address.
An abandoned Moretti warehouse near the river.
“Do not go alone,” she said.
“Are you there?”
“Yes.”
“Leave.”
“I can't.”
My pulse sharpened.
“Why?”
A man's voice came through the phone.
Samuel Klein.
“Because your mother finally decided to become useful.”
Then the call ended.
Luca was already moving.
Police were notified.
Security coordinated with them.
Alina grabbed her coat.
“No.”
She looked at me.
“No what?”
“You're staying here.”
Her expression hardened.
“Absolutely not.”
“Alina.”
“You just heard a thirteen-chapter lesson about controlling people for their own good.”
Despite everything, Luca coughed to hide a laugh.
I stared at my wife.
She raised an eyebrow.
I surrendered.
“Fine.”
Then she stepped closer.
“But this time, Dante, we go together.”
May you like
And for the first time in our marriage, I understood that protecting her did not mean deciding for her.
It meant standing beside her.
