Chapter 5 - Rebecca’s Real Father
Rebecca stared at Anthony.
“My real father is standing right there.”
Anthony smiled.
“No.”
Victor sat down.
Rebecca looked at him.
“Dad?”
He did not answer.
“Dad.”
Victor’s face had collapsed.
Not physically.
Something inside him had.
Rebecca stepped closer.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Victor whispered:
“I raised you.”
“That is not what I asked.”
Silence.
Matteo watched.
So did Isabella.
Mr. Lawson removed his glasses.
Rebecca turned back to Anthony.
“Who is my father?”
Anthony did not answer immediately.
Then:
“Carlo Rinaldi.”
Matteo’s head lifted.
Isabella went perfectly still.
Rebecca stumbled backward.
“No.”
Anthony nodded.
“No.”
Rebecca looked at Matteo.
Then Isabella.
Then Victor.
“No.”
Matteo’s voice was flat.
“That would make Rebecca my sister.”
Anthony shook his head.
“Half sister.”
Rebecca covered her mouth.
Isabella stood.
“That is impossible.”
Anthony looked at her.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“You were gone for three months in 1992.”
Isabella stared.
Matteo looked at his mother.
“What is he talking about?”
Isabella’s voice became hard.
“Carlo never had a relationship with Elena.”
Anthony laughed.
“You really believed that?”
Victor stood.
“Enough.”
Anthony turned.
“You lied to Elena for thirty years.”
Victor moved toward him.
Matteo’s security stepped between them.
Rebecca shouted:
“Stop.”
Everyone did.
She looked at Victor.
“Did my mother have an affair with Carlo?”
Victor whispered:
“Yes.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
Matteo stared at her.
She looked stunned.
Not guilty.
Stunned.
“When?”
Matteo asked.
Victor answered:
“Before you were born.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Carlo told me he was in Montreal on business.”
Victor said:
“He was with Elena.”
Rebecca began crying.
“How long?”
“A few months.”
“And she got pregnant.”
Victor nodded.
Rebecca looked at Anthony.
“So you’re saying Matteo and I—”
Mr. Lawson interrupted.
“We verify it.”
Anthony smiled.
“Lawyers always need paper.”
Matteo looked at him.
“And liars always hate it.”
Anthony’s smile disappeared.
Matteo turned to Rebecca.
“We do a DNA test.”
She looked at him.
“You still trust me enough for that?”
“This isn’t about trust.”
“Everything tonight is about trust.”
Matteo said nothing.
Rebecca wiped her face.
Then nodded.
“Fine.”
Isabella looked at Anthony.
“You said Elena had a ledger.”
“She did.”
“Where is it?”
Anthony looked at Rebecca.
“That’s why I came.”
Rebecca frowned.
“I don’t have it.”
“Not knowingly.”
“What does that mean?”
Anthony looked at the diamond necklace she still wore from the gala.
“Elena gave you something before she disappeared.”
Rebecca touched the necklace.
“My mother gave me this when I was eleven.”
Anthony nodded.
“Open the clasp.”
Rebecca removed it.
Matteo took the necklace.
The clasp looked ordinary.
Anthony said:
“Press the side.”
Matteo did.
A tiny metal cap released.
Inside was a narrow strip of folded paper.
Rebecca stared.
Matteo unfolded it carefully.
Four numbers.
6.
1.
9.
4.
Mr. Lawson frowned.
“A code.”
Anthony nodded.
“To a deposit box.”
“Where?”
“Boston.”
Rebecca looked at him.
“You knew this for years?”
“No.”
“Then how do you know now?”
Anthony’s expression changed.
“Because Elena contacted me last month.”
Victor looked at him.
“What?”
Rebecca whispered:
“My mother called you?”
“Yes.”
“From where?”
“Quebec City.”
“Why?”
“She said someone had found her.”
“Who?”
Anthony looked at Matteo.
“Elliot.”
Victor shook his head.
“No.”
Anthony ignored him.
“Elena told me Elliot was searching for the ledger.”
Matteo said:
“Because it could destroy Vaughn Holdings.”
“And more.”
“Who else is named?”
Anthony smiled faintly.
“Carlo Rinaldi.”
Matteo’s face changed.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
“For what?”
“Not laundering.”
“Then what?”
Anthony took a breath.
“For ordering one shipment after he supposedly left the business.”
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Anthony looked at her.
“You don’t know everything about Carlo.”
Matteo’s voice became colder.
“What shipment?”
Anthony answered:
“The one that disappeared.”
“When?”
“Eighteen years ago.”
The year Isabella vanished.
Matteo looked at his mother.
Isabella looked confused.
Anthony continued.
“A truck left Albany the night you escaped me.”
Victor whispered:
“Stop.”
Anthony looked at him.
“Still protecting Carlo?”
Matteo stepped closer.
“What was in the truck?”
Anthony’s smile was gone.
“Cash.”
“How much?”
“Twenty-five million.”
“Where did it go?”
“No one knows.”
“Who was supposed to receive it?”
Anthony looked at Isabella.
“Elliot’s father.”
Rebecca frowned.
“My uncle Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Thomas died fifteen years ago.”
Anthony nodded.
“In a boating accident.”
Victor whispered:
“It was an accident.”
Anthony looked at him.
“You seem to have a lot of those.”
Matteo said:
“Why does Elliot care now?”
“Because his father never received the money.”
“And Elliot thinks my father kept it.”
Anthony nodded.
Rebecca looked at Victor.
“Did Carlo keep it?”
Victor said:
“I don’t know.”
Anthony laughed.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at him.
Anthony pointed at Isabella.
“She does too.”
Isabella stared at him.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“I never saw the money.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Anthony reached into his coat.
Matteo’s security moved.
Anthony stopped.
“Photograph.”
Matteo nodded.
Anthony removed one photograph.
A storage facility.
A younger Carlo stood near a row of units.
Beside him was Isabella.
And painted on one metal door:
614.
Matteo looked at the hotel room number.
Then at the photograph.
Anthony smiled.
“You think Lawson chose this room by accident?”
Matteo turned toward the old lawyer.
Mr. Lawson looked uncomfortable.
“Daniel?”
The lawyer sighed.
“Your mother asked me to book it.”
Matteo looked at Isabella.
“Why?”
She stared at the photograph.
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