Chapter 5 - RUTH CROFT’S SECRET
Adeline had worn the silver locket for twenty-six years.
She had slept in it.
Worked in it.
Cried into it at her mother’s funeral.
She had never opened it.
Not because she didn’t want to.
Because it didn’t open.
There was no visible hinge.
No clasp.
It looked like a simple oval piece of silver with a tiny engraved flower on the back.
Her mother had called it a keepsake.
Nothing more.
Now Enzo stared at it across the back seat of his armored SUV.
Lucy sat beside Adeline wrapped in a paramedic blanket.
Marco drove.
“You said your mother told you never to remove it?” Enzo asked.
Adeline nodded.
“She said it belonged to my grandmother.”
“Did you ever meet your grandmother?”
“No.”
“Name?”
“Eleanor Croft.”
Lucy shook her head.
“Mom lied about names sometimes.”
Adeline looked at her.
“What?”
Lucy shrugged weakly.
“You remember the landlord in Milwaukee? Mom told him her maiden name was Brooks.”
“That was because she didn’t trust him.”
“She didn’t trust anyone.”
Enzo understood that better now.
Ruth Croft had worked for Beatrice’s foundation.
Rebecca Sloan had volunteered there.
Both women became connected to documents that threatened Enzo’s control.
Rebecca disappeared.
Ruth died in what police had called a highway accident.
Maybe neither event had been accidental.
“Where did your mother keep important things?” Enzo asked.
Adeline looked at him.
“She’s been dead nine years.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Adeline thought.
“There was a storage unit.”
Lucy turned.
“What storage unit?”
“Mom kept boxes in a place near Cicero.”
“You never told me.”
“You were eleven.”
“What happened to it?”
Adeline frowned.
“I stopped paying after Mom died.”
Enzo looked at Marco.
“Storage companies auction abandoned units.”
Marco nodded.
“Unless someone kept paying.”
Adeline’s stomach tightened.
“Who would?”
Enzo answered quietly.
“Someone waiting to see whether you ever came looking.”
They returned to the mansion shortly before dawn.
Most guests had finally been allowed to leave after giving statements.
Police vehicles remained outside.
News vans filled the street beyond the gates.
Inside, the ballroom looked like the aftermath of a war fought with champagne glasses.
Camilla sat alone on a sofa.
Her makeup had smeared.
Her father had been taken to police headquarters for questioning regarding the warehouse lease.
Camilla looked at Enzo as he entered with Adeline and Lucy.
For once, she didn’t sneer.
She looked relieved.
“Lucy?”
Adeline stopped.
Camilla knew her sister’s name.
Enzo noticed.
“How do you know who she is?”
Camilla froze.
“I heard someone say it.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Enzo walked toward her.
“Try again.”
Camilla’s eyes filled.
“Beatrice.”
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
Adeline stared.
“Two weeks?”
Before Adeline had even been hired.
Camilla looked at her.
“She knew you were coming.”
The room became silent.
Adeline shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
“No.”
Camilla wiped her cheek.
“She chose you.”
Adeline’s knees nearly gave way.
Enzo caught her arm.
“What do you mean she chose her?”
Camilla looked toward the staircase as if still afraid Beatrice might appear.
“She told Mrs. Talbot to hire a woman named Adeline Croft.”
Enzo’s expression hardened.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I swear.”
Camilla stood.
“I knew there was a plan involving the trust. I knew Beatrice wanted you to sign modified papers. She told me it was temporary.”
“Temporary control of billions?”
“She said you were too emotionally attached to old assets.”
Enzo almost laughed.
Camilla continued quickly.
“She promised my father development contracts. She promised me voting rights after we married.”
“And poison?”
Camilla’s voice cracked.
“I didn’t know.”
Enzo stared.
“Then explain the champagne.”
“She told me you had been having migraines.”
Samuel, who had just entered, stopped.
Enzo’s face went cold.
“What?”
Camilla nodded desperately.
“She said your doctor had given her powder medication that dissolved in alcohol. She said you hated taking pills.”
Samuel stepped forward.
