Chapter 2
I moved the family into the private library.
No guests.
No speeches.
No explanations.
The wedding continued downstairs because one family secret did not deserve to destroy someone else’s marriage.
Livia sat beside me with an ice pack wrapped in a towel.
Camilla was not allowed near her.
Marco stood across the room under guard.
I placed the envelope and brass key on the table.
“Open it,” Camilla said suddenly.
I looked at her.
Five minutes earlier she had nearly thrown herself across broken glass to stop me.
Now she wanted it opened.
That change mattered.
“You’ve decided whatever is inside hurts less than me wondering?”
Her jaw tightened.
Marco said:
“Domenico, there are things your father buried for a reason.”
“My father also hid them where breaking one specific vase would reveal them.”
Silence.
I broke the seal.
One sheet.
My father’s handwriting.
Domenico,
If this reaches you, then either I misjudged everyone around you—or someone became afraid enough to expose themselves.
My chest tightened.
Camilla closed her eyes.
The letter continued.
The key opens the lower cabinet beneath St. Matthew’s chapel.
Do not go alone.
Do not trust the person who tells you the cabinet contains money.
It contains something more expensive.
Names.
I stopped.
Marco looked toward Camilla.
There.
Again.
Reaction before explanation.
My father had written one final line.
And if Marco Valenti is still standing beside our family when you read this, ask him why Vittorio Serra once wore his ring.
I looked up.
Marco went perfectly still.
Vittorio Serra.
Old enemy.
Dead for twelve years.
The man my father blamed for three attempted takeovers.
I had never heard Marco’s name connected to him.
Not once.
Camilla whispered:
“You don’t understand the context.”
I folded the letter.
“Good.”
Then I picked up the key.
“You can explain it at the chapel.”
She looked frightened.
May you like
Not of the chapel.
Of what had been waiting there for nine years.
