Chapter 9 - THE SECOND WALL
Police reached the cemetery before Victor.
He was glad.
Mostly.
Marina was detained temporarily for questioning after cemetery staff reported unauthorized entry.
Her two companions carried tools.
No weapons.
She claimed she was retrieving family property.
Technically, she had no ownership in Bellucci crypts.
Beatrice’s assault complaint already made police interested.
Victor arrived with Evelyn.
Marina sat in the cemetery office.
Wedding diamonds gone.
White gown long replaced.
She looked ordinary.
Almost.
“Victor.”
He stood across the room.
“You threatened Beatrice.”
“She threatened me too.”
“With what?”
“The truth.”
Victor stared.
Marina smiled.
“She told me my father was a traitor.”
Victor looked toward Beatrice.
She had said that?
Later.
“Why come here?”
Marina folded her arms.
“You already opened it.”
“Yes.”
“Then you found the case.”
“Yes.”
“And the wall?”
Victor frowned.
“What wall?”
Marina’s smile returned.
That was why she came.
Victor immediately went back to the crypt with cemetery authorization.
A structural specialist inspected.
Behind the empty compartment where Beatrice’s metal case had rested was a second false panel.
Victor stared.
“Lorenzo?”
Beatrice whispered:
“I didn’t know.”
The panel opened.
Inside:
A small steel tube.
One envelope.
One photograph.
No ledger.
The photograph showed Lorenzo, Arturo Vescari, and Victor’s mother, Sofia.
Victor’s hands shook.
His mother had died when he was twelve.
Car accident.
At least that was what he had always been told.
The envelope was addressed:
VICTOR — ABOUT YOUR MOTHER.
Victor sat on the crypt bench.
Beatrice went pale.
“You knew?”
“No.”
He believed her.
The letter was Lorenzo’s handwriting.
Son,
If you are reading this, the lies have survived too long.
Your mother’s accident was not an accident.
Victor stopped breathing.
Beatrice made a sound.
Lorenzo continued.
Sofia discovered Arturo was using Bellucci shipping routes to move weapons without my approval.
She threatened to tell me.
Arturo found out first.
Her brakes failed two days later.
Victor stared.
Twenty-nine years of one mystery had just reached back further.
He wanted rage.
He got nausea.
The letter continued.
I did not know until years later.
When I confronted Arturo, he admitted enough without saying the words.
That was when I began documenting him.
That was when I decided Victor had to leave this life.
Victor closed his eyes.
His mother.
Another death connected to Arturo.
Marina’s father.
Beatrice whispered:
“She knew?”
Victor looked toward the cemetery office.
Maybe.
The final line:
If Arturo’s children ever come near Victor, do not punish them for their father.
Find out what they know first.
Lorenzo, apparently, had anticipated even Marina.
Victor folded the letter carefully.
He returned to the office.
Marina looked at his face.
Her expression changed.
“You found it.”
“Did you know about my mother?”
Silence.
“Marina.”
She looked away.
Victor stepped closer.
“Did you know?”
“Yes.”
The answer hurt more than shouting would have.
“When?”
“Two years ago.”
Before they were engaged.
Before Victor proposed.
Before she told him she wanted children.
Before the wedding.
“You knew your father killed my mother.”
“I knew he may have caused it.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
Her voice sharpened.
“My father told me Lorenzo lied.”
Victor laughed bitterly.
“Convenient.”
“He said Sofia was already planning to leave Lorenzo.”
“So?”
“He said the crash had nothing to do with him.”
“Then why hide it?”
Marina had no answer.
Victor understood.
She did not know for certain.
But she knew enough to fear the truth.
“Why marry me?”
Her eyes filled for the first time.
“You think none of it was real?”
Victor did not answer.
Marina continued.
“I loved you.”
“Past tense?”
She flinched.
“I loved what we were before your father came back into everything.”
“My father was hidden.”
“Exactly.”
She almost shouted.
“Your entire family lives inside graves that aren’t graves, trusts that aren’t trusts, businesses that pretend not to be what they were.”
Victor stared.
She was not wrong.
That did not absolve her.
Marina continued.
“I wanted something clean.”
“By stealing money?”
Her face hardened.
“By taking control from men who refuse to change.”
“Thomas helped you.”
“Yes.”
“Elena.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened Lorenzo.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened Beatrice.”
Marina looked away.
“You pushed her.”
Silence.
Victor’s voice lowered.
“And you knew my mother might have been murdered by your father.”
Marina finally cried.
“I didn’t know how to tell you.”
Victor laughed softly.
That sentence.
Always.
I didn’t know how to tell you.
Families built entire disasters inside it.
Victor stepped back.
“I’m done.”
Marina looked up.
“You already canceled the wedding.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
May you like
“I mean with the version of family that makes secrets more important than people.”
That decision would cost him more than a marriage.
