Chapter 7 - The Initials in the LedgerEnzo did not defend himself.
They knew because a neighbor’s security camera captured his car.
By the time officers entered, the house was empty.
Food still warm.
A fireplace burning.
A shattered glass near the back door.
Victor Ashford and Dominic were gone.
So was whatever they had been looking for.
Camilla agreed to police protection.
Enzo barely spoke to her.
Adeline understood.
The engagement was over for reasons that had begun long before the riding crop.
Camilla had not merely hidden a temper.
She had hidden twelve years of truth.
That afternoon, Detective Ramirez separated everyone for interviews.
Adeline waited in a small conference room at the local station.
Camilla entered unexpectedly.
For a moment, neither woman moved.
Adeline’s wrist throbbed beneath the bandage.
Camilla looked at it.
Then away.
“I’m sorry.”
Adeline almost laughed.
“You hit me with a riding crop.”
“I know.”
“In front of two hundred people.”
“I know.”
“Because you thought I embarrassed you.”
Camilla lowered her eyes.
“Yes.”
Adeline had expected excuses.
There were none.
That made the apology harder to dismiss.
“Why were you like that?”
Camilla sat opposite her.
“My father taught me that humiliation was weakness.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s the only answer I have.”
Adeline studied her.
Camilla looked twenty years older than she had at the party.
No diamonds.
No perfect hair.
No crowd.
Just a frightened woman raised by a dangerous man.
“You knew Luca?”
“Yes.”
“Were you together?”
“No.”
Camilla smiled sadly.
“He hated me.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew exactly what my father was.”
“And you?”
“I spent years pretending I didn’t.”
Adeline remained quiet.
Camilla continued.
“The night Luca died, he came to our house.”
“To confront Victor?”
“Yes.”
“My father told him the Marchettis were just as involved.”
“Was that true?”
“Partly.”
“Enzo’s father?”
Camilla nodded.
“Salvatore Marchetti allowed restricted chemical shipments through several properties. He told himself he didn’t know exactly what Victor was moving.”
“But he did.”
“Eventually.”
“And Luca found out.”
“Yes.”
“What happened that night?”
Camilla looked at the door.
“My father called Salvatore.”
“And?”
“They met Luca near the lake.”
“Were you there?”
“I followed.”
Adeline leaned forward.
“Did Salvatore kill him?”
Camilla’s eyes filled.
“I don’t know.”
“You told Enzo he did.”
“My father told me he did.”
“That’s not the same thing.”
“I know.”
“Did you see Luca die?”
“No.”
“What did you see?”
“Luca arguing with Salvatore on the dock. Dominic was there too.”
“Enzo’s uncle.”
“Yes.”
“My father pulled me away.”
“Then?”
“I heard a gunshot.”
Adeline went still.
“The reports said boating accident.”
“I know.”
“Was Luca shot?”
“I don’t know.”
“Camilla.”
“I didn’t see.”
Adeline believed her.
Mostly.
“What about the brass key?”
“Luca pushed it into my hand earlier that night.”
“Why you?”
“He said no one would search me.”
“What did he tell you?”
“Keep it until Enzo asks the right question.”
“What question?”
Camilla shook her head.
“He never told me.”
The door opened.
Enzo entered.
He stopped when he saw Camilla.
“Leave.”
Adeline stood.
“He needs to hear this.”
Camilla looked at Enzo.
“I never saw your father kill Luca.”
Enzo’s eyes sharpened.
“What?”
“My father told me he did.”
“You said—”
“I know what I said.”
Enzo stepped toward her.
“You let me believe—”
“I was terrified.”
“For twelve years?”
“Yes.”
He laughed bitterly.
“Twelve years is not fear, Camilla. It’s a decision.”
She flinched.
Adeline quietly moved toward the door.
Enzo said, “Stay.”
She stopped.
Camilla wiped tears from her face.
“I was seventeen.”
“And you were thirty last night when you hit her.”
Silence.
Camilla looked at Adeline.
“I’m not asking either of you to forgive me.”
“Good,” Enzo said.
“But you need to understand my father.”
“I understand men like Victor.”
“No, you don’t.”
