Chapter 5 - What Vanessa Was Protecting

Vanessa did not answer immediately.

She looked at the engagement ring on her hand.

Then removed it.

She placed it on the hidden desk.

Lorenzo watched.

“That isn’t an answer.”

“I know.”

“Then give me one.”

Vanessa wiped her face.

“My father came to me three years ago.”

“David Cole.”

“Yes.”

It was the first time anyone said his name.

David Cole.

Vanessa’s father.

Arthur Cole’s only son.

The man who ran the family office.

Vanessa continued.

“He showed me one of Maria’s letters.”

Maria’s eyes narrowed.

“Which one?”

“The sixth.”

Maria remembered it.

“I asked Lorenzo to meet me in Montreal.”

Vanessa nodded.

“My father told me the meeting was a trap.”

Lorenzo laughed once.

“And you believed him.”

“At first.”

“At first?”

“He showed me photographs.”

“What photographs?”

Vanessa looked at Maria.

“You with federal agents.”

Lorenzo turned.

Maria did not deny it.

Vanessa continued.

“He said if you met Maria, she would use you to finish the case against both families.”

“Was that true?”

Maria answered.

“I wanted Lorenzo away from the families.”

“That is not what he asked,” Vanessa said.

Maria looked at her.

Vanessa’s voice hardened.

“Were federal agents waiting in Montreal?”

Maria paused.

“Yes.”

Lorenzo stared.

Maria continued quickly.

“They were not there to arrest you.”

“Then why were they there?”

“To protect you.”

“From whom?”

“Arthur.”

Vanessa shook her head.

“That is what she says now.”

Maria looked at Lorenzo.

“Your father had just contacted the investigator.

Arthur knew someone inside the Caruso house was leaking documents.

I believed he would suspect you.”

Lorenzo’s voice was flat.

“So you planned to pull me into federal protection without telling me.”

“Yes.”

He looked away.

Maria whispered:

“I was desperate.”

Lorenzo turned back to Vanessa.

“And you intercepted the letter.”

“Yes.”

“Why not tell me?”

“Because my father said if you knew Maria was alive, you would go to her.”

“I would have.”

“And he said Arthur would kill her.”

Maria said:

“That part was true.”

Vanessa continued.

“So I kept the letter.”

“One letter.”

“Yes.”

“But then another came.”

Vanessa closed her eyes.

“And another.”

“And another.”

“Yes.”

Lorenzo moved closer.

“When did you learn your father was lying?”

Vanessa’s tears returned.

“Two years ago.”

“The year Michael died.”

“Yes.”

Maria’s face changed.

Vanessa continued.

“I found a file in my father’s office.

Michael’s name was on it.”

Lorenzo said nothing.

“There were photographs of his car.

His apartment.

Nico’s school.”

Maria stepped forward.

“You knew they were watching my grandson?”

“Yes.”

“You said nothing?”

“I sent you the warning.”

Maria froze.

“What warning?”

“The envelope with no return address.

The one that said MOVE THE BOY.”

Maria stared.

“That was you?”

“Yes.”

Maria’s anger broke for the first time.

“You could have called me.”

“My father monitored me.”

“You could have gone to police.”

“And said what?

That my family had surveillance photographs?

I had no proof of a crime.”

Maria looked away.

Lorenzo asked:

“Did you know Michael would die?”

Vanessa looked horrified.

“No.”

“Did your father?”

“I don’t know.”

“Did Arthur?”

“I think so.”

Lorenzo’s jaw tightened.

“Think?”

Vanessa reached into a small evening bag.

She pulled out her phone.

Then another object.

A tiny black memory card in a plastic sleeve.

“I stole this from my father’s safe six months ago.”

David Cole’s daughter.

Arthur Cole’s granddaughter.

Lorenzo’s fiancée.

She had been lying to everyone.

Maria stared at the card.

“What is on it?”

“I don’t know.”

Lorenzo frowned.

“You never checked?”

“It is encrypted.”

“Why bring it tonight?”

Vanessa looked at him.

“Because I was going to give it to you after the engagement dinner.”

He stared.

“After we announced the wedding.”

“Yes.”

“Why after?”

“Because once I gave it to you, my family would know I had chosen a side.”

Lorenzo’s expression sharpened.

“And marrying me made your choice safer.”

Vanessa looked down.

“No.”

“It made you a Caruso.”

“Yes.”

“It put my security around you.”

“Yes.”

“So part of this engagement was protection.”

Her voice broke.

“Part of it.”

Lorenzo stepped back as if she had struck him.

Vanessa continued.

“But not the part where I loved you.”

He looked at her for a long time.

Then Maria spoke.

“Lorenzo.”

He ignored her.

Vanessa placed the memory card beside the ring.

“I should have told you everything.”

“Yes.”

“I thought if I could get enough proof first—”

“You thought you could decide how much truth I was allowed to have.”

She had no answer.

Antonio appeared at the doorway.

His face was pale.

“Lorenzo.”

“What?”

“The cars at the gate are leaving.”

Lorenzo frowned.

“The gates are closed.”

Antonio looked toward the windows.

“They aren’t using the road.”

A low mechanical sound came from outside.

Maria turned.

“What is that?”

Lorenzo walked to the window.

Beyond the garden, one of the black sedans was moving across the lawn toward the old service lane.

A lane that connected to the river road.

Lorenzo looked at his security chief.

“Stop them.”

Vanessa suddenly shouted:

“No.”

Everyone turned.

She looked terrified.

“My grandfather has a pacemaker.”

Lorenzo stared.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Vanessa grabbed the memory card.

“My father told me years ago that if Arthur was ever detained, one file would be released automatically.”

Maria’s face changed.

“What file?”

Vanessa looked at Lorenzo.

“A list.”

“What list?”

“Every person who ever helped either family.”

Lorenzo went still.

Vanessa continued.

“Employees.

Drivers.

Accountants.

Housekeepers.”

Her eyes moved to me.

I felt my stomach drop.

“People who may not even know what they helped with.”

Maria whispered:

“A blackmail archive.”

Vanessa nodded.

“If Arthur disappears tonight, hundreds of innocent people could be exposed.”

Lorenzo looked out at the escaping car.

Then at the memory card.

He had a choice.

Chase the man who had destroyed his family.

Or stop the machine that man had built.

Lorenzo turned from the window.

“Let him go.”

Maria stared.

“What?”

“For now.”

Vanessa looked at him.

Lorenzo picked up the memory card.

“First we find the list.”

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Then he looked at Vanessa.

“And this time, nobody decides what I’m allowed to know.”