Chapter 9 - THE SECRET INSIDE THE SILVER CASE|
Elena refused to speak until Gabriel dismissed the household staff and locked the library doors.
Even then, she insisted that Catherine had misunderstood the situation.
“Your mother was reckless,” Elena said. “She believed exposing the shipping operation would save Lorenzo. Instead, she put everyone at risk.”
Catherine stood opposite her.
“You’re describing a woman who tried to stop criminals.”
“I’m describing a woman who underestimated what criminals would do to protect themselves.”
“Did you help them?”
Elena looked away.
The silence answered more than words could have.
Gabriel placed the silver key on the table.
“This belonged to my father. Why was it hidden with the stolen silver?”
Elena’s expression changed.
“Where did you find that?”
“At the warehouse.”
She sat down slowly.
“The silver case contained a small compartment. Lorenzo used it to move documents without alerting his security team.”
Catherine remembered the false passage, the velvet lining, and the smell of cedar.
“What documents?”
“Financial records. Names. Payment instructions. Enough to expose the men controlling the illegal shipments.”
“Where are they now?”
Elena rubbed her forehead.
“Some were destroyed. Some were transferred. I believed the originals had been lost.”
Gabriel opened the metal box and removed the silver key.
“Then what does this unlock?”
Elena stared at it.
“The cabinet in your father’s old office.”
The office had been sealed after Lorenzo’s death. Gabriel had assumed the room contained nothing more than personal belongings and old business papers.
Now they returned to the east wing.
Catherine noticed that the door’s lock had been replaced recently. Gabriel used the key, and the mechanism turned with a heavy click.
Inside, the room remained untouched. Dust covered the desk, and a portrait of Lorenzo hung above the fireplace.
Beneath the desk, Catherine found a narrow drawer with a second lock.
The silver key opened it.
Inside lay a small ledger wrapped in oilcloth, along with a photograph of Lorenzo standing beside three men.
One was Vittorio.
Another was Arthur.
The third was a stranger Catherine did not recognize.
On the back of the photograph, Lorenzo had written: The family is not the blood. It is the choice.
Gabriel opened the ledger.
The entries recorded payments to shell companies, transfers between warehouses, and dates corresponding to the disappearance of several employees.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Vittorio Romano.
Another appeared beside a large payment made the week Catherine’s mother died.
Arthur Bell.
Catherine felt her heart stop.
“Arthur Bell was my father’s name.”
Gabriel looked up.
“Your father?”
“The man who raised me. He was a construction supervisor. He never worked for the Romanos.”
Elena shook her head.
“He did. Briefly. Lorenzo hired him to repair a private facility. He discovered something he was never supposed to see.”
Catherine stared at the ledger.
“Was he paid to keep quiet?”
“I don’t know.”
Gabriel turned several pages.
The final entry had been written in a different hand.
If the girl returns, do not trust the person who brings her home.
Beneath it was a date from six months earlier.
The month Catherine married Gabriel.
She slowly turned toward her husband.
“Someone knew I would marry you.”
Gabriel looked at the ledger, his face unreadable.
May you like
Then he closed the book.
“Someone may have arranged our marriage before either of us agreed to it.”
