Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO RETURNED FROM THE DEAD
Penelope stared at the photograph.
Her mother was alive.
But why had she been standing beside Anthony?
Dominic studied the image.
"Look at her expression."
Penelope leaned closer.
Isabella wasn't smiling.
Her shoulders were tense.
One hand clutched the strap of her purse.
"She's frightened," Penelope whispered.
Gabriel checked the photograph's metadata.
"It came from a security camera near the theater. Yesterday afternoon."
Dominic looked at the address.
"Anthony has been using that theater as a meeting place."
Penelope folded the letter.
"Then we go."
"Not without a plan."
She looked directly at him.
"Dominic, I'm done being treated like something fragile."
He nodded.
"Then help me build the plan."
For the next hour, they worked with investigators.
The theater had three entrances.
Two service corridors.
And a basement tunnel connecting to an old parking garage.
Penelope studied the building plans.
"Anthony will expect you at the front."
Dominic nodded.
"Probably."
"So don't go there."
Lorenzo smiled faintly.
"I like the way she thinks."
At 1:15 a.m., Penelope received another call.
This time, the voice belonged to a woman.
"Penelope?"
Her chest tightened.
"Mom?"
A broken sob came through the phone.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Penelope covered her mouth.
"Where are you?"
"I'm at the theater."
"Are you safe?"
"No."
Dominic immediately moved closer.
Isabella continued.
"Anthony has your father and Vanessa. He wants the key."
Penelope looked at the small brass key in Dominic's hand.
"What does it open?"
"A deposit box. The original financial records are inside."
"Why didn't you go to the police?"
"I tried. Anthony had people inside the investigation. Sophia helped me escape, but she paid for it."
Dominic's expression tightened.
"My mother."
Isabella's voice broke.
"She saved my life."
Penelope began crying.
For years, she had believed her mother abandoned her.
Now she understood.
Isabella had been fighting to return.
"Mom, we're coming."
"No!" Isabella whispered.
"Anthony doesn't know I'm calling. If he discovers—"
A door slammed.
Male footsteps approached.
Isabella gasped.
"Penelope, listen carefully."
"What?"
"Vanessa isn't Anthony's daughter."
Penelope frowned.
"Then why does he call her that?"
Isabella began crying harder.
"Because he's been pretending to be her father."
"Why?"
A voice shouted in the background.
Isabella hurried her final words.
"Because Vanessa is the legal heir to something he cannot claim himself."
The call ended.
Dominic stared at Penelope.
"What did she mean?"
Penelope looked at the butterfly necklace in her hand.
Then Gabriel opened the medical trust documents.
The beneficiary's name had been deliberately concealed.
But one clause remained visible.
Upon the beneficiary's twenty-sixth birthday, controlling ownership shall transfer automatically.
Dominic went still.
Penelope whispered, "Ownership of what?"
Gabriel opened the attached corporate records.
His eyes widened.
"Boss."
"What?"
"The trust doesn't just own medical investments."
He turned the screen.
"It owns forty-one percent of Vitiello Holdings."
Dominic stared.
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The stolen twin had inherited a controlling interest in his family's legitimate business empire.
And Anthony was trying to steal it before she discovered the truth.
