Chapter 8 - THE LETTER LUCIA NEVER SENT
Rebecca found the letter in an old safe-deposit box.
It belonged to Lucia Rizzo.
Dante's mother.
The letter was dated November 1996.
One month after Isabella Mercer died.
Dante recognized his mother's handwriting immediately.
My darling Dante,
If you ever read this, it means the truth has finally become too heavy to hide.
Your father has another son.
His name is Gabriel.
I wanted to bring him home.
But Leonard Voss warned me that doing so would place him in danger.
He said Isabella had discovered financial records proving that powerful men were stealing from the family and using the business to conceal crimes.
She threatened to expose them.
Then she died.
I do not believe her death was an accident.
I have hidden copies of the documents.
One day, I hope you will be brave enough to open the doors your father kept closed.
Love, Mama.
Dante read the letter three times.
His hands shook.
His mother had known.
She had tried to protect Gabriel.
And she had been frightened.
Rebecca looked at him.
“There's something else.”
She handed him a small envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Lucia holding baby Gabriel.
On the back, she had written:
HE DESERVES TO KNOW HE WAS LOVED.
Dante sat down.
For years, he'd believed his mother had been powerless.
Now he understood she'd been fighting a quiet battle against men who controlled everything around her.
He looked at Rebecca.
“Where are the documents she mentioned?”
Rebecca shook her head.
“We haven't found them.”
Then Dante remembered Sofia's notebook.
The painting.
The red sailboat.
The blue paint underneath.
May you like
He stood.
“I think Enzo found them.”
