Chapter 7 - Twelve Years of Silence
Luca ordered the basement sealed.
Grace ordered breakfast.
It was the first decision she made that morning that felt normal.
“People still need to eat,” she told Victor when he looked confused.
By eight, Grace had eggs in one pan, potatoes in another and biscuits rising in the oven.
The act of cooking steadied her.
Measure.
Taste.
Adjust.
Heat obeyed rules.
People did not.
Titan rested beneath the prep table.
Grace suspected this violated at least six kitchen regulations.
She did not care.
Luca entered at eight fifteen.
“You cooked.”
“That is generally what happens when you hire a cook.”
“You slept ninety minutes.”
“Two hours.”
“That is worse.”
“Coffee.”
He accepted a cup.
Grace pointed toward a plate.
“Eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That was not a question.”
Luca looked at her.
Then sat.
Victor entered five minutes later and appeared mildly astonished to see Luca Moretti eating scrambled eggs because an employee had ordered him to.
Grace set another plate down.
“You too.”
Victor obeyed faster.
Teresa arrived last.
She looked exhausted.
Grace studied her.
“You know more about Vincent.”
Teresa sighed.
“Breakfast first?”
“No.”
Luca chewed slowly.
“Grace.”
“What?”
“Let her eat.”
Grace folded her arms but waited.
Teresa sat.
The older woman eventually spoke.
“Vincent was not always the villain everyone wants him to be.”
Luca’s expression cooled.
“Nobody called him a villain.”
“You have for twelve years.”
“Because he framed Samuel.”
“Perhaps.”
Grace leaned forward.
“You don’t believe that anymore?”
Teresa looked at the table.
“Vincent and Antonio fought constantly during those years. Money. Control. The future of the businesses. Vincent wanted the old ways. Antonio wanted Luca to modernize everything.”
Luca said nothing.
“Vincent resented Samuel,” Teresa continued. “He thought your father had too much influence.”
“That sounds like motive.”
“Yes. Which is why the glove troubles me.”
“Because Vincent was away.”
“Because Samuel knew Vincent was away.”
Grace understood.
“If Dad found Vincent’s glove at the kennel while knowing Vincent was in Rome, he would immediately know it was planted.”
“Exactly.”
“So the glove wasn’t supposed to frame Vincent to Dad.”
Luca’s eyes sharpened.
“It was supposed to frame Vincent to someone who found it after Samuel was gone.”
Grace nodded.
“Maybe Antonio.”
Teresa whispered, “Or Luca.”
The room became quiet.
Someone had been constructing a narrative.
Samuel stole money.
Vincent threatened him.
Samuel fled.
Vincent became the obvious villain.
Meanwhile the real participant remained hidden.
“Who benefited?” Grace asked.
Luca answered.
“Many people.”
“Who gained power after Antonio died?”
Luca’s expression changed.
“I did.”
Grace paused.
Victor looked uncomfortable.
Luca continued.
“Then members of the advisory council.”
“Names?”
“Seven executives.”
“Still alive?”
“Five.”
“Still connected?”
“Three.”
Victor opened his tablet.
“Carlo Benedetti. Marcus Hale. Daniel Mercer.”
Grace recognized one.
“The lawyer.”
Luca nodded.
“Samuel’s letter said Daniel Mercer knew the plan.”
“Yes.”
Grace set down her fork.
“Then why aren’t we talking about him?”
Luca and Victor exchanged a look.
Grace noticed.
“What?”
Victor answered reluctantly.
“Daniel disappeared shortly after Antonio died.”
“Disappeared how?”
“His boat was found offshore.”
Grace stared.
“Body?”
“No.”
She laughed without humor.
“Apparently nobody associated with this family dies conveniently.”
Luca leaned back.
“Daniel was declared dead seven years ago.”
“Which means nothing to me anymore.”
Teresa crossed herself.
Grace turned to Luca.
“You said four people knew the plan. Antonio. Samuel. Daniel. The son.”
“Yes.”
“If ‘the son’ wasn’t you…”
Luca nodded slowly.
