Chapter 12 - The Chapel
The chapel was empty.
But Mia had been there.
Investigators found a half-empty water bottle with DNA later confirmed consistent with her known samples.
A torn strip from her coat.
And a handwritten note hidden behind a loose altar panel.
Dominic—
If you found this, I was wrong about one thing.
I don’t think you know.
I read the line three times.
Mia had suspected me.
Then changed her mind.
The note continued.
Victor is using Adrian’s old access to move money and people without you seeing it. Adrian tried to stop him. The list proves who helped.
Harper is not safe with Claire.
That sentence almost stopped my breathing.
Mia knew.
She had discovered Claire’s involvement before the basement.
Why leave Harper with her?
The next line answered.
I tried to take Harper tonight. Claire caught me packing. She called Victor.
So the confrontation started upstairs.
Claire hadn’t merely lured Mia downstairs randomly.
She discovered Mia trying to flee with Harper.
Then Mia wrote:
The list is not with me. Adrian hid it where we buried the first lie.
Cryptic.
Infuriating.
Exactly like Adrian.
Then the final line:
If I disappear, ask Dominic what happened at Saint Vincent’s in 2009.
I knew.
Immediately.
Saint Vincent’s Hospital.
Our father, Carlo Vale, died there.
The official story:
Complications from surgery.
The family story:
A rival crew sabotaged his treatment.
That story fueled years of violence.
Adrian and I built our adult lives around it.
“What was the first lie?” Luca asked.
I sat on a broken pew.
“Our father’s death.”
Saint Vincent’s had long since closed.
The old medical archives were transferred.
My lawyers requested records through proper estate channels.
What we found destroyed a piece of family mythology.
Carlo Vale had not been murdered.
He died from postoperative complications worsened by a medication interaction.
The doctor documented it.
Our uncle Salvatore suppressed the report because blaming rivals gave him justification for retaliation and consolidation of family control.
Adrian discovered that years later.
Apparently Victor did too.
The “first lie” wasn’t merely emotional history.
It was a hidden archive.
Our father’s original medical file had been stored in the family mausoleum with documents Salvatore wanted buried.
Adrian knew.
Mia knew.
Victor may have known.
We obtained lawful access to the family vault.
Inside Carlo’s archive box was another envelope.
Adrian’s handwriting.
TO DOMINIC, WHEN HE’S READY TO KNOW WHAT WE BECAME.
Inside:
A flash drive.
May you like
And the recipient list.
📖 Adrian’s hidden list finally identified who benefited from Victor’s secret payments, but the first name on it belonged to someone still sleeping under my roof. 👇
