Chapter 5 – BLOOD ON THE MARBLE

Nico cried out in agony, collapsing against the marble balustrade. Blood instantly bloomed through the fabric of his white shirt.

“Nico!” Matteo yelled, catching his brother before he tumbled down the stairs.

I pulled Isla behind a heavy marble pillar in the foyer, covering her eyes. My whole body was shaking.

Don’t look, I signed frantically against her chest. Keep your eyes closed, baby.

Daniel didn’t hesitate. He raised the bronze poker to strike Matteo while he was distracted holding Nico.

But Matteo was faster.

With blinding speed, Matteo lunged upward, driving his shoulder into Daniel’s chest. The air rushed out of the attorney’s lungs as both men crashed onto the hard marble landing.

The bronze poker clattered down the stairs, landing near my feet.

Daniel scrambled wildly, clawing at Matteo’s face. “You have nothing, Matteo!” he spat, blood on his teeth. “The lake house is gone! The documents are gone! You can’t prove anything without them!”

Matteo pinned Daniel’s throat beneath his forearm, leaning his entire body weight into it.

“I don’t need documents to break your neck,” Matteo growled, his eyes burning with a murderous rage.

Suddenly, a heavy thud echoed through the foyer.

Richard Vale was standing behind them on the landing, breathing heavily. He had picked up a heavy marble vase and smashed it over Daniel’s head.

Daniel’s eyes rolled back, and he slumped against the floor, unconscious.

Matteo stared up at Richard.

The older man dropped the broken vase, his hands shaking violently. “I am a greedy man, Matteo,” Richard gasped, his face ashen. “I wanted the land. I wanted the money. But I didn’t know he murdered your wife. I draw the line at murder.”

Matteo stood up slowly. He didn’t thank Richard. He simply kicked Daniel’s unconscious body away.

“Hannah!” Matteo shouted down to me. “Call the police! Tell them to send an ambulance for Nico.”

I pulled my phone from my pocket with trembling hands and dialed 911.

While I spoke to the dispatcher, Matteo’s cell phone rang.

He pulled it from his pocket. The caller ID flashed LAKE HOUSE SECURITY.

Matteo answered, putting it on speaker. “Report.”

“Mr. Bellandi,” a frantic voice crackled through the phone. “We have a situation. Three men breached the perimeter. They bypassed the alarms and threw incendiary devices through the study window.”

Matteo closed his eyes. The breath shuddered out of him. “The study?”

“Yes, sir. The fire department is here, but the room is totally gutted. The wooden cabinet is completely destroyed. Everything inside is ash.”

Daniel had won.

He had destroyed the only physical proof of his embezzlement and his motive for killing Olivia. Without those documents, high-priced lawyers could easily argue the video was just a paranoid woman’s fantasy. Daniel might go to jail for the break-in tonight, but he would escape the murder charge.

Matteo dropped the phone. It shattered against the marble floor.

He sank to his knees, burying his face in his hands.

Four years of grief, four years of protecting his daughter, and the man who killed his wife was going to get away with it.

I ended the call with 911.

Isla slowly pulled away from me.

She walked over to her father. She knelt beside him on the cold floor and gently touched his cheek.

Matteo looked at her through his tears.

I’m sorry, baby, he signed, his hands shaking. Mommy’s documents are gone. He burned them.

Isla didn’t cry.

Instead, a strange, determined look crossed her ten-year-old face.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out the tiny gold key.

She held it up.

Daddy, she signed slowly, making sure he saw every movement. This key wasn’t for the cabinet.

Matteo frowned, confusion breaking through his grief. What do you mean?

Isla lowered her hands, took a deep breath, and revealed the secret she had kept for four years.

Mommy told me the cabinet was a trick.

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