Chapter 3 - The Man Behind the Wedding
They didn't stay to fight.
Marco found a service road behind the property, and minutes later they were moving through the storm in a second vehicle.
Amelia stared backward.
“Where are we going?”
“Your father,” Lorenzo said.
“No.”
“Enough secrets.”
“You don't understand.”
“Then make me understand.”
She hesitated.
Finally, she gave Marco an address.
The cabin stood seven miles outside town.
Inside, Amelia's father, Thomas Carmichael, lay feverish beneath several blankets.
When Lorenzo entered, Thomas tried to stand.
“Mr. Bianchi.”
“Stay down.”
Thomas looked at Amelia.
“You brought him?”
“He found me.”
Thomas closed his eyes.
“I knew this would happen.”
Lorenzo pulled a chair beside the bed.
“You worked for my father.”
“Twenty-three years.”
“Did Dominic kill him?”
Thomas stared at him.
“I can't prove it.”
“Tell me what you can prove.”
Thomas pointed toward an old metal case.
Amelia retrieved it.
Inside were ledgers, photographs and shipping records.
Lorenzo recognized his father's handwriting.
Marco leaned over his shoulder.
“These records show Dominic diverting shipments.”
Thomas nodded.
“Vittorio discovered it.”
“Why didn't he kill Dominic immediately?”
“He needed proof.”
Thomas coughed.
“He was going to bring everything to you.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“I was twenty-seven.”
“He trusted you.”
“What happened?”
“Vittorio caught Amelia at the warehouse.”
Amelia sat beside her father.
Thomas continued.
“He protected her. Then he told me to disappear with my family until he handled Dominic.”
“But you didn't.”
“I tried.”
Thomas looked ashamed.
“Dominic found us first.”
Lorenzo's eyes hardened.
“What did he want?”
“The records.”
“And you gave them to him?”
“Copies.”
Thomas pointed at the case.
“Vittorio taught me something important.”
“What?”
“Never keep only one copy.”
Marco almost smiled.
Lorenzo didn't.
“Why did Dominic wait eleven years?”
“He thought everything else was destroyed.”
Thomas looked toward Amelia.
“Until you announced your engagement.”
Lorenzo understood.
“Her name appeared publicly.”
“Yes.”
“Dominic realized she was the girl from the warehouse.”
“Yes.”
Amelia whispered, “The wedding put me back on his radar.”
Lorenzo turned toward her.
“And you thought disappearing would protect me.”
“I thought if I left, Dominic wouldn't have a reason to expose anything.”
“Expose what?”
Thomas answered.
“A lie.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“What lie?”
Thomas pulled a sealed envelope from beneath his pillow.
“Your father didn't want you to inherit his criminal organization.”
Lorenzo stared.
Thomas continued.
“He was trying to dismantle it.”
“That makes no sense.”
“He wanted the legitimate companies preserved. Everything else shut down.”
Lorenzo opened the envelope.
Inside was a letter.
His father's handwriting.
Lorenzo read silently.
When he finished, his face had changed.
Amelia watched him.
“What does it say?”
He folded the letter.
“That my father wanted me to become better than him.”
Thomas nodded.
“Dominic made sure you never saw it.”
Lorenzo looked toward the window.
For eleven years, he had believed carrying his father's legacy meant protecting everything Vittorio had built.
Apparently, his father had wanted the opposite.
Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
Then immediately stood.
“We have a problem.”
“What?”
“Dominic knows we're here.”
“How?”
Marco looked at Thomas.
“Someone inside our organization is feeding him information.”
Lorenzo's expression became cold.
“Then we stop running.”
Amelia stared at him.
“What are you going to do?”
“Give Dominic exactly what he wants.”
“The records?”
“No.”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“You.”
She stood.
“Absolutely not.”
“He thinks I'm still furious with you.”
“Because you were.”
“Exactly.”
Marco understood first.
“You want Dominic to believe you're turning her over.”
Lorenzo nodded.
Amelia stared at him.
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No.”
That surprised her.
Lorenzo stepped closer.
May you like
“I expect to earn it.”
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