Chapter 13 - The Last Lie About Vittorio
Alessandro refused Daniel’s request twice.
The third time, Daniel’s attorney delivered something different.
A sealed copy of Vittorio’s autopsy report.
Alessandro had seen the report years ago.
Or thought he had.
This version contained an addendum missing from the family copy.
A toxicology result.
Small amount of a sedative.
Alessandro stared at it.
His father had been driving.
In rain.
With a sedative in his blood.
He went directly to Rosanna.
She saw the paper and understood.
“Where did you get that?”
“Daniel.”
Rosanna closed her eyes.
Emma stood near the library doors.
She had not intended to remain, but Alessandro asked her to.
Perhaps he needed someone outside the family to keep the room honest.
“Was Father drugged?”
Rosanna whispered, “Yes.”
“By Daniel?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
She looked at him.
“I gave it to him.”
Silence.
Alessandro stared at his mother.
“You what?”
“It was not meant to hurt him.”
“What did you give him?”
“A sleeping tablet.”
“Before he drove?”
“I didn’t know he was leaving.”
Alessandro stepped backward.
Rosanna began crying.
“Your father had not slept properly for days. He was obsessed with Daniel, Samuel, Halcyon, the Foster money.”
“So you drugged him.”
“I put half a tablet in his tea.”
“Without telling him.”
“Yes.”
Emma looked down.
Rosanna continued desperately.
“He was supposed to sleep.”
“But Daniel called him.”
“I believe so.”
“And Father drove.”
“Yes.”
“In the rain.”
“Yes.”
Alessandro’s breathing changed.
“For nineteen years, you let me believe his death was only an accident.”
“It was.”
“You gave him a sedative.”
“I know.”
“Did the police know?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“The investigator knew.”
“And?”
“The level was low. They concluded it may have contributed but wasn’t necessarily the cause.”
“Why was it removed from our copy?”
Rosanna said nothing.
Alessandro understood.
“You asked someone to remove it.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was ashamed.”
He laughed.
Not kindly.
“You destroyed evidence after his death. Hid financial crimes. Hid the Foster trust. Hid Daniel’s leverage. And now this.”
Rosanna cried.
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He turned away.
Emma watched his hands.
They were trembling.
He had spent days discovering everyone around him contained secret versions of themselves.
Vanessa.
Daniel.
Arthur.
Vittorio.
Now Rosanna.
The one person he believed completely.
“Alessandro,” Emma said quietly.
He looked at her.
“Not now.”
She nodded.
He left.
Hours passed.
He disappeared into the carriage house office.
Emma found him there after sunset.
No lights except the desk lamp.
Vittorio’s photograph stood before him.
Emma knocked on the open door.
“You were told ‘not now.’”
“I waited four hours.”
He almost smiled.
“That is apparently your definition of obedience.”
“Yes.”
She entered.
For a while neither spoke.
Then Alessandro said:
“I built my whole life around never being surprised.”
Emma leaned against the desk.
“How’s that working?”
“Terribly.”
“Maybe surprises aren’t the problem.”
“What is?”
“Believing you can prevent them.”
He looked at her.
She continued.
“My dad died suddenly.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Heart attack. Forty-nine.”
“That’s young.”
“Yes.”
“He left debts. We didn’t know.”
Alessandro listened.
“I was furious at him.”
“For dying?”
“For not telling us.”
Emma looked down.
“I thought good parents protected their children by making problems disappear.”
“What changed?”
“I realized sometimes parents just hide things because they’re scared.”
Alessandro looked toward Vittorio’s photograph.
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“No.”
“It doesn’t erase consequences.”
“No.”
“Then what?”
“It makes them human.”
He was quiet.
Emma walked toward the window.
“Your mother did something wrong.”
“Yes.”
“She’s also the woman Daniel spent years manipulating.”
“Yes.”
“Both can be true.”
He looked at her.
“You always do this.”
“What?”
“Refuse simple villains.”
Emma laughed.
“Daniel’s making it pretty easy.”
That finally made Alessandro smile.
Then he became serious.
“Why did you protect my mother?”
Emma shrugged.
“She needed help.”
“Most people didn’t move.”
“I noticed.”
“You could have lost your job.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t that stop you?”
Emma thought.
“Because if I walked away, I’d still have to live with myself after.”
Alessandro stared at her.
No performance.