Camilla shook her head.
“He never makes one plan.”
Enzo stared.
“What does that mean?”
“The poison.”
“What about it?”
“If he planned to kill you, he planned what came after.”
Adeline felt cold.
“What comes after?”
Camilla looked at Enzo.
“Who inherits?”
Nobody spoke.
Enzo’s father was dead.
His brother was dead.
Enzo had no wife.
No children.
The Marchetti companies were held through a complicated family structure.
Dominic was the nearest senior relative.
Enzo whispered, “My uncle.”
Camilla nodded.
“If you died before the wedding, Dominic would take temporary control of the family trust.”
“And your father?”
“He has contracts with Dominic.”
Enzo looked toward the glass wall of the conference room.
“Then the marriage was irrelevant.”
“No.”
Camilla swallowed.
“The marriage protected my father.”
“How?”
“If we married, Ashford capital would enter Marchetti companies legally. Records could be merged, debts refinanced, older transactions buried.”
“And if I started asking questions?”
“You die.”
Adeline stared at Camilla.
“Did your father tell you that?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because three months ago I overheard him tell Dominic, ‘The wedding solves it cleanly. If the boy becomes difficult, we use the other route.’”
Enzo’s expression darkened.
“You still planned to marry me.”
Camilla cried silently.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because my father said if I refused, my younger sister would replace me.”
Enzo stopped.
Adeline had never heard of a sister.
“Where is she?”
Camilla whispered, “Boarding school in Switzerland.”
Enzo turned to Marco, who had just entered behind him.
“Get her.”
Marco nodded immediately.
Camilla exhaled shakily.
“Thank you.”
Enzo looked back at her.
“Don’t thank me.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
Marco handed Enzo a tablet.
“The flash drive is decrypted.”
Enzo looked at the screen.
“What’s on it?”
“Financial records.”
“From Bellavita?”
“From everything.”
Marco scrolled.
Shell companies.
Chemical shipments.
Bribes.
Payments to inspectors.
Payments to politicians.
Payments to someone identified only as D.M.
Dominic Marchetti.
Then Adeline saw a date.
Three years ago.
The week Noah was poisoned.
A payment of $250,000.
Recipient: DENNIS COLE.
Manager of Bellavita.
Memo: CROCUS DISPOSAL.
Adeline frowned.
“Crocus?”
Enzo searched the files.
A folder appeared.
CROCUS.
Inside were photographs.
Not from twelve years ago.
From three.
The same chemical containers Adeline had photographed.
Which meant the illegal operation had continued long after Luca’s death.
Enzo’s father had died five years earlier.
So someone else had restarted it.
Dominic.
Adeline whispered, “Your uncle kept using Bellavita.”
Enzo’s jaw clenched.
Marco opened another document.
Then stopped.
“What?”
Marco looked at Adeline.
“There’s an employee list.”
“So?”
“Your name is on it.”
She leaned closer.
Beside her name was a note.
OBSERVED STORAGE ROOM. PHONE NOT RECOVERED.
Her blood went cold.
Below it:
FAMILY LEVERAGE: RUTH CROFT. NOAH CROFT.
Adeline stepped back.
They had known about her for three years.
They had known about her mother.
Her brother.
Everything.
Then one final line appeared.
ACTION DEFERRED BY E.M.
Adeline stared.
“E.M.?”
Everyone turned toward Enzo.
He looked equally confused.
Camilla whispered, “Enzo Marchetti.”
“No,” he said.
“You said you didn’t know her,” Camilla replied.
“I didn’t.”
Marco looked at the file more carefully.
“The initials could be someone else.”
“There is no other E.M. in the family,” Camilla said.
Adeline’s heart began hammering.
Enzo stepped toward her.
“I swear to you—”
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Everyone froze.
Adeline answered on speaker.
“Hello?”
A distorted male voice spoke.
“Ask Enzo why he saved your life three years ago.”
The call ended.
Adeline looked at him.
Enzo looked horrified.
May you like
Because someone had just connected him to a secret he did not remember.
And for the first time, Adeline wondered whether the man she had saved was also the man who had been watching her long before they met.
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