Chapter 14 - The Man Behind the Crash
Nico fired into the ceiling.
The interview room froze.
Lorenzo stopped.
“You leave,” Nico said, “and I assume every word is true.”
Lorenzo turned slowly.
“You already assume that.”
“Convince me otherwise.”
Lorenzo looked at the detectives.
Then at Cole.
Then at Adeline.
“Victor used me.”
Nico laughed.
“Everybody uses you.”
“I tried to find Father.”
“After you learned he was alive?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
“I found the clinic.”
Mara said, “Which one?”
“Not Rockford.”
Lorenzo swallowed.
“Sicily.”
Nico’s eyes sharpened.
Lorenzo explained.
Victor had moved Salvatore overseas after the final amendments.
Lorenzo found him three years later.
Alive.
Barely responsive.
Salvatore recognized him.
Then died for real two weeks later.
Nico’s face went blank.
“You watched him die.”
“Yes.”
“And didn’t call me.”
“I thought Victor would kill you too.”
“He tried.”
“I know.”
“You helped him access my car.”
“I thought I was tracing the same network.”
Nico rolled closer.
“And the brake authorization?”
Lorenzo shut his eyes.
“I signed the first remote access.”
“You keep saying first.”
“Because there was a second command.”
“By Victor.”
“No.”
Lorenzo opened his eyes.
“By Father’s account.”
Nico stared.
Adeline said, “A dead account?”
Lorenzo nodded.
“The same account used on the trust amendments.”
Mara looked at Cole.
Cole looked down.
Adeline saw it.
“You know.”
Cole’s face collapsed.
Victor had not controlled the account alone.
Someone else did.
Someone who had access to Salvatore’s credentials.
Someone who had been in the family long enough to know every hidden system.
Nico said, “Who?”
Cole whispered, “Edna.”
Adeline’s skin went cold.
The housekeeper.
Sixty-three.
Quiet.
Present for everything.
She had met Adeline at the service entrance.
She had taught her the house rules.
She had kept keys.
Medication schedules.
Security codes.
Family habits.
Nico laughed once.
“No.”
Cole said, “She was Salvatore’s private secretary before she became housekeeper.”
Nico looked at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo nodded.
“Victor feared her.”
A phone rang.
Adeline’s.
Unknown number.
She answered.
Edna’s voice.
“Ms. Marsh.”
Adeline stood.
“Edna?”
“I need you to listen.”
A noise in the background.
A child crying.
Wes.
Adeline’s vision narrowed.
“Where is he?”
“Safe for now.”
Nico heard.
His face changed.
Edna continued.
“Bring Nico to the old lake boathouse.”
Adeline’s voice broke.
“If you hurt him—”
“I have protected that boy more than you know.”
“Then put him on.”
Wes came on.
“Addie?”
“I’m here.”
“I’m okay.”
Then Edna returned.
“One hour.”
The line went dead.
Nico was already moving.
The boathouse sat beyond the north property line.
They arrived in forty-six minutes.
No police.
Edna had threatened Wes.
Inside, Wes sat tied to a chair but unharmed.
Edna stood behind him.
No weapon visible.
On the table lay Salvatore’s original signet ring.
And a folder.
Nico rolled forward.
“You.”
Edna looked at him.
“No.”
She pushed the folder toward him.
“Your father ordered the first remote access.”
Nico stared.
“What?”
“He wanted the SUV disabled.”
“Why?”
“To stop you from meeting Russo.”
Nico’s mouth tightened.
“Same story.”
“Different reason.”
Edna opened the folder.
Russo had been an informant.
The meeting was a federal trap.
Salvatore, still alive in hiding, learned about it.
He ordered Edna to stop Nico’s car.
Victor intercepted the command.
Changed a disable order into a brake failure.
Nico looked down.
The crash had begun as protection.
Victor weaponized it.
Edna said, “I kept the proof.”
Adeline stepped toward Wes.
Edna let her.
Then the boathouse window shattered.
A bullet hit Edna in the shoulder.
Nico ducked.
Marco Ruiz returned fire.
Another shot.
The folder slid off the table.
A photograph spilled out.
Salvatore.
Edna.
Victor.
May you like
And Lorenzo.
Taken six months before Nico’s crash.
