Chapter 12 - SOFIA’S SECRET
Salvatore knelt in front of Ruby.
“When did you see her?”
Ruby thought.
“Before Mommy went to heaven.”
The adults exchanged looks.
“You were very little.”
“I remember her shoes.”
Salvatore’s heart tightened.
Ruby had always noticed shoes.
Colors.
Sounds.
Tiny details adults missed.
“What shoes?”
“Green ones. Shiny.”
Vincent suddenly stood.
“No.”
Salvatore looked at him.
“What?”
Vincent walked to the bookshelf and removed an old framed charity photograph.
Sofia stood at the center.
Beside her were several board members.
One woman wore emerald-green heels.
Salvatore stared at her face.
“Claire.”
Claire Benton.
Former chief financial officer of DeLuca Holdings.
She resigned two weeks after Sofia died.
Moved to Europe.
Vanished from their lives.
Vincent nodded.
“Sofia suspected Claire before Matteo.”
Marco began searching company records.
Twenty minutes later, he found it.
Payments.
Matteo’s shell companies had passed money through accounts approved by Claire.
She hadn’t discovered the theft.
She had helped build it.
“Where is she now?” Salvatore asked.
Marco looked up.
“According to public records? Switzerland.”
Vincent shook his head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I saw her tonight.”
Everyone froze.
“Where?”
“East service road.”
“When?”
“Right before the fire.”
Salvatore immediately ordered the property searched.
Nothing.
No Claire.
No vehicle.
Then Maria remembered something.
“A woman came to the house yesterday.”
“What woman?”
“She said she was from the event company.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
Claire had been inside the mansion before the birthday party even began.
Planning.
Watching.
Waiting.
Police searched the guest list.
Fake name.
Fake ID.
But one camera captured her entering the east wing.
The same wing containing the archive.
“She started the fire,” Marco said.
Salvatore nodded.
“And probably took Ruby from the safe room.”
Lucinda whispered:
“She’ll kill me.”
Salvatore turned.
“Why?”
Lucinda looked terrified.
“Because Matteo and I were supposed to take the blame if anything failed.”
“What does Claire want?”
“The company.”
“No.”
Salvatore stepped closer.
“Matteo wanted the company. Claire wants something else.”
Lucinda shook her head.
“You don’t understand. Sofia found records.”
“What records?”
“International accounts. Bribes. Stolen pension money. Millions.”
Salvatore stared.
“Where?”
“Nobody knows.”
“Claire thinks I have them?”
“She thinks Ruby does.”
The room fell silent.
“My six-year-old daughter?”
“Sofia hid things in ordinary places. Claire believes she left something for Ruby.”
Salvatore looked toward the ceiling.
Ruby’s bedroom.
Her books.
Her toys.
The few possessions Sofia had chosen herself before she died.
Then Ruby tugged his sleeve.
“Daddy?”
“Yes?”
“Mommy gave me a music box.”
His heart stopped.
“When?”
“Before the hospital.”
“What music box?”
Ruby smiled faintly.
May you like
“The one Lucinda kept asking me to open.”
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