Chapter 8 - THE MOTHER WHO NEVER WAS
At 11:58 a.m., Adeline entered the abandoned church alone.
At least that was what Beatrice believed.
The building had been empty for six years.
Dust covered the pews.
Broken stained glass scattered muted color across the floor.
Adeline wore a wire beneath her blouse.
Enzo and Marco listened from a surveillance van two blocks away.
Police waited farther out.
Dante had objected to every part of the plan.
Then helped design it.
Adeline walked toward the altar.
“Beatrice?”
Her voice echoed.
A side door opened.
Beatrice Marchetti entered.
No cane.
No pearls.
No ivory gown.
She wore black trousers and a gray sweater.
Without the trappings of wealth, she looked older.
Smaller.
More human.
That somehow made Adeline angrier.
Beatrice looked at her neck.
“You brought it.”
Adeline touched the locket.
“Yes.”
“Give it to me.”
“No.”
Beatrice almost smiled.
“You sound like Lorenzo.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
“You have his stubbornness.”
“I had Ruth’s.”
Beatrice’s face tightened.
“Stop calling her your mother.”
Adeline stepped forward.
“She earned the title.”
“I gave birth to you.”
“And what did you do after that?”
“I protected what was yours.”
“You mean what you wanted.”
Beatrice’s eyes hardened.
“You think life is simple because Ruth kept you poor enough to believe morality pays rent.”
Adeline flinched.
Beatrice continued.
“You have no idea what that family was like.”
“My family?”
“The Marchettis.”
“You mean our family.”
Beatrice laughed bitterly.
“Now you claim it?”
“No.”
Adeline looked around.
“I’m reminding you that every person you killed was supposedly someone you loved.”
Beatrice’s face changed.
“I did not kill Lorenzo.”
Adeline’s pulse accelerated.
“You ordered Ruth’s death.”
“Yes.”
The confession was so easy that Adeline almost stepped backward.
Beatrice continued.
“I ordered Thomas’s death.”
In the van, Enzo went completely still.
Marco looked at him.
Enzo raised one hand.
Keep listening.
Adeline swallowed.
“Why?”
“Thomas planned to give you everything.”
“It was already mine.”
“No.”
Beatrice’s voice cracked.
“It was mine.”
There it was.
Not family.
Not protection.
Possession.
Adeline stared.
“Lorenzo’s shares belonged to Lorenzo.”
“I helped build his life.”
“You were married to him.”
“I sacrificed everything.”
“So you killed people.”
“Don’t be naïve.”
“I’m not.”
Adeline stepped closer.
“I’m disgusted.”
Beatrice looked almost wounded.
“You think Ruth was innocent?”
“I think she saved a baby.”
“She stole you from your mother.”
“You wanted my inheritance.”
“I wanted you beside me.”
“Then why wait twenty-six years?”
Beatrice said nothing.
Adeline understood.
“Because as long as I was missing, you could fight over my shares.”
Silence.
“You didn’t need a daughter.”
Beatrice’s eyes filled.
“Be careful.”
“You needed a signature.”
“Stop.”
“You needed a legal heir you could control.”
“STOP.”
Her shout echoed through the church.
Adeline’s heart pounded.
Beatrice breathed hard.
Then slowly regained control.
“You always cried when strangers held you.”
Adeline froze.
“What?”
“As a baby.”
Beatrice stared somewhere beyond her.
“You hated loud rooms.”
Adeline said nothing.
“You slept only when someone hummed.”
Her voice softened.
“I used to walk through the house at three in the morning holding you against my chest.”
For one terrible second, Adeline saw the mother Beatrice might have been.
Then she remembered Ruth’s crushed car.
Lucy tied to a bomb.
Enzo’s father buried beside Lorenzo.
“Love without mercy is possession.”
Beatrice looked at her.
“You think Ruth taught you that?”
“No.”
Adeline’s eyes filled.
“You did.”
Beatrice’s expression became hard again.
