Chapter 11 - The Contract Under the Floor.
Lorenzo did not go to the west gate.
That was exactly what whoever staged the abandoned car expected him to do.
Instead, he sent four guards with Marcus while he remained inside with Mia, Celeste, Adrian, and Evelyn.
At 12:37 a.m., Marcus called from the gate.
“The blood is real.”
“Victor?”
“No body.”
“Any sign of Daniel?”
“Nothing yet.”
Lorenzo looked at the clock.
Twenty-three minutes until one.
He took Mia to the library and unlocked the concealed vault behind the carved walnut panel.
Adrian followed despite Lorenzo’s warning.
“If Isabelle left something accusing me, I have the right to see it.”
“You have the right to remain silent.”
“This isn’t a courtroom.”
“Tonight keeps trying to become one.”
The vault opened with the black key and Lorenzo’s fingerprint.
Inside were property deeds, encrypted drives, family trusts, and one black envelope with Lorenzo’s name handwritten across the front.
His hands went still when he saw Isabelle’s writing.
Mia touched the envelope.
“Mommy letters.”
Lorenzo nodded.
He finally broke the seal.
Inside was not a letter.
It was a copy of a contract.
The first page named Adrian DeLuca, Victor Shaw, and a holding company Lorenzo had never heard of.
The agreement transferred controlling shares of several DeLuca subsidiaries if Lorenzo became medically incapacitated.
Celeste stared at the document.
“They needed you unconscious.”
Adrian snatched at the paper.
Lorenzo pulled it away.
“That signature is fake,” Adrian said.
“Which signature?”
Adrian stopped.
Lorenzo looked down.
There were six signatures on the last page.
He had not yet shown that page to anyone.
Adrian had just admitted knowing what was on it.
Celeste stepped backward.
“Oh God.”
Adrian’s face became furious.
“I saw a draft years ago.”
“Isabelle dated this six weeks before she died.”
“She was trying to destroy me.”
“No.”
Lorenzo’s voice became cold.
“She was trying to warn me.”
Mia wandered toward the reading corner while the adults argued.
She knelt beside a loose floorboard where one of her wooden puzzle pieces had rolled.
“Daddy.”
Lorenzo turned.
Mia pulled at the board.
It lifted.
Beneath it sat a slim flash drive wrapped in plastic.
Adrian moved first.
He lunged toward Mia.
Lorenzo slammed him against the bookshelf before he got within three feet of her.
Books crashed onto the floor.
“Do not move toward my daughter again.”
Adrian raised both hands.
“I was reaching for the drive.”
“That is not better.”
Evelyn took Mia into her arms.
Celeste picked up the flash drive with a tissue.
A small label was attached.
I.D. - FINAL COPY.
Lorenzo knew what the initials meant.
Isabelle DeLuca.
He inserted the drive into an offline laptop stored inside the vault.
There was one video file.
The screen showed Isabelle sitting in the same library.
She looked tired and frightened.
Behind her, the clock showed 2:16 a.m.
“If Lorenzo is watching this,” she began, “then I failed to stop them.”
Adrian whispered, “Turn it off.”
Lorenzo did not even look at him.
Isabelle continued.
“Victor built the paperwork.”
“Adrian supplied the access.”
“And there is a third person inside our house.”
The video froze.
Then the library door opened behind them.
May you like
Marcus walked in.
There was blood on his shirt.
