Chapter 4 - WHAT SOFIA MARINO KNEW
Dominic was waiting when we returned.
So were the guests.
Nobody had left.
That told me something about the Marino family.
Normal people saw a family argument and escaped.
These people stayed for the ending.
Luca entered the dining room carrying both rings.
His mother, Sofia Marino, stood near the fireplace.
She was the woman who had looked embarrassed when Vanessa called me a thief.
Now she looked frightened.
Dominic poured himself water.
“You found Crane.”
Luca stopped.
“You knew I would.”
“I know you.”
“Did you have this copy made?”
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Vanessa stared.
Dominic continued.
“Your father asked me to.”
“Crane says you ordered it.”
“I handled things for Matteo.”
“Why?”
“He wanted a spare.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the answer I have.”
Luca set the duplicate ring on the table.
“And the R.C.H.?”
Dominic looked at it.
“That wasn’t there originally.”
“Who added it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why did you visit Crane yesterday?”
Dominic looked toward Vanessa.
“Because I knew someone had taken the duplicate.”
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“Taken it from where?”
“My study.”
Vanessa stopped breathing.
Dominic watched her.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The look.”
He turned to Luca.
“I knew your fiancée had been digging into Raymond Hale.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“You’ve been watching me?”
“I’ve been protecting my family since before you learned to use a champagne fork.”
“That family includes me.”
“Does it?”
Luca’s voice cut through the room.
“Enough.”
He faced Dominic.
“You knew Vanessa was connected to Raymond?”
“I suspected.”
“How?”
Dominic looked toward Sofia.
And suddenly Luca’s mother closed her eyes.
“Sofia?”
Dominic said.
She sat down.
Luca stared at her.
“Mom?”
Sofia’s hands folded tightly in her lap.
“Vanessa came to me six weeks ago.”
Vanessa looked shocked.
“I asked you about one photograph.”
“You showed me Raymond.”
“I never said who he was.”
“I recognized him.”
Luca stepped closer.
“And then?”
Sofia looked ashamed.
“I told Dominic.”
Vanessa’s voice sharpened.
“Why?”
“Because I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of that name.”
Luca crouched in front of his mother.
“What happened twelve years ago?”
Sofia looked at Dominic.
He shook his head.
Very slightly.
Luca saw it.
“Don’t.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Luca.”
“You do not get to tell my mother what she can say.”
Sofia began to cry.
Not dramatically.
Quietly.
Like someone who had been holding the same shame too long.
“Raymond didn’t run because he stole from Matteo.”
Vanessa’s eyes filled instantly.
Luca remained still.
“Then why?”
“Because Matteo asked him to leave.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Vanessa whispered, “No.”
Sofia looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
“My brother spent twelve years with everyone calling him a thief.”
“I know.”
“If he agreed—”
“He agreed to leave.”
Sofia’s voice cracked.
“Not to the lie lasting forever.”
That distinction mattered.
A lot.
Luca sat beside his mother.
“What did Dad ask him to protect?”
Sofia looked at him.
“You.”
His expression emptied.
“Me?”
“You were thirty.”
“I remember being thirty.”
“You had just taken over Marino Development.”
“Yes.”
“You were trying to separate the company from your father’s older businesses.”
Luca glanced around the room.
Everyone knew what “older businesses” meant.
Dominic spoke.
“Matteo wanted you clean.”
Luca turned on him.
“Then maybe he should have started by telling me the truth.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“He was trying to give you a future.”
“By destroying Raymond’s?”
Nobody answered.
Sofia rose slowly.
“There is something else.”
She left the room.
Dominic said her name.
She ignored him.
Five minutes later, she returned carrying a dark wooden box.
Inside was a rosary.
A train ticket.
And an old wool glove.
Sofia handed the ticket to Luca.
Milwaukee to Chicago.
Eleven years ago.
The same week as the photograph in Raymond’s case.
“I found this in your father’s coat.”
“He went to see Raymond.”
“Yes.”
“You knew?”
“I knew after.”
“Why Milwaukee?”
“That’s where Raymond was living.”
Vanessa looked toward the ticket.
“My mother said St. Louis.”
“He moved later.”
Luca touched the worn paper.
“And Dad gave him the ring.”
Sofia nodded.
“I think so.”
“Why?”
“He came home without it.”
Dominic spoke.
“Matteo was sentimental.”
Sofia turned on him.
“No.”
Everyone froze.
I had not expected that voice from her.
“He was guilty.”
Dominic looked away.
Sofia continued.
“Matteo told me he gave Raymond the ring because a promise from a Marino should mean something.”
Vanessa whispered, “What promise?”
Sofia looked at Luca.
“That one day Raymond’s name would be restored.”
Luca stared at his father’s original ring.
“Dad died nine years ago.”
“Yes.”
“So he had two years.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“And he did nothing.”
“Yes.”
That hurt Luca more than anything else.
I could see it.
Then I remembered the pocket watch.
I removed it from my apron pocket.
“Mrs. Marino.”
Sofia looked at me.
“This engraving.”
I showed her the words.
LUCA NEVER KNEW.
Her face collapsed.
She knew.
“What didn’t he know?”
Luca asked.
His mother looked toward Dominic.
Then back at her son.
“It wasn’t Raymond who took the six million dollars.”
Luca’s voice disappeared.
“Who did?”
Sofia reached for his hand.
May you like
“It was your father.”
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