Chapter 4 - The Signature Rosalie’s Father Could Not Explain

Thomas Quinn sat on an old wooden bench beneath the station clock.

Rosalie stood across from him.

Alessandro did not sit.

Neither did Isabella.

Henry leaned against a pillar.

I stayed near the metal case.

Nobody wanted to touch it anymore.

Thomas looked twenty years older.

Alessandro placed the photograph in front of him.

“My father’s signature.”

Thomas nodded.

“Yes.”

“You copied it.”

“Yes.”

“How many times?”

“Seven.”

Rosalie closed her eyes.

“Seven?”

Thomas looked at her.

“I was twenty-nine.”

“That is not an answer.”

“No.”

He turned back to Alessandro.

“Victor gave me documents.”

“What documents?”

“Transfers. Authorizations. A loan guarantee.”

“You forged all of them.”

“Yes.”

“Did my father know?”

“No.”

Isabella’s hands trembled.

“You told me you only followed me.”

Thomas looked at her.

“I lied.”

Alessandro laughed once.

No humor.

“Another person protecting someone with a lie.”

Thomas lowered his head.

“I was paid.”

“How much?”

“Two hundred thousand.”

“Nineteen years ago?”

“Yes.”

Rosalie stared.

“Our house.”

Thomas did not answer.

“The house you said Grandfather left us.”

“Yes.”

She stepped back.

“You bought it with Victor’s money.”

“Yes.”

Her eyes filled.

“And when Isabella paid you to help her disappear?”

Thomas looked ashamed.

“I took that money too.”

Alessandro’s face hardened.

“You were paid by both sides.”

“Yes.”

“To betray both?”

“At first.”

Isabella whispered:

“What changed?”

Thomas looked at Rosalie.

“She was nine.”

Rosalie froze.

Victor had a photograph of her.

School uniform.

Walking beside a woman.

Her mother.

Thomas continued.

“He told me that if I did not keep working for him, Rosalie and her mother would disappear too.”

Rosalie looked at her father.

“My mother died two years later.”

Thomas’s face broke.

“Cancer.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes.”

“Are you?”

He said nothing.

That silence hurt her more than an answer.

Alessandro stepped closer.

“What did you forge after my mother vanished?”

Thomas rubbed his hands together.

“Documents making it look as though Matteo moved the money.”

“How much?”

“Twenty-one million.”

“What happened to the rest?”

“I don’t know.”

Isabella opened one of the folders.

“I do.”

She pulled out a bank sheet.

“Victor moved it into a foundation.”

Rosalie frowned.

“What foundation?”

Isabella looked at Alessandro.

“The Vale Heritage Trust.”

Alessandro’s expression changed.

“That trust paid for my schools.”

“Yes.”

“My security.”

“Yes.”

“My first company.”

“Yes.”

He stared at the paper.

“He raised me with stolen money.”

Isabella shook her head.

“With family money he had stolen and then pretended to restore.”

Henry came closer.

“There’s more.”

He held a strip of negatives toward the station light.

Small frames.

Victor.

Matteo.

Thomas.

A lawyer.

Then one photograph taken through a car window.

A boy in the back seat.

Fourteen.

Alessandro.

His head against the glass.

He stared at himself.

“That night.”

Henry nodded.

“The night Victor took you.”

“Who took this?”

“I did.”

Alessandro looked at him.

“You were there too?”

“I was outside the clinic photographing a political fundraiser.”

“You saw me?”

“I saw a Vale car.”

“And never said anything.”

“I didn’t know what I was looking at.”

Henry placed another negative against the light.

A man stood beside the clinic entrance.

White coat.

Alessandro frowned.

“I know him.”

Isabella looked.

“So do I.”

Rosalie asked:

“Who?”

Alessandro answered:

“Dr. Bernard Lane.”

Thomas looked up sharply.

The reaction was small.

But everyone saw it.

Alessandro turned.

“You know him.”

Thomas hesitated.

“Yes.”

“From where?”

“Victor.”

“What did the doctor do?”

Thomas’s face went gray.

“I don’t know.”

Alessandro stepped closer.

“What did he do to me?”

“I said I don’t know.”

Rosalie shouted:

“Stop lying!”

The station echoed.

Thomas looked at his daughter.

Then at Alessandro.

“Victor said he needed the boy confused.”

Silence.

Alessandro did not move.

Isabella covered her mouth.

“What does that mean?”

Thomas whispered:

“The doctor gave him something.”

Alessandro stared.

“That’s why I don’t remember the car.”

“Yes.”

“That’s why I woke up at the clinic.”

“Yes.”

Isabella began crying.

Alessandro looked at his mother.

Then back at Thomas.

“Is Dr. Lane alive?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

Thomas looked toward the station entrance.

“Three streets from here.”

Rosalie frowned.

“How do you know?”

Thomas’s answer came slowly.

“Because Victor still pays him.”

Alessandro’s eyes narrowed.

“For what?”

A sound came from the dark corridor.

Metal striking concrete.

Everyone turned.

Henry moved first.

He lifted his camera.

A shadow disappeared around the corner.

Alessandro ran.

I followed.

At the end of the corridor, the side door stood open.

Rain blew inside.

On the floor lay a black masquerade mask.

Rosalie picked it up.

Her face changed.

“I know this mask.”

Alessandro turned.

“Whose?”

She looked at him.

“Your uncle’s driver.”

Thomas whispered:

“He knows we found the case.”

Alessandro looked toward the street.

“No.”

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...

He picked up the mask.

“He knows we found the doctor.”