Chapter 10 - The Family That Was Never HisLucia was supposed to be in intensive care.
Dominic had personally watched the ambulance leave.
Yet her voice came from every speaker in the mansion.
“Bring me the ledger.”
Dominic stared at Vincent.
“Where is she?”
Vincent shook his head.
“Wrong question.”
“Then what's the right one?”
“Which Lucia?”
The lights came on.
Monitors appeared on the walls.
Security cameras.
Every screen showed the hospital corridor.
Lucia lay in a bed.
Still unconscious.
Dominic stared.
“She can't be speaking.”
Evelyn whispered:
“Someone is using the house system.”
A second woman appeared on screen.
Older.
Elegant.
Dominic did not recognize her.
Except the eyes.
They were Isabelle's eyes.
The woman looked into the camera.
“My grandson.”
Dominic went cold.
“Who are you?”
The woman smiled.
“I have been waiting for you.”
Vincent whispered:
“Eleanor.”
Dominic stared.
The woman from the portrait.
Isabelle's grandmother.
The woman everyone believed dead.
Eleanor spoke.
“Your family has always been very good at burying inconvenient truths.”
Dominic raised his gun toward the screen.
“You killed Isabelle.”
“No.”
“Then who did?”
“You did.”
Dominic froze.
Eleanor continued.
“Not with your hands.”
“With your choices.”
The screen changed.
Footage appeared.
Dominic at a business meeting.
Dominic signing documents.
Dominic handing instructions to Vincent.
Dominic leaving the mansion.
Every scene had been edited to make him look involved in crimes he had never committed.
Eleanor said:
“You built the perfect weapon for us.”
Dominic stared.
“The Romano empire.”
“No.”
She smiled.
“You built yourself.”
Evelyn stepped forward.
“She manipulated you.”
Eleanor laughed.
“She manipulated all of you.”
Another screen came alive.
Isabelle appeared.
She was crying.
“Dominic, listen to me.”
The image was clearly recorded before her death.
“I need you to know something.”
She took a breath.
“I chose you because you were the only Romano who might still be able to destroy this.”
Dominic whispered:
“Isabelle.”
“She knew I would come for the ledger.”
Eleanor interrupted.
“You see?”
She smiled.
“Your wife was always more dangerous than you understood.”
Dominic looked at Grace.
“What is happening?”
Grace finally spoke.
“Eleanor didn't kill Isabelle.”
Dominic turned.
“She ordered someone else to do it.”
“Who?”
Grace looked at Nora.
The little girl was staring at an old grandfather clock.
“Nora knows.”
Dominic crouched.
“Nora?”
Nora looked at the clock.
Then walked to it.
She pressed a hidden button.
The clock swung open.
Inside was a small metal box.
Dominic opened it.
The original ledger.
Bloodstains covered the edges.
He picked it up.
Every page contained names.
Every name connected to a death.
But one name appeared on the final page.
ISABELLE ROMANO
Beside it:
STATUS: NOT DECEASED.
Dominic stopped breathing.
“What?”
Evelyn took the ledger.
She stared.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“What does this mean?”
She didn't answer.
Then a door opened behind them.
Grace turned.
Her face collapsed.
A woman stepped into the room.
Dark hair.
Pale skin.
A scar near her eyebrow.
Dominic dropped the ledger.
“No.”
The woman stared at him.
Tears filled her eyes.
“Dominic.”
His legs nearly gave out.
It was Isabelle.
May you like
Alive.
And standing ten feet away.
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