Chapter 7 - THE RECORDING
The flash drive contained three files.
The first was a scanned ledger.
The second was a series of bank transfers.
The third was an audio recording.
Dante asked everyone to leave the room except Gabriel, Isabella, and me.
He pressed play.
A woman's voice filled the office.
Lucia.
She sounded tired, but steady.
“If this recording is being heard, then I haven't been able to deliver the documents myself. Victor has been moving money through the shipping accounts. Senator Hale's office has been receiving payments. My father knows.”
A man's voice interrupted.
“Lucia, stop.”
Dante's face changed.
It was his father.
“You don't understand what you're doing,” the older man said.
“I understand perfectly.”
“You're going to destroy this family.”
“You already destroyed it.”
A pause.
Then another voice.
Victor.
“Give me the drive, Lucia.”
“No.”
“Don't make this difficult.”
“I'm not afraid of you.”
The recording crackled.
Then came a sound like a door opening.
A woman spoke.
Margaret.
“Lucia, we have to go.”
I covered my mouth.
My mother had been there.
The recording continued.
Lucia said, “Take Nora somewhere safe.”
My heart stopped.
I stopped the recording.
Dante looked at me.
“Are you all right?”
“No.”
He nodded.
“That's fair.”
I pressed play again.
My mother answered, “I can't. She's my daughter. I can't leave her forever.”
Lucia replied, “You won't. But you have to make them believe you're dead.”
The audio ended.
Nobody spoke.
Dante sat completely still.
“My father knew,” he said.
Isabella lowered her eyes.
“He may have been trying to stop it.”
“Or he may have been helping them.”
Dante stood and walked to the window.
I looked at the transcript.
“There's something missing.”
Gabriel turned.
“What?”
“The recording ends before we hear what happened. Maybe the rest was damaged.”
The technician had told us the file was incomplete. There was another fragment, but it required a password.
The sealed envelope from the locker contained a clue.
A date.
Lucia's birthday.
Dante entered it.
The file opened.
A second recording began.
This time, Lucia was speaking to my mother.
“If they find the original ledger, they'll come after Nora.”
My mother answered, “Then I'll take her away.”
“No. You can't. They'll follow you.”
“She's my daughter.”
“And she's the only person who doesn't know what this family has done. Keep it that way.”
There was a long pause.
Then my mother said, “I can't leave her forever.”
“Then don't. But you have to make them believe you're dead.”
I stopped the recording.
I couldn't listen anymore.
My mother had planned her disappearance.
She had planned the funeral.
She had let me mourn her.
Dante came toward me.
“Nora—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
I stood.
“She made me believe she was dead for seven years.”
“I know.”
“She let me scatter ashes into a lake.”
“I know.”
“She let me spend my life thinking I had nobody.”
His face tightened.
“I won't defend what she did.”
I looked at him.
“Then don't.”
I walked out.
I reached the stairwell before the tears came.
A few minutes later, Dante appeared.
He did not touch me.
He stood several feet away.
“I won't ask you to forgive her,” he said.
“Good.”
“But I want you to know something. Lucia asked your mother to protect you. Margaret believed she had no other choice.”
“Everybody keeps telling me what she believed.”
I wiped my face.
“Nobody asked what I needed.”
Dante nodded.
“You're right.”
The silence between us was different now.
Not frightening.
Not comfortable either.
Just honest.
Finally, he said, “What do you need?”
I looked at him.
May you like
“I need the truth. All of it. Even if it makes everyone I care about look terrible.”
“Then that's what we'll find.”