“You came for answers.”
“Yes.”
“Lorenzo’s death.”
“Yes.”
Beatrice walked toward the front pew.
She sat.
Adeline remained standing.
“Lorenzo planned to leave me.”
Adeline waited.
“He discovered the foundation accounts.”
“The stolen money.”
“It wasn’t stolen.”
“What do you call moving donations into companies you control?”
“Insurance.”
“For what?”
“My future.”
Adeline shook her head.
Beatrice continued.
“He told me he was giving Ruth guardianship.”
“So you poisoned him.”
“No.”
“His recording says you put something in his whiskey.”
“A sedative.”
“Why?”
“To stop him from leaving the house.”
Adeline stared.
“That’s not better.”
“I needed time.”
“For what?”
“To convince him.”
“Did you?”
“No.”
Beatrice looked toward the broken stained glass.
“He left anyway.”
“What happened?”
“He drove to meet Thomas.”
Adeline’s breath caught.
“Then?”
“Someone followed him.”
“Who?”
Beatrice remained silent.
“Who?”
“Harrison Ashford.”
Adeline blinked.
“Camilla’s father?”
“Yes.”
In the van, Enzo looked at Marco.
Marco was already messaging police.
Beatrice continued.
“Harrison worked for my father then. Security. Collections. Problems.”
“What did you ask him to do?”
“Bring Lorenzo back.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Adeline studied her.
“Do you expect me to believe that?”
“I wanted him alive.”
“What happened?”
“Harrison forced Lorenzo’s car off the road.”
Adeline’s stomach twisted.
“The car rolled.”
“Yes.”
“And Lorenzo died.”
“Yes.”
“Did Harrison mean to kill him?”
Beatrice looked at her.
“I don’t know.”
“Did you care?”
Beatrice’s jaw tightened.
“I was devastated.”
“Then you helped cover it up.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if the truth came out, I would lose you.”
Adeline almost laughed.
“You already lost me.”
Beatrice looked away.
Adeline continued.
“And Ruth?”
“She took you that night.”
“Because Lorenzo told her to.”
“Yes.”
“How did she disappear?”
“Thomas helped her.”
Enzo closed his eyes in the van.
His father had protected Adeline.
At least at first.
Beatrice continued.
“He gave Ruth cash, documents, addresses.”
“Then later he took Lorenzo’s shares.”
“He had no choice.”
“There’s always a choice.”
“You really are Ruth’s daughter.”
Adeline accepted that as a compliment.
“Why did Thomas wait so long to restore the shares?”
“Fear.”
“Of you?”
“Of what would happen to Enzo.”
Adeline frowned.
“What does Enzo have to do with it?”
Beatrice smiled faintly.
“You still don’t understand.”
Adeline’s pulse changed.
“What?”
Beatrice looked toward the wire beneath Adeline’s blouse.
Then directly at it.
Adeline’s heart stopped.
“You’re wearing a microphone.”
In the van, Marco swore.
“Pull her out.”
Enzo was already moving.
Inside the church, Beatrice stood.
“I knew Enzo wouldn’t let you come alone.”
Adeline backed up.
Beatrice reached into her sweater.
Adeline froze.
But Beatrice didn’t pull a gun.
She pulled an envelope.
“Take it.”
Adeline did.
“What is this?”
“The thing Thomas was too afraid to tell Enzo.”
Adeline opened it.
A birth certificate.
She read the name.
Then looked up.
“I don’t understand.”
Beatrice smiled sadly.
“You will.”
The church doors burst open.
Enzo entered with Marco and police.
Beatrice did not run.
She simply looked at Enzo.
“You always did arrive dramatically.”
Enzo approached.
“Step away from Adeline.”
Beatrice laughed.
“She’s my daughter.”
“She doesn’t want you.”
“Neither did you by the end.”
Enzo’s face hardened.
Police moved forward.
Beatrice raised her hands.
“I surrender.”
Everyone froze.
Marco looked suspicious.
