CHAPTER 6: THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
CHAPTER 6: THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Rebecca packed her suitcase before sunrise.
It didn't take long.
One pair of jeans.
Three shirts.
Clementine's pajamas.
The repaired drawing.
Thomas's wedding photograph.
Everything she owned fit into a single faded suitcase.
She quietly folded the blanket from Clementine's bed.
Then looked around the tiny servants' room one last time.
"Ready, sweetheart?"
Clementine nodded.
"We're going home?"
Rebecca smiled sadly.
"I don't know where home is anymore."
A gentle knock interrupted them.
When Rebecca opened the door...
Adriano stood there.
Alone.
No bodyguards.
No expensive suit.
Only a plain black shirt and tired eyes.
"I won't stop you."
Rebecca said nothing.
"I only ask one thing."
She waited.
"Breakfast."
Rebecca frowned.
"What?"
"For Clementine."
The little girl peeked around her mother's leg.
Adriano knelt to her height.
"I made pancakes."
Clementine's eyes widened.
"You cook?"
"Poorly."
She giggled.
The first genuine laugh anyone had heard from her in days.
Rebecca almost smiled herself.
Almost.
They ate together in the empty kitchen.
No servants.
No guests.
No Genevieve.
Just three people connected by tragedy.
Halfway through breakfast...
Clementine climbed off her chair.
She walked to Adriano carrying a crayon drawing.
It showed three adults.
One little girl.
A bright yellow sun.
She handed it to him.
"For you."
Adriano accepted it carefully.
"What is it?"
"The man who cried isn't lonely anymore."
His throat tightened.
He looked at the drawing.
Then noticed something unexpected.
Four figures.
Not three.
One was Thomas.
Standing beside them.
Smiling.
Before anyone could speak further...
The security alarm sounded.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
Not an emergency.
An intrusion.
Marco Bellini hurried into the kitchen.
"Sir."
Adriano stood immediately.
"What happened?"
"A visitor."
"Who?"
Marco looked unusually disturbed.
"He says his name is Vincent Moretti."
The room became silent.
Adriano's face lost all expression.
Marco continued quietly.
"He claims he has proof that Thomas Hail's death..."
He hesitated.
"...wasn't an accident."
Rebecca's heart pounded.
"What does that mean?"
Marco answered slowly.
"It means someone may have arranged for the attack."
Adriano frowned.
"That's impossible."
"I thought so too."
Marco handed him a sealed envelope.
"There are photographs."
Adriano opened it.
Inside were surveillance images from three years earlier.
Grainy.
Black and white.
Yet unmistakable.
One photograph showed a black sedan following Thomas's truck.
Another showed two men receiving cash.
The final photograph...
Made Adriano stop breathing.
Standing beside those men...
Wearing oversized sunglasses and a white coat...
Was Genevieve.
The date in the corner read:
Three days before Thomas Hail died.
Rebecca looked over Adriano's shoulder.
Her hands began shaking uncontrollably.
"No..."
Adriano whispered.
"This can't be."
Behind them...
From the upstairs balcony...
Genevieve had been watching everything.
She realized exactly what Adriano had just seen.
Without saying a word...
She turned...
Ran to the master bedroom...
Opened the hidden safe inside her closet...
And removed a small passport.
A thick envelope of cash.
And a silver handgun.
Because after three years...
May you like
The secret she had killed to protect...
Was finally coming back to destroy her.
