Chapter 10 - ARTHUR’S FAMILY HAD BEEN PART OF IT TOO
Arthur had spent his entire adult life believing his father died in a construction accident.
The photograph suggested a more complicated story.
His father, Samuel Kane, worked alongside mine in Lorenzo’s construction company.
They had both uncovered the theft.
Dad left.
Samuel stayed.
Four months later, Samuel died.
Officially, scaffolding collapsed at a work site.
Lorenzo suspected sabotage but never proved it.
Arthur stared at the photograph for almost an hour.
“I was six.”
Nico stood beside him.
Neither man knew what to say.
For once, I did.
“Then don’t guess. Find out.”
Arthur did.
Old reports were retrieved.
Insurance files.
Company logs.
One detail immediately stood out.
The supervisor who signed the safety inspection on the morning Samuel died?
Carlo DeLuca.
Vincent’s father.
The same man Dad had accused of stealing.
The conspiracy suddenly became something more than money.
Two families had spent decades living with the consequences.
Mine escaped.
Arthur’s didn’t.
That night, Arthur wanted to go after Vincent himself.
Nico stopped him.
“Not like this.”
Arthur looked ready to hit him.
“He killed my father.”
“We don’t know that.”
“We know enough.”
“No.”
Nico’s voice stayed calm.
“We know enough to investigate.”
I watched him.
Old Nico would have answered pain with force.
This Nico picked up a phone and contacted the independent attorney already handling the financial case.
Arthur noticed too.
“You’re really doing this legally?”
Nico glanced at me.
“Yes.”
I pretended not to see that glance.
The investigation moved quickly once Dad’s notebook surfaced.
Financial crimes connected to Vincent were documented.
So were payments to people inside Nico’s organization.
Evidence linked Vincent’s father to older thefts, though Samuel’s death remained under review.
Then Vincent contacted me directly.
He called the prepaid phone.
“Mara.”
My blood went cold.
“How did you get this number?”
“Same way Arthur did.”
“You’re losing your touch if your big threat is phone records.”
He laughed.
“You sound like Nico.”
“I’ll try not to take that as an insult.”
His tone changed.
“I have something you want.”
“No.”
“The truth about why Nico really kept you around.”
My stomach tightened despite myself.
“I already know about my father.”
“That isn’t what I mean.”
I said nothing.
Vincent continued.
“Nico didn’t just research you.”
“What did he do?”
“He paid your mother’s medical bills.”
My heart stopped.
Mom died eighteen months after I met Nico.
Cancer.
Different cancer from the stories I’d heard from others, but just as expensive.
She told me insurance had covered more than expected.
Apparently it hadn’t.
“How much?”
“Ask him.”
Then Vincent ended the call.
I found Nico in the kitchen.
“Did you pay for my mother’s treatment?”
His expression told me everything.
“Yes.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
He looked at me.
And for the first time, the answer wasn’t complicated.
“Because you loved her.”
I should have been grateful.
Instead I whispered:
“You still don’t understand.”
He went still.
May you like
“You keep changing my life without asking permission.”
And that secret—kind, generous, enormous—nearly became the thing that made me leave him forever.
