Chapter 5 - Helen Dane's Box

Nobody spoke during the drive.

The villa stood outside Rome.

Stone walls.

Iron gates.

Olive trees.

Dark windows.

The same property deed James had shown in the ballroom.

Owned by Marco Ferraro and Helen Dane.

Victoria's mother.

Luca's father.

A marriage nobody had known existed.

James unlocked the gate.

Marco looked at the house.

"I haven't been here since Helen died."

Victoria stared at him.

"You loved her."

Marco did not hide.

"Yes."

"Did she love you?"

"Yes."

Victoria looked toward Anna.

Anna answered before she asked.

"I know."

Victoria seemed confused.

Anna continued:

"Helen wrote to me before she died."

Marco turned.

"You never told me."

"No."

"What did she say?"

Anna looked at Victoria.

"That she was sorry."

Victoria's eyes filled.

"For what?"

"For waiting too long."

We entered.

Dust.

Covered furniture.

No staff.

James led us upstairs.

A study.

One wall of books.

A painting of the sea.

Victoria stopped.

"My mother painted that."

Marco nodded.

"Here."

James moved the painting.

Behind it:

A steel safe.

Victoria stared.

"I never knew."

Luca handed her the brass key.

There was no keyhole.

She frowned.

Then saw three brass circles beneath the keypad.

A pattern.

Victoria touched them.

"These are dates."

Luca asked:

"What dates?"

"My birthday."

She touched the first.

"My brother's birthday."

Luca looked at her.

"You have a brother?"

"Older."

"Where is he?"

"London."

She entered the numbers.

Nothing.

Victoria frowned.

Then touched the third circle.

Tears filled her eyes.

"My mother's birthday."

The safe clicked.

Luca looked at James.

"You knew she would know."

James nodded.

"Helen said Victoria remembered dates better than faces."

Victoria opened the safe.

Inside:

One black box.

One envelope.

One hard drive.

And a photograph.

Victoria picked up the photograph.

Her mother.

Helen.

Marco.

Anna.

All three together.

Luca stared.

"When?"

Anna answered:

"Ten years ago."

Marco turned sharply.

"What?"

He had never seen it.

Anna continued:

"Helen found me before you did."

Marco looked betrayed.

"She knew where you were?"

"For one afternoon."

Victoria whispered:

"Why?"

Anna looked at the photograph.

"To apologize."

Luca stared.

"For helping you disappear?"

"For helping Adrian hide what he had done."

Victoria opened the envelope.

Her name was written on it.

VICTORIA.

Her hands shook.

She read aloud.

"If you are reading this, then I failed to tell you the truth while I was alive."

Victoria stopped.

James lowered his eyes.

She continued.

"Your father did not order Anna Ferraro's death."

Luca frowned.

Anna said nothing.

Victoria read:

"He ordered her disappearance."

A pause.

"He told two men to frighten her, remove her from the city, and make Luca believe she was dead."

Luca's jaw tightened.

"He believed grief would make Marco easier to control."

Marco closed his eyes.

Victoria continued:

"I found out too late."

Her voice broke.

"I helped Anna survive."

Another line.

"Then I lied to Marco because Adrian threatened you and Nicholas."

Luca looked at Victoria.

"Nicholas."

"My brother."

She nodded.

"My father sent him away when he was eighteen."

"Why?"

"He confronted him."

Victoria kept reading.

"Marco married me believing Anna was dead."

She looked at Marco.

His face had gone pale.

"I let him believe it for five years."

Marco stared at the floor.

Victoria continued:

"I loved him."

A tear hit the paper.

"That does not make what I did right."

Anna looked at Marco.

He said nothing.

Victoria read on.

"When Marco discovered the truth, he left me."

Luca looked at his father.

"That was thirteen years ago."

Marco nodded.

"The night I disappeared."

Victoria continued.

"He did not leave because he stopped loving me."

Marco closed his eyes.

"He left because Adrian threatened Luca."

Luca's expression did not change anymore.

Too many answers had arrived at once.

Victoria reached the final paragraph.

"I kept one copy of every payment Adrian made."

She looked at the hard drive.

"One copy of every photograph."

At the black box.

"And the original recording from the night Anna disappeared."

Luca looked at Anna.

"You've heard it?"

"No."

Marco said:

"Neither have I."

Victoria opened the black box.

A small cassette.

Label:

ANNA - 2006.

Luca looked at James.

"Player?"

James opened a cabinet.

There was one.

Helen had planned this.

Even the machine had been left behind.

Victoria inserted the cassette.

Static.

Then Adrian Dane's younger voice.

"You leave tonight."

Anna's voice answered.

"And Luca?"

"He stays."

"You don't touch my son."

"Then do exactly what I say."

Marco's fists tightened.

Adrian continued:

"By morning, there will be a death certificate."

Anna:

"Marco will look for me."

Adrian laughed.

"No."

A pause.

"He'll be too busy losing everything else."

The recording stopped.

Luca stared at nothing.

Then Victoria played the next segment.

Helen's voice.

"Adrian, what did you do?"

Adrian:

"What had to be done."

Helen:

"She has a child."

Adrian:

"So do we."

Helen:

"Is that a threat?"

Silence.

Then Adrian:

"It is a reminder."

Victoria stopped the tape.

Her face was wet.

No one spoke.

Luca looked at her.

"Your mother protected you."

Victoria nodded.

"And my mother protected me."

Anna nodded.

"And both of them helped him keep control."

Neither woman argued.

Marco looked at the hard drive.

"That's enough to reopen everything."

James said:

"More than enough."

Luca asked:

"Where is Adrian?"

Victoria checked her phone.

No signal from him.

Then the villa alarm beeped.

Once.

James looked toward the hall.

"What?"

A second beep.

Gate opened.

Someone had entered the property.

Marco moved toward the window.

Headlights crossed the courtyard.

Victoria went white.

"That's his car."

Luca looked at her.

"You said he was in Rome."

"I didn't know where."

The front door opened downstairs.

Then Adrian Dane's voice rose through the villa.

"Victoria."

Nobody moved.

He called again.

"Bring me Helen's box."

Luca took the recorder.

Then looked toward the staircase.

"No."

He handed it to me.

"Mia."

"Yes?"

"Keep this."

I stared at him.

"Why me?"

May you like

[COMPLETED] “GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY DRESS! YOU’RE NOTHING BUT AN OLD SEAM...

[COMPLETED] At the Mafia Boss's Engagement Party, I Served His Hungry So...

[COMPLETED] The Mafia Boss’s Fiancée Tried to Dismiss His Father’s Loyal...

"Because everyone in this family has already hidden it once."

Then Luca walked downstairs.