“I prescribed no such medication.”
Camilla started crying.
“I know that now.”
Adeline stared at her.
“You watched Beatrice put powder into the glass.”
“I thought it was medicine.”
“And then you tried to make Enzo drink it?”
“I thought I was helping him.”
Adeline’s anger rose.
“And when I took the glass, you beat me.”
Camilla’s face twisted.
“You embarrassed me.”
Adeline laughed once.
No humor.
“That’s your excuse?”
“I was angry.”
“You had two hundred people watching.”
Camilla looked down.
Adeline stepped closer.
“You knew I couldn’t hit you back.”
Nothing.
“You knew if I defended myself, I’d lose my job.”
Nothing.
“So you enjoyed it.”
Camilla’s tears fell faster.
“I’m sorry.”
Adeline’s expression remained hard.
“No.”
Camilla looked up.
“No?”
“You’re sorry Enzo saw.”
Camilla flinched.
Adeline turned away.
Enzo looked at his former fiancée.
“Why did Beatrice choose Adeline?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did she mention Ruth Croft?”
Camilla hesitated.
That was enough.
Enzo stepped closer.
“What did she say?”
Camilla whispered, “She called Ruth a thief.”
Adeline turned.
“My mother never stole anything.”
“She didn’t mean money.”
“What did she mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“Camilla.”
“I DON’T KNOW!”
Her scream echoed through the room.
Then she covered her face.
“I knew she hated Ruth. That’s all.”
Lucy walked closer.
“What did Ruth steal?”
Camilla lowered her hands.
“She said Ruth stole a future from her.”
Enzo looked at Adeline’s necklace.
The locket suddenly seemed heavier than silver.
He held out his hand.
“May I?”
Adeline hesitated.
Then removed it.
She placed it in his palm.
Enzo examined the engraving.
A flower.
Five petals.
Tiny markings around the edge.
Marco entered carrying a magnifying glass from the office.
He looked.
“Those aren’t decorative.”
“What are they?”
“Numbers.”
Enzo turned the locket.
Dante arrived minutes later.
He examined it.
“Looks like a sequence.”
Adeline frowned.
“For what?”
“Could be a safe deposit box.”
Lucy whispered, “Mom hated banks.”
Dante looked at her.
“She might have hated banks because she knew what happened inside them.”
They photographed the numbers.
Dante searched old financial records.
Twenty minutes later, he found a match.
A private bank in downtown Chicago.
Lake Continental Trust.
The bank had merged twice, but historical safe deposit records still existed.
The box had been opened under the name Ruth Croft.
Fifteen years earlier.
It had never been closed.
Adeline stared at the screen.
“How?”
“Annual fees are being paid automatically,” Dante said.
“From what account?”
He clicked.
Then frowned.
“Anonymous trust.”
Enzo leaned closer.
“Can we access the box?”
“Only if Adeline is named beneficiary or executor.”
“I handled Mom’s estate.”
“Then maybe.”
By seven in the morning, they were driving downtown.
Lucy remained at the mansion with Samuel and security.
Adeline sat beside Enzo.
“You haven’t slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I’m used to double shifts.”
“I’m used to people trying to kill me.”
She looked at him.
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?”
“No.”
He looked out the window.
“It sounded less depressing in my head.”
Adeline surprised herself by smiling.
Then she became serious.
“Why are you helping me?”
Enzo looked at her.
“You saved my life.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know someone wanted that glass near me.”
“That’s not the same.”
“No.”
He paused.
“And because my family may have destroyed yours.”
Adeline stared.
“That wasn’t you.”
“You don’t know that yet.”
The admission surprised her.
Enzo did not defend his father.
Did not assume innocence.
That made her trust him more than any denial could have.
At Lake Continental Trust, Dante handled the legal paperwork.
The branch manager looked terrified when she realized who was requesting access.
An hour later, Adeline stood inside a private viewing room.
A long metal box sat on the table.
Her hands shook.
“Do you want privacy?” Enzo asked.
She looked at him.
“No.”
She opened it.
