Part 3 – The Dead Chef Had Prepared Breakfast... But Someone Else Had Touched the Butter For several seconds...
Part 3 – The Dead Chef Had Prepared Breakfast... But Someone Else Had Touched the Butter
For several seconds...
Nobody moved.
Maria stood trembling in the doorway, tears streaming down her face.
"They found Lorenzo beside the pantry," she whispered.
"He wasn't breathing."
"The doctor says... he's been dead for at least an hour."
Emma instinctively moved closer to Alessandro's chair.
She had never seen a dead body.
But she understood enough to know something terrible had happened.
Alessandro slowly stood.
His expression never changed.
Only his eyes.
Those who worked for the Romano family knew that look.
It meant someone had crossed a line from betrayal...
Into war.
"Carlo."
"Seal the estate."
"Nobody leaves."
Carlo nodded once.
Within seconds, voices crackled through hidden earpieces.
Iron gates rolled shut.
Security cameras switched into lockdown mode.
Armed guards quietly appeared around every exit.
The Romano estate had become a fortress.
Isabella forced a nervous smile.
"This is ridiculous."
"Surely Chef Lorenzo had a heart attack."
Carlo looked toward her.
"The medical examiner hasn't even arrived."
"How did you know it wasn't natural?"
For the first time...
Isabella had no answer.
Alessandro walked toward Emma.
He knelt until they were eye level.
"Emma."
The little girl looked up.
"Yes, sir?"
"I need you to tell me everything."
"No matter how small."
She swallowed hard.
"I couldn't sleep last night."
"So I went downstairs for water."
"What time?"
"I don't know."
"The big clock said twelve."
"You saw Miss Isabella?"
Emma nodded.
"She came through the back kitchen."
"She wasn't alone."
Alessandro's eyes narrowed.
"Who was with her?"
Emma closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"A man."
"I couldn't see his face."
"He wore black gloves."
"He gave her the little white bottle."
Carlo immediately looked toward Alessandro.
This had just become much bigger than attempted poisoning.
Someone outside the household had entered Romano property.
Without being detected.
Emma continued quietly.
"Chef Lorenzo came in."
"He looked surprised."
"He asked why they were still awake."
"What happened then?"
Emma hugged Rosie tighter.
"The man pushed him."
"Miss Isabella said..."
The little girl's voice cracked.
"She said..."
"'He knows too much now.'"
The dining room fell silent.
Alessandro stared at Isabella.
Very slowly...
She shook her head.
"She's lying."
"She's only six."
"Children imagine things."
Emma looked frightened...
But angry too.
"I don't lie."
"You told me grown-ups have secrets."
"You gave me money."
"You said Mama would get a new house."
The color drained from Isabella's face.
Just then...
One of Carlo's men hurried inside carrying a transparent evidence bag.
"Boss."
"We found this."
Inside the bag...
Was a small envelope.
Emma immediately pointed.
"That's it!"
"The money!"
Inside the envelope were twenty crisp one-hundred-dollar bills.
Exactly two thousand dollars.
Across the front...
Written in elegant handwriting...
Was a single word.
Emma.
Alessandro never looked away from Isabella.
"You planned to buy a child's silence."
"I was helping her family."
"With cash hidden beneath her mattress?"
"You don't understand."
"No."
He nodded once.
"I finally do."
Carlo's radio crackled.
"Chief."
"We've got something."
"What?"
"The kitchen security system."
"It was disabled for eleven minutes."
"Between 11:56 p.m. and 12:07 a.m."
Alessandro frowned.
"Who authorized it?"
"No authorization."
"It was overridden."
"Using the master's access code."
There were only two people who possessed that code.
Alessandro...
And Isabella.
She stepped backward.
"You can't seriously believe a child over me."
"I've planned our wedding."
"I've stood beside you for three years."
"I love you."
Alessandro asked only one question.
"If you love me..."
"Why didn't you eat the bread?"
Silence.
Heavy.
Unforgiving.
She opened her mouth...
Closed it again.
Because there was no answer she could give.
At that moment...
A black SUV sped through the front gates.
Security guards rushed outside.
Seconds later...
A silver-haired man in a dark overcoat entered the dining room without waiting for permission.
Every Romano guard immediately straightened.
Even Carlo looked surprised.
"Judge Moretti?"
The retired federal judge rarely left his private estate.
Yet here he was.
Breathing heavily.
Holding a thick brown file.
He looked directly at Alessandro.
"I'm too late."
Alessandro frowned.
"Too late for what?"
The old judge placed the file on the table.
Inside were photographs.
Bank transfers.
Medical reports.
And one faded picture taken nearly twenty-five years earlier.
It showed a younger Lorenzo...
Standing beside Alessandro's late father...
And a little blonde girl no older than six.
The judge's voice became grim.
"Lorenzo didn't die because he saw poison."
"He died because he had spent twenty-five years protecting a secret your father took to his grave."
He looked slowly toward Isabella.
May you like
"And that secret..."
"Begins with the woman you were about to marry."
