Chapter 10 - THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCHWORD NUMBER - 10
Abigail turned slowly.
Her mother stood near the doorway beside Chef Laurent.
Lucia looked smaller than usual beneath the fluorescent hospital lights.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Abigail laughed.
Not because anything was funny.
Because the alternative was screaming.
“Mom?”
Lucia’s eyes filled with tears.
Carlo Russo remained perfectly still.
Rafael stepped between them.
“Do not listen to him.”
Carlo looked almost tired.
“Still protecting her.”
“You don’t know anything.”
“I know exactly what happened to Lorenzo.”
Dante’s voice cut through the room.
“Then speak.”
Carlo looked at Lucia.
“Tell them.”
She shook her head.
“Tell them why Lorenzo died.”
Rafael moved toward Carlo.
Dante blocked him.
“No.”
Rafael stared.
Dante’s expression was cold.
“I want the truth.”
Lucia slowly sat in a chair.
Abigail knelt in front of her.
“Mom.”
Lucia took her daughter’s hands.
“I never wanted you inside this.”
“You knew Dad was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You knew about the accounts.”
“Some.”
“Did you poison Lorenzo Moretti?”
Lucia closed her eyes.
“No.”
Carlo said nothing.
Abigail looked at him.
“You said she did.”
“I said the person responsible had been standing beside you.”
“Stop playing games.”
Carlo’s gaze moved to Chef Laurent.
Everyone followed it.
Laurent’s expression did not change.
Abigail stood.
“No.”
Laurent sighed.
“Carlo.”
Dante immediately shifted.
Marco reached toward his jacket.
Laurent raised both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
Rafael stared at his old friend.
“Tell me he’s lying.”
Laurent looked at him.
“I wish I could.”
The betrayal landed quietly.
That made it worse.
Laurent had cooked for Dante’s family for twenty-one years.
He had hidden Rafael.
Protected Abigail.
Carried the false copper pan.
He had appeared to be one of the few people helping.
Dante’s voice became almost emotionless.
“You poisoned my father.”
Laurent shook his head.
“I administered what I was told was medication.”
“By whom?”
“Your mother.”
Dante froze.
Matteo whispered, “Mother?”
Their mother, Elena Moretti, had died two years before Lorenzo.
Or so everyone believed.
Abigail felt dizzy.
Laurent continued.
“Elena learned the Arbor Society planned to expose Dante’s parentage. Lorenzo wanted to fight. Elena wanted to run.”
“She poisoned him?”
“No.”
Laurent looked at Carlo.
“Enzo Russo did.”
Carlo’s face tightened.
“My father.”
“Yes.”
Rafael stepped closer.
“Enzo poisoned Lorenzo?”
Laurent nodded.
“Slowly. For months.”
“Why?”
“Because Lorenzo planned to expose the Arbor Society.”
The entire history shifted again.
Lorenzo had been brutal.
Criminal.
Controlling.
But at the end, he had turned against the network.
Carlo said quietly, “I discovered the poisoning too late.”
“The antidote payment,” Dante said.
“Yes.”
“Why did Rafael’s signature appear on it?”
“Because Rafael was helping me.”
Abigail looked at her father.
“You knew?”
Rafael nodded reluctantly.
“I signed emergency authorization for the medical contractor.”
“Then why did your recording say they were planning to frame you?”
“Because Enzo discovered what we were doing.”
Carlo continued.
“Lorenzo died before the antidote could work.”
Matteo turned toward Laurent.
“And Mother?”
Laurent looked devastated.
“Elena believed the Arbor Society would kill Dante next.”
“So she ran?”
“Yes.”
Dante stared.
“Our mother didn’t die?”
Laurent lowered his eyes.
“No.”
Dante’s face lost all expression.
Matteo stumbled backward.
The official story said Elena Moretti died after a long illness.
There had been a funeral.
A coffin.
A family burial.
Abigail almost wanted to laugh again.
Nobody in this world stayed inside graves.
“Where is she?” Dante asked.
Laurent said nothing.
Dante stepped closer.
“Where is my mother?”
“I don’t know.”
“That answer is becoming very unpopular.”
“She disappeared after Lorenzo died.”
Carlo looked at Laurent.
“That is not completely true.”
Laurent’s eyes narrowed.
Carlo removed a folded photograph.
Elena Moretti.
Alive.
The photograph had been taken three months earlier.
Dante stared at it.
“Where?”
“Boston.”
“Why do you have this?”
“Because I have been tracking her.”
“Why?”
Carlo’s answer came immediately.
“Because she controls the Arbor Society.”
Silence became absolute.
Abigail looked at Rafael.
He appeared shocked.
“You said you did not know who was above Enzo.”
“I didn’t.”
Carlo nodded.
“My father did.”
Dante stared at the photograph.
His mother.
Not a victim hiding from the network.
Its leader.
Carlo continued.
“Elena Moretti was born Elena Salerno.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“Salerno?”
“Adrian’s sister.”
Matteo whispered, “No.”
Carlo looked at Dante.
“Your biological father was your mother’s brother-in-law only in the public story.”
Confusion crossed everyone.
He clarified.
“Elena was not born Salerno. She was adopted into the family as a child. Adrian and Elena were not biologically related.”
Dante shut his eyes.
The family history had been manufactured layer after layer.
Carlo continued.
“Elena married Lorenzo to unite two branches. Then she had you with Adrian and hid the truth from both men until the hospital test.”
“Why?”
“Because you were the perfect heir.”
Dante looked disgusted.
“I was eleven.”
“To them, you were an asset before you were born.”
Abigail understood the horror.
The Arbor Society had applied its philosophy even to children inside its own families.
People were not people.
They were leverage.
Accounts.
Bloodlines.
Future signatures.
Lucia finally spoke.
“That is why I helped Rafael disappear.”
Everyone turned.
“I worked at Saint Catherine’s laundry department. I overheard Elena arguing with Enzo Russo.”
Abigail stared.
“You knew Elena?”
“I knew her voice.”
Lucia continued.
“She said Dante would eventually inherit everything if they controlled the right records.”
Dante looked away.
Lucia had unknowingly become a witness.
That explained why the Vega family had been targeted.
Rafael discovered the debt ledgers.
Lucia overheard the mastermind.
Together they knew too much.
Carlo looked at Dante.
“Your mother reactivated the Vega account fourteen months ago.”
Abigail felt sick.
“She ordered people to hurt me?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To force Rafael out of hiding.”
Rafael clenched his fists.
“And she succeeded.”
Carlo nodded.
Dante looked at the photograph.
“Where is she now?”
Carlo removed another paper.
“She sent me an invitation.”
He placed it on the table.
A charity gala.
Tomorrow night.
Moretti Maritime Museum.
Dante read the card.
The hosting foundation was controlled by one of his own companies.
His mother intended to walk into his world publicly.
Carlo said:
“She knows we found the index.”
“What does she want?”
“You.”
Dante looked at him.
“For what?”
“To sign the Salerno holdings back into Arbor control before your birthday.”
“And if I refuse?”
Carlo looked toward Abigail.
“She will close the Vega account.”
Abigail knew what that meant.
Dante folded the invitation carefully.
Then he looked around the archive.
“My mother wants a gala.”
Matteo watched him.
May you like
Dante’s voice became cold.
“Then we’ll give her one.”
