Chapter 7 - CELESTE VALE
-7
Vittorio did not call Celeste immediately.
People revealed more when they believed nobody had noticed them.
Instead, he told Rosa to take Luca into the apartment’s reinforced safe room until police arrived.
Then he called Detective Ellis.
“We have another problem.”
“What?”
“Someone came to the safe apartment pretending to be Luca’s doctor.”
“You have video?”
“Yes.”
“I want it.”
“You’ll have it.”
“Who knew the location?”
Vittorio answered carefully.
“Four people.”
“And?”
“One is dead. Two are unquestionably loyal.”
“You mean Marco and Rosa?”
“Yes.”
“Then the fourth?”
“My attorney.”
“Name?”
“Celeste Vale.”
Ellis was silent for a beat.
“The same Celeste Vale who represents your mother?”
“She represents the family.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“She has represented my mother in private matters.”
“Interesting.”
“Detective—”
“No. What’s interesting is that Celeste Vale’s firm contacted my captain this morning.”
Vittorio’s expression hardened.
“About what?”
“They complained that our investigation was becoming harassment.”
“She moves quickly.”
“She also requested confirmation of which evidence we seized from your mother.”
“Did you tell her?”
“No.”
“Good.”
Ellis’s tone cooled.
“I don’t work for you, Mr. DeLuca.”
“I’m aware.”
“Then don’t say good like I’m one of your employees.”
Despite everything, Vittorio almost smiled.
“Fair.”
“Send the video.”
He did.
Within thirty minutes, Ellis identified the woman.
Not a doctor.
Her name was Karen Wills.
Former home healthcare worker.
Convicted years earlier for fraud.
Recently employed by a private “family wellness service.”
The service was owned by a holding company.
The holding company was represented by Vale & Vale.
Vittorio stared at the report.
Celeste.
He remembered her at Sofia’s funeral.
Black dress.
Perfect posture.
One hand resting on Bernadette’s shoulder.
She had handled probate.
Helped “simplify” Sofia’s estate.
Advised Vittorio to avoid a prolonged investigation because “sometimes grief needs acceptance, not suspicion.”
He had thanked her.
That memory now felt obscene.
Matteo sat across the table.
“She learned from Dominic.”
“Or improved on him.”
Marco returned from a call.
“Karen Wills was picked up.”
“Talk?”
“Not yet.”
“Celeste?”
“At her office.”
“Does she know?”
“Not that we know.”
Vittorio made a decision.
“I’m going back to New York.”
Matteo looked at him.
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“You found me because this started with me.”
“This started before you.”
“And Bernadette believes I’m gone.”
“Exactly.”
Matteo understood.
“You want me invisible.”
“For now.”
“You’re becoming like Dad.”
The sentence hit hard.
Vittorio stared at him.
“Meaning?”
“Hiding pieces from the people you love because you think you’re protecting them.”
“I’m protecting Luca.”
“And I’m your brother.”
“You vanished for twenty-eight years.”
“Because I made exactly the same argument.”
Silence.
Vittorio looked away.
Matteo was right.
Secrets were how Bernadette’s system survived.
Not simply her secrets.
Everyone else’s.
Enzo’s fear.
Matteo’s disappearance.
Sofia’s private investigation.
Vittorio’s refusal to look closely.
Each silence had become another brick in the wall around Bernadette.
“Come with me,” Vittorio said.
Matteo blinked.
“You sure?”
“No.”
“That sounds more like my brother.”
They returned to New York that night.
Matteo entered through a private terminal under another name.
Police placed him in a secure hotel.
Vittorio went directly to Luca.
The boy ran into his arms.
“You found him?”
Vittorio held him tightly.
“Yes.”
“Uncle Matteo?”
“Yes.”
“Is he nice?”
Vittorio laughed softly despite himself.
“He’s irritating.”
“That means yes.”
Vittorio kissed his hair.
Later, once Luca slept, Detective Ellis arrived.
She looked exhausted.
“Karen Wills talked.”
Vittorio closed the door.
“What did she want?”
“She claims Celeste’s assistant hired her to check on Luca.”
“Pretending to be a doctor?”
“She says she was instructed to deliver vitamins.”
