Chapter 8 - SOFIA’S LAST LIE

“Uncle?”

Enzo looked at Marco.

“You have a brother?”

Marco did not answer quickly enough.

Enzo laughed in disbelief.

“Of course you do.”

“His name is Luca.”

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

“Where has he been?”

“Mostly Europe.”

“Doing what?”

Marco looked at the floor.

“Keeping the part of the family business I refused to keep.”

Enzo’s expression changed.

“The criminal part.”

Marco nodded.

Vittorio looked almost satisfied.

“Now we are finally telling the truth.”

Sofia turned on him.

“You knew about Luca?”

“For thirty years.”

“And you were working with him?”

“Sometimes.”

“Yesterday?”

Vittorio’s silence answered her.

Enzo stared at him.

“You sent Elena to Pier Nine.”

“No.”

“She went herself.”

“Why?”

“To exchange the ledger for something Luca had.”

Sofia whispered:

“What?”

Vittorio looked at her.

“Your passport.”

She frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“A second passport. New name. New identity.”

Sofia shook her head.

“I never asked for that.”

“No.”

Vittorio looked toward Marco.

“Her mother did.”

Sofia’s face softened with confusion.

“For me?”

“Yes.”

“She thought I needed to disappear?”

“She thought the wedding would make you a target.”

Enzo looked at Marco.

“From Luca?”

“Yes.”

Marco’s voice was low.

“Luca believes the dormant trust belongs to him.”

“Why?”

“Because our father created it before I took control of the family.”

Aldo looked at Enzo.

“That is why the marriage clause matters.”

Marco nodded.

“The trust transfers cleanly to Enzo after marriage. Before that, Luca can still challenge it using old family documents.”

Enzo looked at Sofia.

“So your father wanted the trust.”

Vittorio said nothing.

“My uncle wanted the trust.”

Nothing.

“And you put your daughter between both sides.”

Sofia looked at her father.

His silence was worse than any confession.

Then she reached into her bag one final time.

She removed a small black phone.

Not her regular one.

Enzo stared.

“What is that?”

Sofia’s voice shook.

“My last lie.”

She placed it on the table.

“My father gave it to me after I met Marco in March.”

Vittorio’s face changed for the first time.

“Sofia.”

She looked at him.

“No.”

Then she looked at Enzo.

“He told me to keep you close until the wedding.”

Enzo did not react.

That hurt her more.

“He told me Luca had people watching the estate.”

“Did you believe him?”

“Yes.”

“Was it true?”

“Yes.”

Marco nodded.

Sofia continued.

“But that wasn’t the only reason.”

Enzo waited.

She started crying again.

“My father wanted me to tell him if Aldo found anything.”

Aldo looked down.

“He wanted access to your legal documents.”

Enzo said nothing.

“He wanted the marriage agreement signed.”

Still nothing.

“And I let him think I would help.”

Enzo finally spoke.

“Would you?”

“No.”

“You already did.”

She flinched.

“You hid my father’s letter.”

“Yes.”

“You hid my mother.”

“Yes.”

“You let the agreement stay.”

“Yes.”

He looked at the second phone.

“What is on it?”

Sofia pushed it toward him.

“Everything he sent me.”

Vittorio stepped forward.

“Do not.”

Enzo picked it up.

Messages.

Dates.

Instructions.

Photographs of the estate.

Copies of trust documents.

One message from Vittorio read:

KEEP ALDO AWAY FROM THE OLD ACCOUNTS.

Another:

DO NOT LET ENZO SPEAK TO MARCO BEFORE THE CEREMONY.

Then one from two days earlier:

LUCA WILL HANDLE ELENA. YOU HANDLE ENZO.

Sofia had replied:

NO.

Enzo scrolled.

The next message from her father:

THEN YOU WILL LOSE HIM ANYWAY.

Enzo looked at Sofia.

“You said no.”

“I did.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because by then I had lied so much I thought the truth would sound like another lie.”

Enzo looked at her for a long time.

“It does.”

She closed her eyes.

He gave the phone to Aldo.

“Make copies.”

Vittorio moved toward him.

Marco blocked the path.

Vittorio stopped.

Sofia looked at Enzo.

“I loved you.”

He answered quietly.

“I believe you.”

Her eyes opened.

That was not forgiveness.

She understood.

Enzo continued.

“But love that keeps someone blind is not the kind I can marry.”

Sofia began to cry.

He removed the engagement ring from his pocket.

The ring from the rehearsal table.

He placed it beside the black phone.

“I’m not marrying you tomorrow.”

She nodded through tears.

“I know.”

Her father said:

“You are throwing away the only protection she has.”

Sofia turned.

“No.”

She wiped her face.

“For the first time, I think I’m giving it back to myself.”

Then she picked up her regular phone.

She started the recording again.

“Say Luca’s name.”

Vittorio stared at her.

“Say where he took my mother.”

Nothing.

Sofia moved closer.

“You spent my whole life telling me family protects family.”

Her voice steadied.

“So protect me with the truth.”

Vittorio looked suddenly exhausted.

He sat down.

Then he said:

“Luca moved Elena from Pier Nine at dawn.”

“Where?”

“I don’t know.”

Sofia laughed bitterly.

“You always know.”

“Not this time.”

Enzo watched him.

“What does Luca want?”

Vittorio answered:

“The brass key.”

Enzo’s hand closed around it.

“And me.”

“Yes.”

“Why me?”

“Because the key opens the records room.”

“We know.”

Vittorio shook his head.

“No.”

He looked toward Marco.

“The key opens the outer door.”

Marco’s face changed.

Vittorio continued.

“The inner vault requires a Marchetti blood signature.”

Aldo frowned.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Not blood.”

Vittorio sounded irritated.

“A family authorization phrase recorded in the trust documents.”

Enzo looked at Marco.

“You know it.”

Marco nodded.

“Luca knows I do.”

Enzo understood.

“And if he cannot get it from you?”

Vittorio looked at him.

“He believes your father taught it to you.”

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“I believe you.”

Vittorio stood.

“But Luca won’t.”

Sofia whispered:

“Then where will he go?”

Aldo looked at the page in his hand.

At the Montreal stamp.

Then at the time written beneath it.

11:30.

He looked at the wall clock.

11:17 p.m.

“Pier Nine.”

Enzo frowned.

“Why?”

Aldo held up the page.

“This is not a bank time.”

He pointed to the number.

“It is a freight access code.”

Marco stepped closer.

Aldo looked at him.

“And it expires at midnight.”

Enzo stared at the clock.

Forty-three minutes.

Vittorio went pale.

Sofia noticed.

“What happens at midnight?”

Her father looked at the copied ledger page.

Then whispered:

“The underground records room locks permanently if the trust transfers are not renewed.”

Enzo asked:

“Can Luca stop that?”

“Yes.”

“How?”

Vittorio looked at him.

“By making you sign before midnight.”

Enzo put the brass key in his pocket.

Then looked at Aldo.

“Get the car.”

Sofia stepped forward.

“I’m coming.”

Enzo hesitated.

She looked at him.

“My mother is there because of my father.”

“No.”

Enzo looked at Vittorio.

“Your mother is there because every person in this room kept one secret too long.”

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Then he opened the door.

“Tonight, we stop.”