Chapter 8 - THE LAST LIE OF SALVATORE MORETTI
For one terrible second, Vincent thought Mara was dead.
Then she moved.
The bullet had struck the stone wall beside her.
Anthony had hit Frank's arm from the hidden doorway just before he fired.
Daniel stormed in.
Frank dropped his weapon.
Vincent slammed him against the wall with enough force to crack plaster.
“Vincent!” Daniel shouted.
Vincent's fist was already raised.
He wanted to kill him.
Everyone in the room knew it.
Frank smiled through blood.
“Go ahead.”
Vincent froze.
“You kill me,” Frank whispered, “and you become Salvatore.”
That stopped him.
Vincent lowered his fist.
“Daniel.”
Handcuffs snapped around Frank's wrists.
For the first time in decades, Frank Costello had no control over the room.
Sarah was untied.
Mara helped her stand.
Then Mara looked toward Rebecca, who had followed Isabella downstairs.
The four women stood together.
Isabella.
Sarah.
Rebecca.
Mara.
Four lives tied to one man's cruelty and another man's blackmail.
Anthony picked up the cassette.
“How do we even play this?”
Daniel found an old video unit in the mansion's storage room.
An hour later, they gathered in the library.
Nobody wanted to watch.
Everyone needed to.
The footage began with static.
Then Salvatore's voice filled the room.
Young.
Strong.
Furious.
Sarah appeared on screen crying.
Isabella stood between Salvatore and the cellar door.
Six-year-old Rose was nowhere visible.
She had already escaped.
Salvatore shouted at Isabella.
Then he said something none of them expected.
“The Bennett girl knows about Anthony.”
Anthony sat forward.
“What about me?”
On screen, Isabella screamed at Salvatore to stop.
But he continued.
“You think I'll raise another man's child?”
The room went silent.
Anthony slowly turned toward his mother.
“No.”
Isabella looked horrified.
The tape continued.
Salvatore laughed.
“Vincent is mine.”
Vincent stopped breathing.
“Anthony is Thomas Hale's bastard.”
Anthony stood so suddenly his chair fell backward.
Rebecca whispered, “That's impossible.”
Isabella began sobbing.
“Turn it off.”
“No,” Vincent said.
They kept watching.
Piece by piece, the truth emerged.
Isabella had lied in the greenhouse.
But not for the reason they thought.
She had switched the identities.
Vincent was Salvatore's biological son.
Anthony was Thomas Hale's.
“Why?” Anthony demanded.
Isabella covered her face.
“Because Frank knew the truth about one child. I thought if I confused the story long enough, he couldn't use it against both of you.”
“You told Vincent he wasn't Salvatore's.”
“I was trying to destroy the value of the secret.”
Vincent stared at her.
“By destroying me instead?”
“I was desperate.”
“No. You were controlling the truth again.”
Isabella had no answer.
Then the tape showed something else.
After Salvatore collapsed, Isabella dropped the fireplace poker.
She ran.
Sarah followed her.
Salvatore was still alive.
Minutes later, Frank entered.
But he wasn't alone.
A second man came into frame.
Thomas Hale.
Rebecca screamed.
Anthony stared at the screen.
Thomas knelt beside Salvatore.
Frank handed him something.
A syringe.
The recording had no clear audio, but the image was enough.
Thomas injected Salvatore.
Then Frank wiped the syringe.
Rebecca collapsed into a chair.
The father she had spent a lifetime imagining as a victim had participated in murder.
Frank laughed from where Daniel had handcuffed him near the doorway.
“Families,” he said. “So desperate for heroes.”
Vincent looked toward him.
“How did Thomas die?”
Frank's smile faded.
Sarah answered.
“He didn't.”
Everyone turned.
Sarah's face was pale.
“What?”
“He changed his name.”
Rebecca stared at her.
“No.”
Sarah nodded.
“He's alive.”
Anthony whispered, “Where?”
Sarah looked toward Frank.
Frank began laughing again.
Then a cellphone rang.
Not Vincent's.
Not Daniel's.
It came from Frank's pocket.
Daniel removed it.
Unknown caller.
Vincent answered.
A man's elderly voice spoke.
“Hello, son.”
Anthony went completely still.
Vincent looked at him.
May you like
The voice continued.
“I suppose it's finally time we met.”
