Chapter 14 - the last betrayal inside moretti holdings
The payment had gone to Thomas Granger.
Head of estate maintenance.
The same man who had told Vincent about room 27.
At first it seemed impossible.
Then Isabella showed him the transfer.
Fifty thousand dollars.
Paid six weeks earlier.
Thomas had ordered the false wall built.
He had also installed the electrical line inside room 27.
Vincent called federal investigators.
Thomas was stopped before he could leave Connecticut.
But he insisted he wasn't part of the conspiracy.
"I took money," he admitted. "Yes."
"For what?" Vincent asked.
"Adrian told me it was a private family project."
"You sealed a hidden room."
"He said Mrs. Moretti authorized it."
"Did she?"
"I never asked."
"Convenient."
Thomas looked ashamed.
"I've worked for your family thirty years."
Vincent's expression turned cold.
"That sentence doesn't mean what people in this house seem to think it means."
Thomas lowered his gaze.
The investigators searched his accounts.
No other suspicious payments.
His story appeared true.
Greed.
Not conspiracy.
Isabella sat beside Vincent after the interview.
"That's the last Northstar payment."
"You're sure?"
"I traced everything I could."
"Everything you could?"
She looked at him.
"I'm not magic."
"I used to think you were."
"That sounds almost romantic."
He turned toward her.
They were alone inside the conference room.
For the first time in weeks, there was no urgent mystery between them.
Only the other problem.
Them.
Vincent reached into his coat.
He placed the engagement ring on the table.
Isabella looked at it.
"I wondered when that would appear."
"I'm not asking you to put it on."
"Good."
He nodded.
"I failed you."
She watched him carefully.
"I had evidence."
"You had manufactured evidence."
"I didn't know that."
"No."
"But I knew you."
Isabella said nothing.
Vincent continued.
"And I let documents matter more than the person standing in front of me."
"You're Vincent Moretti. Documents always matter."
"That's not an excuse."
"No."
"I don't expect you to forget it."
"I won't."
"I don't expect you to forgive it today."
She looked at the ring.
"Good."
Vincent almost smiled.
"But I want the chance to earn back what I damaged."
Isabella leaned back.
"You're very bad at apologies."
"I've had limited practice."
"I noticed."
He pushed the ring toward her.
She stopped it with one finger.
"I said I'm not putting it on."
"I know."
"Then why give it to me?"
"Because it belongs to you. What you do with it is your decision."
She studied him.
That was different.
The old Vincent would have tried to solve the relationship like a business problem.
Control the variables.
Obtain an outcome.
This Vincent waited.
Isabella picked up the ring.
She placed it inside her purse.
Not on her finger.
Vincent raised an eyebrow.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you haven't completely ruined your chances."
"I'll take it."
They left the building together.
Outside, reporters waited.
Isabella stopped.
Vincent looked at her.
"Ready?"
"No."
"Neither am I."
They walked forward anyway.
Three months later, Adrian Cole pleaded guilty to several federal charges after investigators confronted him with the room 27 recording.
His testimony helped convict Julian.
Julian had believed revenge justified everything.
The jury disagreed.
Mia attended part of the trial.
Vincent offered private transportation.
She refused.
"I want to walk through the front door myself."
Lily did not attend.
She was busy starting first grade.
One afternoon she mailed Vincent a drawing.
It showed Moretti Manor.
The storm cloud above Vincent was gone.
Instead, there was a badly drawn sun.
Isabella laughed when she saw it.
"You've been upgraded."
"Apparently."
They were sitting on the terrace.
Isabella wore the engagement ring again.
She had put it on two weeks earlier.
There had been no dramatic proposal.
No restaurant.
No cameras.
Vincent had been making coffee.
Isabella had entered the kitchen wearing pajamas, placed the ring on her own finger, and said, "Don't make me regret this."
Vincent had replied, "That's terrifyingly romantic."
The wedding was rescheduled for spring.
But before that happened, Vincent had one more thing to do.
Room 27 still existed beneath the mansion.
He could have sealed it again.
Instead, he ordered the walls repaired and the room restored.
Not as a secret.
As an archive.
The forged documents were removed.
In their place he stored copies of the records proving what Carlo Moretti had done.
Isabella found him there one evening.
"You kept everything."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because hiding it created all of this."
He looked around.
"My family treated secrets like inheritance."
"And now?"
"Now they become records."
Isabella smiled.
"Very poetic."
"Don't tell anyone."
She kissed his cheek.
They walked upstairs.
Vincent turned off the light.
May you like
He closed the door.
He did not lock it.
