Chapter 7 - WHAT SARAH KNEW
Vincent refused to bring Isabella.
Frank expected that.
Instead, Vincent went to the cellar alone.
Unarmed.
At least visibly.
Daniel and Anthony positioned themselves behind the walls adjoining the old wine room.
Mara was ordered upstairs.
She ignored the order.
Of course she did.
Vincent descended into the cellar at 11:42 p.m.
Sarah Bennett sat strapped to the chair.
She was older than the photograph but unmistakable.
Frank stood behind her holding a pistol.
“Well,” Frank said, “Salvatore's favorite son.”
Vincent stopped.
“Apparently not his son.”
Frank laughed.
“Truth is liberating, isn't it?”
“Let Sarah go.”
“I will.”
“When?”
“When Isabella admits what she did.”
Sarah lifted her head.
“No.”
Frank struck the chair with the gun.
“Quiet.”
Vincent's expression changed.
Frank noticed.
“Oh, don't pretend outrage. Your family has done worse.”
“My family isn't holding a gun to her head tonight.”
Frank smiled faintly.
“Fair point.”
Sarah looked at Vincent.
“You look like Thomas.”
Vincent stiffened.
“You knew him?”
“Your father?”
“My biological father.”
Sarah nodded.
“Enough to know he wasn't the hero Isabella remembers.”
Vincent felt another door opening beneath his feet.
Frank chuckled.
“Tell him.”
Sarah closed her eyes.
“Thomas Hale didn't abandon Isabella.”
Vincent waited.
“He sold her.”
The words echoed through the cellar.
Sarah explained.
Thomas had gambling debts.
Salvatore Moretti wanted Isabella.
Thomas accepted money and disappeared.
When he later tried to return, Salvatore threatened him.
Rebecca had grown up believing Thomas had loved her mother.
Isabella had spent decades believing it too.
Another family myth destroyed.
“Why does any of this matter now?” Vincent asked.
Frank's smile vanished.
“Because Salvatore recorded everything.”
He pointed toward the cellar wall.
“There used to be a camera there. Your father enjoyed watching people break.”
Vincent looked at Sarah.
“The video.”
She nodded.
“The night I helped Rose escape, Salvatore recorded what happened afterward.”
“What happened?”
Sarah began trembling.
Frank answered for her.
“Isabella tried to kill him.”
Vincent looked toward the staircase.
His mother stood there.
She had come anyway.
“No,” Isabella said.
Frank's eyes lit up.
“There she is.”
“Let Sarah go.”
Frank aimed the gun at Isabella.
“Confess first.”
Isabella descended.
Twenty-eight years of secrets seemed to walk beside her.
“I attacked Salvatore,” she said.
Vincent stared at her.
“He caught me helping Sarah. He said he was going to find Rose. Then he said Vincent would be next.”
Her voice broke.
“I hit him with a fireplace poker.”
“Again,” Frank said.
Isabella looked at Sarah.
“And again.”
Vincent's stomach turned.
“But he survived,” Sarah whispered.
Frank nodded.
“He survived.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“And Frank found him.”
The room changed.
Vincent looked at Frank.
“What did you do?”
Frank smiled.
“I finished what Isabella started.”
Anthony's voice suddenly came through the hidden earpiece in Vincent's collar.
We have it.
Vincent kept his face still.
Daniel had found Frank's signal source.
Every word was being recorded.
Frank continued, enjoying himself now.
“Salvatore was dying anyway. I simply helped.”
“And then blackmailed my mother for murder.”
“For almost thirty years.”
Sarah stared at him.
“You destroyed all of us.”
Frank's expression hardened.
“No. Salvatore created the machine. I simply learned how to operate it.”
Then Mara appeared at the top of the staircase.
Frank's face changed.
“Mara, no,” Sarah said.
But Mara came down.
She held something in her hand.
A small video cassette.
Frank stared at it.
Mara said, “Looking for this?”
For the first time, real panic crossed Frank Costello's face.
Vincent understood.
The original tape.
The one piece of evidence Frank had never controlled.
“Give it to me,” Frank whispered.
Mara shook her head.
Frank pointed the gun at her.
Sarah screamed.
Vincent moved.
May you like
A gunshot exploded through the cellar.
Mara fell.
