Chapter 10 - Lorenzo could not move.His mother had been dead for fifteen years.
Yet she stood ten feet away.
Older, yes.
But unmistakable.
The same eyes.
The same voice.
The same small scar near her chin.
Lorenzo remembered that scar from childhood.
She had once cut herself opening a wooden crate.
He had cried more than she did.
Now she looked at him as if those memories belonged to another lifetime.
“Mother?”
She smiled.
“I knew you would recognize me.”
Rachel raised her weapon.
“Don't move.”
The woman laughed softly.
“You're very late, Detective.”
Isabella lowered her gun.
“She isn't here to kill him.”
Lorenzo turned.
“You knew she was alive?”
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Since before the crash.”
His face tightened.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because she threatened you.”
His mother stepped forward.
“Threatened him?”
Isabella looked at Lorenzo.
“Your mother isn't the architect.”
“Then who is?”
His mother answered.
“Your father.”
Lorenzo stared.
“But Anthony said you ordered the crash.”
“Anthony believed what he was paid to believe.”
“Who paid him?”
She smiled sadly.
“Enzo.”
“My father is dead.”
“He disappeared.”
“Why?”
“Because he discovered what Isabella found.”
“What?”
His mother looked toward Rachel.
“The family account.”
Rachel frowned.
“What account?”
“The account that financed every operation.”
Lorenzo stared.
His mother continued.
“Your father built the DeLuca empire on one secret.”
She pointed toward him.
“Your bloodline.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“That makes no sense.”
“It does if your father believed power came through inheritance.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“He created shell companies, hidden accounts, and false deaths to protect the family fortune.”
Lorenzo shook his head.
“My father did all that?”
“He planned to leave everything to you.”
“Then why manipulate me?”
“Because you refused to become him.”
His mother looked at him.
“You wanted out.”
Lorenzo remembered.
He had tried to move the company into legitimate shipping.
He had cut ties with some of the old operations.
His father had been furious.
“Enzo believed Isabella was changing you,” his mother said.
“So he targeted her.”
“Yes.”
Lorenzo's fists tightened.
“Then Vincent?”
“Vincent was your father's man.”
“And you?”
“I tried to protect you.”
Lorenzo laughed bitterly.
“By pretending to be dead?”
“To disappear from your father's reach.”
Rachel stepped forward.
“What happened to Claire Donnelly?”
His mother went silent.
Isabella answered.
“She had proof.”
“What proof?”
“A recording of Enzo ordering the crash.”
Lorenzo stared at Isabella.
“You had it?”
“I found it.”
“Where?”
“Before I could send it, they found me.”
“Who?”
Vincent.
Anthony.
Two other men.
They had drugged Isabella and staged the crash.
They used Claire's body to create the death.
Then took Isabella to the farmhouse.
But there was another complication.
Emma.
Isabella had escaped with Bruno.
While hiding near the old train station, she saw Sophia and Emma.
She wanted to approach them.
Instead, a black SUV appeared.
The child had seen her.
And Emma remembered.
Lorenzo's voice broke.
“So she told me.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Sophia know?”
Isabella looked at Sophia.
“Because Claire trusted her.”
Lorenzo turned.
Sophia cried.
“Claire was my sister.”
Silence.
“She worked for Moreau Shipping,” Sophia said.
“She found the payments.”
“She found Enzo.”
“And Vincent.”
She nodded.
“Claire gave me copies.”
Lorenzo stared.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Vincent told me Emma would die.”
Rachel closed her eyes.
It was finally starting to fit.
Then a gunshot exploded outside.
Everyone ducked.
Mason shouted:
“They're coming!”
Lorenzo's mother grabbed Isabella.
“We have to go.”
“Where?”
“To the safe room.”
They ran beneath the chapel.
Behind a false wall was a hidden tunnel.
It led to an underground garage.
A vehicle waited.
Lorenzo turned to his mother.
“You knew this existed?”
“Yes.”
“Where does it go?”
“Back to your estate.”
Lorenzo froze.
“How?”
She looked at him.
“Underneath the old family cemetery.”
He stared.
The tunnel had been built decades ago.
His family had always had a hidden route.
And suddenly he understood why Vincent had been so difficult to catch.
He had not infiltrated the DeLuca network.
He had been born into it.
As they drove underground, Isabella reached for Lorenzo's hand.
“I need to tell you one more thing.”
“What?”
“The person who ordered me to be watched wasn't your father.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Then who?”
Isabella's voice dropped.
“Someone who had access to everything.”
“Who?”
She looked at the rearview mirror.
“Your lawyer.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“What?”
Isabella whispered the name.
“Richard Vale.”
May you like
Lorenzo stopped breathing.
Because Richard Vale had been dead for twelve years.
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