Chapter 4
I remembered the week before Isabella’s death.
Badly.
Morphine.
Bandages.
Men whispering around my bed.
Victor telling me Isabella was terrified and not thinking clearly.
Isabella telling me Victor had become too involved in security.
I treated it like a family disagreement.
That failure belonged to me.
“I never agreed.”
Isabella went silent.
“I never called you dangerous.”
Her breathing changed.
Victor looked away.
I continued.
“I was angry that you left the hospital during my recovery. That is all.”
Isabella whispered:
“He said you wanted me watched.”
I stared at Victor.
“You told her that?”
He shrugged.
“You wanted everyone watched.”
“No.”
His mouth tightened.
“You always say that after.”
There it was.
He had taken broad authority and turned it into permission.
I asked Isabella where she went after the fire.
She moved constantly.
Motel rooms.
Empty apartments.
An old church property.
Places outside Ravello routines.
For months she tried to understand who else worked with Victor.
Then she learned something worse.
“There were two factions.”
Victor’s face changed.
I noticed.
“One was his.”
“And the other?”
She hesitated.
Victor spoke sharply.
“Don’t.”
I looked at him.
Good.
Finally something he feared more than his own exposure.
Isabella continued.
“The second faction wanted you dead.”
Silence.
I leaned closer to the phone.
“Who?”
“I don’t know the full group.”
Victor closed his eyes.
Isabella continued.
“But Victor does.”
I looked at my brother.
He stopped breathing.
For the first time, I understood the possibility.
Victor might not have created Isabella’s disappearance.
May you like
He might have exploited it.
And whatever started the fire had frightened even him.
