Chapter 4 - ELENA ROMANO WAS NOT KILLED BY ACCIDENT
Sebastian’s mother officially died from an aneurysm.
Sudden.
Untreatable.
Private physician.
No autopsy.
The familiar structure made Norah’s stomach tighten.
“Was it natural?” she asked Julian.
He looked toward Sebastian.
“No.”
The word changed the room.
Sebastian did not move.
“How?”
Julian’s hands trembled.
“I don’t know exact medical details.”
“Then what do you know?”
“Your mother told Isabella she thought someone was dosing her.”
Norah looked sharply at Sebastian.
“Medication?”
Julian nodded.
Elena suffered migraines.
A family physician prescribed treatment.
Weeks before her death, she became dizzy.
Confused.
Weak.
She told Isabella the pills looked different.
Isabella secretly sent one to a laboratory.
The result never reached her.
“Why?”
“The technician disappeared.”
Sebastian’s voice became cold.
“Name.”
Julian hesitated.
“Michael Varga.”
Norah frowned.
“Varga?”
“Elias Varga’s son.”
The jeweler.
Everything connected.
Elias built the replica.
Michael tested Elena’s medication.
Julian worked with both.
“You were involved,” Norah said.
Julian looked ashamed.
“I moved messages.”
“Why hide them inside jewelry?”
“Because Salvatore watched phones. Banks. Cars. Staff.”
Sebastian’s father had built paranoia into infrastructure.
Elena and Isabella used jewelry restorations to move evidence.
Old pieces entered workshops.
Messages left inside clasps.
Stones.
False backs.
No one searched luxury jewelry for testimony.
The original Romano necklace became their final container.
Elena planned to hide full account records inside it.
Then she died.
Isabella retrieved the necklace.
Elias Varga built the replica.
The replica contained partial records meant as a decoy.
“What happened to the original?” Sebastian asked.
Julian shook his head.
“I never knew.”
“Isabella?”
“Yes.”
“She had it?”
“I think so.”
“And my father?”
“He knew she had something.”
Sebastian looked toward the window.
The Cadillac.
The missing aunt.
Norah understood.
Salvatore took Isabella because he believed she had the original necklace.
Then Julian said something worse.
“Your father did not kill Elena himself.”
Sebastian turned.
“That distinction matters to you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the person who changed her medication is still alive.”
Silence.
Norah asked:
“Who?”
Julian’s mouth tightened.
“Dr. Adrian Moretti.”
Sebastian stared.
Norah did not know the name.
He did.
“My uncle.”
Not by blood.
Adrian Moretti had been Salvatore’s closest friend.
Family physician.
Godfather to Sebastian’s younger brother Matteo.
Still alive.
Still wealthy.
Still invited to every Romano Christmas.
Sebastian stepped away.
For seventeen years, he had hugged the man who may have helped kill his mother.
Then Julian whispered:
“There’s more.”
Sebastian turned.
Julian looked at Norah.
“The original necklace was never worth several million.”
Norah frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“The rubies were not the valuable part.”
“What was?”
Julian took a breath.
“One of the stones wasn’t a ruby.”
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed.
“Which one?”
“The center.”
Julian’s voice dropped.
“It contained something Salvatore was willing to kill family for.”
Norah understood before Sebastian did.
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The center “ruby” of the original necklace was hollow.
And inside it was the full ledger.
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