Chapter 5 - The Uncle Who Knew About Both Children

They returned to the Marino estate.

Too late.

Evelyn was gone.

No struggle.

No blood.

Only her phone on the ballroom table.

Cassandra stared.

“Mom.”

Vincent picked it up.

One unsent draft.

DOMINIC HAS THE ORIGINAL PAPER.

Vincent looked at Victoria.

“He found Lucia.”

Edward whispered:

“Or her things.”

Cassandra said:

“My mother knew.”

Vincent turned.

“What?”

“She knew where Dominic kept old family documents.”

“Where?”

Cassandra hesitated.

“The country house.”

Vincent frowned.

“His?”

“Yes.”

Edward looked shocked.

“Dominic still owns that place?”

Cassandra nodded.

“My father transferred it to him.”

Vincent laughed bitterly.

“Of course he did.”

They drove two hours.

No police.

Not yet.

Vincent wanted evidence before Dominic had time to move it.

The country house sat behind a locked gate.

Vincent had not been there since childhood.

He remembered one thing.

A basement.

Dominic used to say:

“Children do not go downstairs.”

They went downstairs.

Old wine racks.

Metal cabinets.

One locked room.

Victoria looked at Vincent.

“You remember this?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve never been here.”

“That makes one of us.”

Edward found the key hanging behind a beam.

Inside:

Boxes.

MARINO.

BELL.

SLOAN.

Cassandra whispered:

“He kept everything.”

Vincent opened one.

His childhood records.

School reports.

Medical files.

Then:

VICTORIA MARINO.

He froze.

Every year.

Medical reports.

School photographs.

Heart surgery records.

Dominic had tracked her.

Victoria stared.

“He knew where I was.”

Edward nodded slowly.

“All along.”

Vincent’s face hardened.

“He lied to Dad that she was unreachable.”

Cassandra opened another box.

ANTHONY.

Inside:

Letters.

Dozens.

Sent by Vincent’s father.

To Vincent.

Never delivered.

Vincent opened one.

He was nine.

SON,

I AM ALIVE.

Vincent stopped.

Victoria covered her mouth.

He continued reading.

I CANNOT COME HOME YET.

DOMINIC HAS MEN WATCHING THE HOUSE.

I WILL GET YOU OUT.

Vincent looked at Edward.

“You never saw these?”

“No.”

Another letter.

Vincent at thirteen.

Another at sixteen.

Another at twenty.

His father had written for years.

Vincent whispered:

“He lived.”

Victoria cried.

“How long?”

The latest letter was dated nine years ago.

Anthony would have been fifty-eight.

Vincent kept searching.

Then found one final envelope.

Six years ago.

No letter.

A death certificate.

ANTHONY MARINO.

Cause:

Cancer.

Place:

Zurich.

Victoria touched Vincent’s arm.

He looked at it.

Then found a photograph.

His father.

Thin.

Older.

Alive in a hospital bed.

Beside him stood:

Lucia Marie.

Their aunt.

Vincent stared.

“She found him.”

Edward nodded.

Cassandra whispered:

“They were together.”

The back of the photograph had writing.

ANTHONY DIED KNOWING BOTH CHILDREN WERE ALIVE.

Vincent closed his eyes.

Not alone.

Not believing they were dead.

That mattered.

Then a voice came from the doorway.

“He knew more than that.”

Dominic.

Sixty-five.

Gray suit.

Gun in hand.

Evelyn stood beside him.

Alive.

Not tied.

Vincent stared.

“You came willingly.”

Evelyn looked ashamed.

“Yes.”

Cassandra whispered:

“Mom.”

Evelyn cried.

“I wanted to stop him from burning the letters.”

Dominic laughed.

“She wanted to bargain.”

Vincent looked at his uncle.

“You knew Victoria was alive.”

“Yes.”

“You knew Dad was alive.”

“For years.”

“You returned his letters.”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Dominic looked at him.

“Because you were mine.”

Silence.

Vincent’s face changed.

“What?”

“I raised you.”

“You stole me.”

“I saved you.”

“From who?”

“Your father.”

Vincent laughed.

“The man trying to come home?”

Dominic’s jaw tightened.

“He would have taken you away from everything.”

Vincent pointed at the boxes.

“You mean from you.”

Dominic did not answer.

That was enough.

Victoria asked:

“What happened to Lucia Marie?”

Dominic looked at her.

“She helped Anthony disappear.”

“Did you kill her?”

“No.”

“Where is she?”

“Dead.”

“How?”

“Natural causes.”

Vincent looked at the death certificate box.

“Proof?”

Dominic smiled.

“Always evidence with you.”

Vincent answered:

“Because everyone in this family lies beautifully.”

Then Edward noticed something.

A second door behind Dominic.

Open.

A shadow moved.

Someone else was downstairs.

Vincent saw it too.

Dominic turned.

Too late.

A woman stepped out.

Seventy.

White hair.

Thin.

Holding a folder.

Lucia Marie Marino.

Alive.

Dominic went pale.

Vincent stared.

His aunt.

The woman who had carried the custody paper.

The woman who had been declared dead.

Again.

She looked at Dominic.

Then at the twins.

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...

“I think you have lied enough.”

========================================================================