Vittorio’s face went cold.
“Did she have them?”
“Yes.”
“What’s in them?”
“Lab is testing.”
“Celeste’s assistant?”
“Dead end so far. He denies everything.”
“Karen produce messages?”
“Some.”
“From Celeste?”
“Burner number.”
“So not enough.”
“Not yet.”
Ellis sat.
“But we found something else in your mother’s bottle.”
Vittorio waited.
“It matches the primary compound found in Luca’s blood.”
He closed his eyes.
There it was.
No ambiguity.
No misunderstanding.
Bernadette had poisoned her grandson.
“Charges?”
“Being prepared.”
“Attempted murder?”
“Depends on intent and toxicology.”
“She put it in his drink.”
“I know.”
“She’s done it before.”
“That part we still have to prove.”
“I have medical records.”
“Patterns are not proof.”
“Then find proof.”
Ellis leaned forward.
“That’s what I’m doing.”
Vittorio controlled himself.
“What else?”
“We searched Bernadette’s office under warrant.”
“And?”
“Hidden compartment.”
“Another one.”
“Your family likes compartments.”
“What was inside?”
“Medical files.”
“Whose?”
“Your father’s. Sofia’s. Luca’s.”
“And mine?”
Ellis looked at him.
“Yes.”
Vittorio went very still.
“What does my file say?”
“Mostly ordinary records.”
“Mostly?”
“Someone has been tracking your blood pressure, medications, surgeries, allergies.”
“Why?”
“I was hoping you could tell me.”
He thought of the ledger.
His name.
A date three weeks away.
“What else?”
Ellis removed a photograph.
A handwritten chart.
Appointments.
Travel.
Meals.
Board meetings.
At the bottom, a note.
V - anniversary dinner.
Vittorio frowned.
“My anniversary dinner?”
“You have one scheduled?”
“No.”
Then he remembered.
The DeLuca Foundation annual dinner.
In three weeks.
Same night as the board meeting.
Bernadette hosted it every year.
“What’s next to it?”
Ellis pointed.
A single handwritten letter.
R.
“What does R mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Matteo did.
When Vittorio showed him the photograph later, his face changed instantly.
“Removal.”
Vittorio stared.
“Are you sure?”
“In the ledger, R appeared beside people who disappeared from positions afterward.”
“Not necessarily died.”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
“Some resigned. Some became sick. One had a public breakdown.”
“Manufactured?”
“I think so.”
“What about Dad?”
Matteo looked down.
“R.”
Sofia?
“R.”
Vittorio’s throat tightened.
“And now me.”
“Yes.”
Vittorio walked to the window.
“What if the board meeting wasn’t about inheritance?”
Matteo frowned.
“What do you mean?”
“What if they planned to remove me before I changed the trust?”
“How?”
“Discredit me.”
“Like Dad.”
“Or make me ill.”
“Like Luca.”
Both men fell silent.
Then Matteo said, “Bernadette isn’t working alone.”
“No.”
“Celeste.”
“Yes.”
“But why would Celeste care who controls DeLuca Holdings?”
Vittorio thought about the law firm.
Decades of legal fees.
Trusts.
Property management.
Foundations.
Shell companies.
Every layer of the family structure passed through Vale & Vale.
“Because if we ever audit everything—”
Matteo finished.
“We find what they took.”
At midnight, Marco called from the estate.
“You should come here.”
“What happened?”
“We found the blue box.”
“Where?”
“Not where you’d expect.”
“Tell me.”
“In Celeste Vale’s car.”
Vittorio’s eyes narrowed.
“How?”
“Police searched it after the Karen Wills connection.”
“What’s in the box?”
“Trust documents.”
“Sofia’s picture?”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
Marco hesitated.
“A birth certificate.”
“Whose?”
“Yours.”
Vittorio frowned.
“Why hide my birth certificate?”
“It isn’t the certificate you’ve seen before.”
A cold pressure formed in Vittorio’s chest.
“What’s different?”
Marco spoke carefully.
“The father’s name.”
Vittorio stopped breathing.
“What name?”
“Not Enzo DeLuca.”
Vittorio gripped the phone.
“Who?”
May you like
Marco answered.
“Dominic Vale.”