No calculated kindness.
Just an answer.
He understood then what had frightened him since the bedroom.
Emma’s goodness was not strategic.
He had spent his life around strategic people.
Vittorio made strategic compromises.
Daniel built strategic betrayals.
Vanessa performed strategic love.
Even Alessandro often treated relationships like systems of risk.
Emma simply acted according to who she wanted to be.
He envied that.
“Thank you,” he said.
“For what?”
“My mother.”
“You’ve thanked me.”
“Not enough.”
“Then pay me overtime.”
He laughed.
A real laugh.
Emma smiled.
Then both became aware of the closeness between them.
The room changed.
Not dramatically.
Just enough.
Alessandro looked at her.
Emma’s smile faded slightly.
For a second, something unspoken passed between them.
Then Emma stepped back.
“You just canceled a wedding.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“That was subtle.”
“I’m protecting both of us from bad timing.”
“Both?”
Emma immediately looked annoyed with herself.
“I’m going to leave now.”
Alessandro smiled.
“Good night, Emma.”
“Good night, Mr. Conti.”
“Alessandro.”
She stopped at the door.
“What?”
“My name.”
“I know your name.”
“Then use it.”
Emma looked at him.
“Good night, Alessandro.”
After she left, he sat alone.
The room no longer felt quite as heavy.
The next morning, Alessandro met Daniel in a secure interview room.
Daniel smiled.
“So Rosanna finally told you.”
“Yes.”
“Disappointed?”
“In her? Yes.”
Daniel leaned back.
“You see now. Everyone lies.”
“No.”
Daniel’s smile faded.
“Everyone in your world does.”
“Maybe that’s because men like you teach them fear is useful.”
Daniel stared.
Alessandro continued.
“My mother lied because she was afraid.”
“Same result.”
“No.”
“What’s the difference?”
“She told the truth when it cost her.”
Daniel laughed.
“Eventually.”
“Yes.”
Alessandro leaned forward.
“You never did.”
“I’m talking now.”
“You’re bargaining.”
Daniel’s eyes narrowed.
“Same thing.”
“No.”
Alessandro stood.
“We recovered Claire’s files.”
For the first time, Daniel’s face collapsed.
“You found Claire?”
“Yes.”
Daniel looked genuinely shocked.
“She’s alive?”
“You didn’t know.”
“No.”
Alessandro almost enjoyed the reversal.
For once, Daniel Mercer was the last person in the room to know something.
“Samuel’s recording survived too.”
Daniel went pale.
“And Vittorio’s.”
Daniel looked toward the observation glass.
“You think this ends with me.”
“It ends with the truth.”
“That’s naive.”
“Maybe.”
Alessandro walked toward the door.
Daniel called after him.
“Your father would hate what you’re doing.”
Alessandro stopped.
“He probably would.”
Daniel smiled.
“Then why?”
Alessandro looked back.
“Because I spent nineteen years trying to become strong enough to deserve his name.”
He opened the door.
“Turns out I needed to become strong enough to stop protecting it.”
Daniel’s expression finally broke.
Alessandro left.
Outside, Emma waited.
“How did it go?”
“He tried to manipulate me.”
“Shocking.”
“He failed.”
“More shocking.”
They walked toward the exit.
Then Alessandro’s phone rang.
Rosanna.
He answered.
“Mother?”
Her voice was trembling.
“Come home.”
“What happened?”
“The wedding flowers arrived.”
Alessandro frowned.
The wedding had been canceled.
“What?”
“Hundreds of them.”
“Send them away.”
“That isn’t the problem.”
“What is?”
Rosanna whispered:
“There was a box hidden inside one arrangement.”
Alessandro stopped walking.
“What kind of box?”
“A jewelry box.”
Emma looked at him.
Rosanna continued.
“It contains your engagement ring.”
Alessandro frowned.
Vanessa’s ring had been taken into evidence.
“Mother, that’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“What else?”
“A note.”
“From whom?”
Rosanna’s voice lowered.
“Vanessa.”
Alessandro’s face tightened.
“What does it say?”
Rosanna read:
I know I don’t deserve forgiveness. But before tomorrow—the day I was supposed to marry your son—there is one final thing he needs to know. Daniel was not the person who chose me.
Alessandro stared.
“Then who?”
Rosanna whispered the final line.
May you like
Your father did.
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