He nodded.
She left.
Dante waited outside.
“Are you all right?”
She looked at him.
“Do you ever get tired of people lying?”
Dante laughed without humor.
“Every day.”
They walked toward the elevators.
Nora stopped.
“Why did you come with me?”
“Because you asked me to.”
She stared.
Then smiled faintly.
It was such a simple answer.
And somehow, it mattered.
Chapter 6
Three days later, Nora found a letter hidden inside her grandfather's old cookbook.
It was addressed to her.
She recognized his handwriting immediately.
My little sparrow,
If you're reading this, I've finally run out of time to explain the things I was too ashamed to say while I was alive.
Nora sat on the kitchen floor.
The letter continued.
Pietro admitted that he had once belonged to the Gallo family.
He explained why he changed his name.
Why he never returned to Sicily.
But the final pages contained something unexpected.
Salvatore was weak when we were young. He wanted power more than truth. But he was not the monster everyone believed him to be.
The real monster was Vincenzo Carbone.
Her hands trembled.
He arranged the betrayal that forced me from Sicily. He stole money from our family and blamed me.
Then came the line that made Nora stop breathing.
Your mother knew.
Elena had died when Nora was twelve.
A car accident.
That was what everyone said.
But Pietro's letter continued.
Elena discovered Vincenzo was using our family accounts to move money. She tried to report him. Three weeks later, her brakes failed.
Nora dropped the letter.
For years, she'd believed her mother's death was an accident.
Now she understood why her grandfather had never allowed her to drive the old family car.
Why he checked the locks every night.
Why he kept a ledger hidden beneath his bed.
He had known.
And he'd been afraid.
Nora called Dante.
When he answered, she could barely speak.
“My mother.”
Dante's voice changed.
Nora began crying.
“I think she was murdered.”
Chapter 7
Dante arrived twenty minutes later.