“That easy?”
Beatrice smiled.
“No.”
She looked at Adeline.
“Show him.”
Adeline stared at the birth certificate.
Enzo saw her face.
“What?”
She handed it to him.
He read.
His expression went blank.
Then he looked at Beatrice.
“No.”
Beatrice’s smile disappeared.
“You wondered why Thomas protected Adeline.”
Enzo looked again.
The document listed a child born three years after Lorenzo’s death.
Male.
Mother: unavailable.
Father:
Thomas Marchetti.
The child’s name:
Enzo Lorenzo Marchetti.
Enzo frowned.
“That’s my birth certificate.”
“No,” Beatrice said.
“It’s the original.”
He stared.
His entire life, his official certificate had listed Sophia Marchetti as his mother.
Thomas’s wife.
The woman Enzo remembered only through photographs.
This document listed no mother.
Adeline looked at Beatrice.
“Who was Enzo’s mother?”
Beatrice stared at him.
For the first time, shame appeared.
“Ruth Croft.”
Adeline stopped breathing.
Enzo’s face emptied.
“No.”
Beatrice whispered, “Yes.”
Adeline stepped backward.
“My mother?”
Enzo looked at her.
Beatrice continued.
“Thomas and Ruth became close while hiding Adeline.”
“No.”
Enzo’s voice broke.
It was the first time Adeline had ever heard weakness in it.
“My mother was Sophia.”
“Sophia couldn’t have children.”
Enzo shook his head.
“She raised you from infancy. Thomas begged Ruth to give you up.”
Adeline stared at Beatrice.
“Why would Ruth do that?”
“Because Thomas told her a Marchetti child would never be safe with a poor single woman running from me.”
Enzo’s eyes filled with rage.
“And you knew?”
“Eventually.”
“When?”
“When you were six.”
“And you said nothing.”
Beatrice looked at him.
“What would you have done with the truth at six?”
Enzo laughed once.
Empty.
“And at sixteen?”
Nothing.
“Twenty-six?”
Nothing.
“You killed Ruth when I was twenty-nine.”
Beatrice’s face tightened.
“She was trying to expose everything.”
“She was my mother.”
“Yes.”
Enzo’s voice dropped.
“And you killed her.”
Police moved closer.
Beatrice finally looked afraid.
Not of arrest.
Of Enzo.
He took one step.
Adeline moved between them.
“Enzo.”
He stopped.
“Move.”
“No.”
“She killed both our parents.”
“I know.”
“Move.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
Adeline’s eyes filled.
“If you touch her now, she controls one more thing.”
Enzo’s breathing slowed.
“She decided how Lorenzo died.”
Adeline continued.
“She decided how Ruth died. Thomas too.”
Enzo looked at Beatrice.
“Don’t let her decide who you become next.”
Silence.
Then Enzo stepped back.
Police handcuffed Beatrice.
She stared at Adeline.
“You protected him.”
“Yes.”
“You barely know him.”
Adeline looked at Enzo.
Maybe that was true.
Maybe not.
Blood was one kind of knowing.
Shared betrayal was another.
Beatrice was led toward the door.
Before leaving, she turned.
“You still don’t know why I needed Enzo dead before the trust changed.”
Dante frowned.
“We know exactly why.”
“No.”
She looked at Enzo.
“You think this is about Adeline owning thirty-eight percent.”
Enzo’s expression hardened.
“Isn’t it?”
Beatrice smiled.
“If Ruth was your biological mother, then Thomas’s marriage contract with Sophia triggers the illegitimacy clause.”
Dante went pale.
Enzo looked at him.
“What clause?”
Beatrice answered.
“The one that removes every share you inherited from Thomas.”
Adeline stared.
Beatrice continued.
“And where do those shares go?”
Dante already knew.
He whispered:
“To Thomas’s nearest legitimate blood heir.”
Everyone slowly looked at Adeline.
May you like
Beatrice smiled one last time.
“Her.”
