Chapter 10 - THE ACCIDENT
The family villa had thirty-two cameras.
On the day Ruby fell, seven mysteriously failed.
Salvatore had accepted the technician’s explanation.
A power surge.
Now he hated himself for it.
Marco found an old exterior camera backed up separately.
The angle was terrible.
But it showed enough.
Ruby appeared near the terrace.
Five years old.
Running after a yellow ball.
Matteo’s SUV arrived thirty minutes earlier.
A man exited.
He approached the side staircase.
Bent near the railing.
Then walked away.
The railing collapsed when Ruby grabbed it.
She fell.
Salvatore stopped the video.
“Who is he?”
Vincent answered.
“Matteo’s former mechanic. Paul Rizzo.”
Marco searched the database.
“Rizzo disappeared nine months ago.”
“Dead?”
“No record.”
“Find him.”
Lucinda watched from the doorway under guard.
Her expression had changed.
For the first time, she seemed genuinely afraid.
Salvatore saw it.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You knew the fall wasn’t an accident.”
“No.”
“You wrote on Ruby’s hospital photograph, ‘He changed after this.’”
Lucinda looked toward Matteo.
That was answer enough.
Salvatore walked toward her.
“Tell me.”
She whispered:
“Matteo said the railing was supposed to scare you.”
“Scare me?”
“He wanted you to cancel a corporate vote.”
“And Ruby fell instead.”
“I wasn’t there.”
“But you knew afterward.”
Lucinda’s eyes filled.
“You think I wanted a child hurt?”
Salvatore stared at her.
“I watched you remove her brace.”
Lucinda had no answer.
Matteo suddenly shouted from across the hallway.
“She’s lying!”
Lucinda turned.
“You told me everything!”
“You were paid to keep your mouth shut!”
“And you were paid by Salvatore for years while stealing from him!”
Officers moved between them.
Lucinda laughed hysterically.
“There. You wanted your answer? Matteo sabotaged the railing. He thought Salvatore would discover it before anyone got hurt.”
Matteo lunged.
Police restrained him.
Salvatore stood perfectly still.
“Why?”
Matteo shouted:
“Because he was destroying the company!”
Salvatore looked at him.
“I built it.”
“You inherited half of it!”
“And turned it into ten times what it was.”
“You controlled everything.”
“So you endangered my child?”
“I didn’t know she’d be there!”
Salvatore stepped forward.
Every man in the room tensed.
For one dangerous second, Salvatore wanted nothing except to break him.
Then he heard Ruby’s voice in his head.
Daddy.
He stopped.
Not because Matteo deserved mercy.
Because Ruby deserved a father who came home.
Salvatore stepped back.
“Arrest him.”
The detective nodded.
Matteo laughed.
“You think this ends with me?”
Salvatore looked at him.
“It starts with you.”
Matteo was dragged toward the door.
Then he twisted around.
“Ask Lucinda why she agreed to marry you!”
Lucinda’s face went white.
Salvatore turned.
Matteo smiled.
May you like
“She never planned to make it to the wedding.”
---
