Chapter 5
Arthur came willingly once June reached him.
He had been waiting in a cheap motel fifteen minutes away.
Not hiding.
Waiting to see whether the ring reached me.
He entered the hotel through the front doors this time.
No stolen coat.
No disguise.
Gray hair.
Old scar across his chin.
Same shoulders I remembered standing beside my father.
I hated how relieved I felt.
“Matteo.”
“Arthur.”
Neither of us moved closer.
Good.
Some reunions need distance.
I placed the ring between us.
“Tell me everything.”
He sat.
“The night before the funeral, I saw Celeste leave your father’s suite.”
Her face hardened.
Arthur continued.
“She had no reason to be there.”
Celeste interrupted.
“I was helping.”
He looked at her.
“You were wearing gloves in July.”
Silence.
Interesting.
Arthur had checked Domenico’s hand.
Replica.
He said nothing immediately because he thought maybe I had authorized it.
Then the first sealed instruction arrived.
Wrong phrasing.
My father never called the harbor “North Port.”
He called it Vincent’s Gate after an old friend.
Arthur knew.
Second order.
Another small error.
By the third, he understood.
“What did you do?”
“I confronted Warren.”
My jaw tightened.
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Why not me?”
Arthur looked at me.
“You were barely sleeping.”
“That did not make me stupid.”
“No.”
He nodded.
“But Warren had already placed Nolan between you and half the staff.”
I looked at Nolan.
He stared at the floor.
Arthur continued.
“Warren showed me the ring.”
My breathing slowed.
“He admitted it?”
“Not theft. He called it stewardship.”
Of course.
“What happened?”
“He offered me a place.”
“With him.”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“I told him your father would crawl out of his coffin to slap him.”
Despite myself, I almost smiled.
“What did Warren do?”
“Framed me.”
Simple.
Efficient.
Missing valuables appeared in my quarters.
Nolan delivered the accusation.
I was too broken to investigate.
Arthur left before Warren could escalate.
Months later, he returned.
Broke into Nolan’s office.
Recovered the ring.
Then vanished.
“Why wait four years?”
Arthur looked at Celeste’s engagement ring.
“Because Warren died.”
A pause.
“And she stayed.”
My eyes moved toward Celeste.
May you like
Arthur continued.
“When you proposed, I knew the theft had worked better than Warren ever imagined.”