“Daniel had a son.”
Victor immediately searched.
“Name?”
“Evan Mercer.”
Grace waited.
Victor’s expression changed.
“What?”
“He worked here.”
Luca stood.
“When?”
“Thirteen to eleven years ago.”
“In what capacity?”
“Security systems technician.”
Silence.
Grace whispered, “Cameras.”
Victor looked grim.
“Administrative access.”
Luca approached.
“Where is he now?”
Victor searched.
Then stopped.
“According to employment records, Evan Mercer left the estate three weeks after Antonio died.”
“Current address?”
“Unknown.”
Grace thought of the disabled kitchen camera.
The dead administrative account.
Someone who understood old Moretti security architecture.
“Could Evan still access the system?”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“If he designed portions of it and hidden credentials survived upgrades… possibly.”
Luca’s expression darkened.
“Find him.”
Victor left.
Grace looked toward the windows.
“Why would Daniel’s son hurt Samuel?”
“We don’t know that he did.”
“But his father knew the secret.”
“Yes.”
“And disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Grace rubbed her forehead.
“This is turning into a family tree designed by someone who hates families.”
Luca smiled faintly.
“Accurate.”
The next hours produced more questions.
The cassette was digitized.
Audio specialists began recovering the damaged section.
The ledger was scanned.
Victor’s people traced shell companies.
Grace cooked lunch because refusing to work would have left her alone with her thoughts.
At one thirty, she entered the dry pantry looking for paprika.
Titan followed.
He sat beside the hidden brass plate.
Grace stared at it.
“We forgot.”
Luca had placed a guard near the pantry entrance, but nobody had opened the locked compartment because the investigation moved to the kennel.
Grace still had Samuel’s brass key.
She inserted it.
The lock turned.
A narrow panel released.
Inside was nothing.
Or so she had thought.
Grace shone a flashlight.
At the back, a piece of paper had been glued flat against the wood.
She carefully peeled the edge.
Not paper.
A photograph.
Faded.
It showed the Moretti kitchen twelve years earlier.
Samuel stood beside the stove.
Teresa beside him.
Antonio sat at the island.
And in the background, almost hidden near the doorway, was a young man Grace had never seen.
On the back:
E.M. — ask why he watches the cold room.
Grace’s heart raced.
Evan Mercer.
She carried the photo directly upstairs.
Luca studied it.
“That’s him.”
“Dad suspected him.”
“Apparently.”
“Then why didn’t he name him in the letter?”
“Maybe he wasn’t certain.”
Victor returned.
“I found Evan.”
“Where?”
“He’s been living under the name Eric Mason.”
Grace noticed the initials.
E.M.
“Convenient.”
Victor continued.
“He owns a small cybersecurity consulting company in Virginia.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Photograph?”
Victor turned the screen.
The man was older.
Gray at the temples.
Glasses.
But unmistakably the person standing in Samuel’s kitchen photograph.
Grace looked at Luca.
“What now?”
“We speak to him.”
Victor shook his head.
“Not yet.”
Luca looked at him.
“Why?”
Victor enlarged another record.
“Because Evan Mercer entered the state three days ago.”
Grace’s skin prickled.
“Three days?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he staying?”
Victor hesitated.
“Hotel downtown.”
“How far?”
“Thirty minutes.”
Grace thought of the disabled camera.
The person outside the pantry.
The phone call to Helen.
“He came before I started working here.”
“Yes.”
“Maybe he knew I was coming.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
Victor continued.
“There’s more.”
He opened hotel surveillance.
A grainy image showed Evan meeting another man in the lobby.
Grace did not recognize him.
Luca did.
His face went absolutely still.
“Who is that?” Grace asked.
Luca took the tablet.
“My uncle.”
Vincent Moretti.
The supposed enemy.
The man Samuel had suspected.
The man whose glove had been planted.
After years apart, Vincent and Evan Mercer were together again.
May you like
And according to the timestamp, their meeting had occurred less than twelve hours before Grace walked through the Moretti gates.
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