Chapter 7 - THE SECRET MY GRANDMOTHER TOOK TO HER GRAVE
I spent the next morning searching every box Grandma Lucia had left behind.
The recipe tin was still missing, but I remembered another hiding place: the wooden floorboard beneath her sewing machine, where she used to keep documents she considered too important to throw away.
I had brought her old sewing kit to Roman's house.
Inside it was a folded envelope containing a photograph, a hospital bracelet, and a letter dated thirty-four years earlier.
The bracelet carried a handwritten name.
Isabella Vale.
The letter began with an apology.
Lucia explained that Isabella had escaped the church fire but suffered serious injuries. Because Adrian's men were searching hospitals, she had been moved between safe locations before disappearing under a new identity.
Lucia had helped arrange the escape.
She had also promised Isabella that Roman would be protected until the danger passed.
But there was another revelation.
Isabella had not simply run away from her brother-in-law.
She had discovered evidence that Adrian had arranged the death of Roman's father and planned to use the tragedy to seize control of the family business.
Lucia believed the truth was hidden inside a record book stored beneath Saint Agnes.
The book contained original payments, names, and dates that could expose Adrian's entire operation.
A second note was addressed directly to me.
Hannah, if Roman finds you, do not trust the powerful because they offer protection. Trust the person willing to tell the truth even when it costs them everything.
I read it twice.
Then Roman noticed something written in the corner of the photograph.
A phone number.
He dialed it, and the call connected after three rings.
An elderly woman answered.
When Roman said his mother's name, she began to cry.
“Isabella told me you would come one day,” she whispered.
May you like
Then she gave us an address—and a warning.
“Come before Adrian finds out she's still alive.”
