Chapter 10 - The Wedding That Was Never About Love
Leo stared at his fiancée as though he'd never seen her before.
“Camila, what do you mean the payments would stop?”
She lowered her eyes.
“I didn't understand it. Mom said our marriage would settle an old family obligation.”
Arthur felt anger rise in his chest.
Not toward Camila.
Toward the people who had turned his brother's future into a financial arrangement.
“What exactly did Isabella tell you?” he asked.
Camila twisted her engagement ring.
“That both families had been waiting for this wedding for years. She said once we were legally connected, no one could reopen the old investigation without hurting both families.”
Beatrice felt the pieces shift.
The timing.
The trust.
The missing money.
The pressure to marry.
“Arthur,” she said, “I need access to Robert's trust agreements.”
Leo frowned.
“Why?”
“Because I think Camila's marriage was designed to transfer liability.”
Arthur looked at her.
“Explain.”
“If Robert's trust holds assets connected to the original fraud, a marriage settlement could move control between related family entities. It wouldn't erase criminal liability, but it could help someone hide ownership and complicate recovery.”
Leo's face drained.
“So I'm being used?”
Camila caught his hand.
“I swear I didn't know.”
He looked at her.
“Did you ever love me?”
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“Leo, I still do.”
Beatrice quietly moved away.
This wasn't her conversation.
Arthur followed.
In the hallway, he said, “You saw that quickly.”
“That's what you pay me for.”
“Not nearly enough.”
She gave him a tired smile.
“Finally, a meaningful apology.”
He smiled back.
For a moment, everything felt almost ordinary.
Then her phone rang.
Tommy.
She answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“Bea, I'm sorry.”
His voice sounded rough.
“Tommy, please tell me you're safe.”
“I'm safe. But I've done something terrible.”
Her chest tightened.
“What?”
“I helped Richard.”
Beatrice went silent.
Arthur stepped closer.
Tommy continued.
“He told me Dad was alive. He showed me proof. He said if I carried a package from one office to another, he'd help me find him.”
“What package?”
“A hard drive.”
Beatrice closed her eyes.
“Tommy.”
“I didn't know what was on it.”
“Where is it now?”
“I kept a copy.”
Arthur's expression sharpened.
Beatrice put the phone on speaker.
“Tommy, listen to me. Where are you?”
“At Mom's old house.”
Her heart broke a little.
Their mother had died four years earlier.
Tommy sometimes went there when the world became too much.
“Stay inside,” she said. “We're coming.”
“No, Bea. There's something else.”
“What?”
“The hard drive had video files. Security footage.”
Arthur leaned forward.
“From where?”
“Pier Nineteen.”
A terrible silence followed.
Tommy began crying.
“I watched one of them.”
Beatrice gripped the phone.
“What did you see?”
Tommy's voice cracked.
“I saw who locked the warehouse doors before the fire.”
Arthur went rigid.
“Who?”
Tommy whispered the name.
And Beatrice felt the ground disappear beneath her.
May you like
“Your brother, Arthur.”
“Leo Costello.”