Inside were three objects.
A photograph.
A cassette tape.
And an envelope with ADI written across the front.
Adeline’s childhood nickname.
Her mother’s handwriting.
She covered her mouth.
Lucy was the only person alive who still called her Addie.
Enzo remained silent.
Adeline opened the envelope.
A letter.
She began reading.
My beautiful Adeline,
If you are reading this, then I failed to keep the past away from you.
Her eyes filled.
She continued.
There are things I should have told you years ago. I didn’t because I wanted you to grow up believing you belonged only to yourself.
Adeline stopped.
Enzo waited.
She forced herself to continue.
Beatrice Marchetti will tell you I stole something from her.
Adeline looked at Enzo.
His face changed.
She read the next line.
Then stopped breathing.
“What?”
Enzo stepped closer.
Adeline handed him the letter.
He read.
She will say I stole her daughter.
Enzo’s eyes moved to Adeline.
Adeline shook her head.
“No.”
He continued.
The truth is that I saved you from her.
Adeline stumbled backward.
“No.”
Enzo reached for her.
She pushed his hand away.
“No.”
Her mother’s letter continued.
Adeline, Beatrice Marchetti is your biological mother.
The room became silent.
Adeline stared at the woman’s handwriting.
“No.”
She had seen Beatrice only hours earlier.
The cane.
The pearls.
The cold smile.
The words.
You look like her.
Ruth took one daughter away from me.
Now everything twisted into place.
Enzo read another line.
His own face changed.
“What?”
Adeline demanded.
He hesitated.
“Tell me.”
Enzo handed her the letter.
She read.
Your father was Lorenzo Marchetti.
Adeline looked up.
“Who?”
Enzo’s face had gone pale.
“My father’s older brother.”
Adeline stopped breathing.
Enzo whispered the truth neither of them was prepared to hear.
“If this letter is real…”
He looked at her as if seeing her for the first time.
“…you’re a Marchetti.”
Adeline shook her head.
“No.”
Enzo continued.
“You’re my cousin.”
She backed away.
“This is insane.”
Dante opened the old photograph from the box.
Three young people stood outside a charity office.
Ruth Croft.
A much younger Beatrice.
And a man who looked enough like Enzo to make Adeline’s heart stop.
Lorenzo Marchetti.
In Beatrice’s arms was a newborn baby.
On the back, Ruth had written:
ADELINE — THREE DAYS BEFORE I TOOK HER AWAY.
Adeline stared.
Then noticed something else.
A fourth person stood in the background.
Half hidden behind the doorway.
Enzo’s father.
And he was looking directly at the baby.
Dante turned the cassette tape over.
A date had been written on it.
The day before Lorenzo Marchetti died.
Adeline looked at Enzo.
“How did he die?”
Enzo didn’t answer immediately.
Then quietly:
“Car accident.”
Adeline felt cold.
“My mother died in a car accident.”
Enzo stared at the cassette.
“Yes.”
They found an old recorder.
Dante inserted the tape.
Static filled the room.
Then Ruth Croft’s younger voice emerged.
“I’m recording this because if anything happens to me, Beatrice will lie.”
Adeline covered her mouth.
Another voice spoke.
Male.
Lorenzo.
“She’ll never let the baby go.”
Ruth answered.
“She doesn’t want the baby. She wants what the baby inherits.”
Enzo froze.
The tape crackled.
Lorenzo continued.
“If I die before my father changes the trust, my daughter becomes primary beneficiary of my shares.”
Adeline stared at Enzo.
Then Ruth said the sentence that changed everything.
“Then you need to tell your brother before Beatrice realizes Enzo isn’t the heir.”
The tape clicked.
Silence.
Enzo stared at Adeline.
Adeline stared back.
Dante slowly sat down.
Because if Lorenzo’s daughter had inherited his shares…
And if that daughter was Adeline…
May you like
Then the forged trust was no longer Beatrice’s biggest secret.
Adeline Croft, the maid Camilla had beaten in front of two hundred guests, might legally own a controlling portion of the Marchetti empire.
