Chapter 2 - The Phone on the Marble
Lorenzo pulled Isabella lower as another bullet struck the stone altar.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
He looked at her sharply.
Isabella pointed toward the phone.
“That belongs to Arthur.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
“How do you know?”
“Because I saw him carrying it this morning.”
The answer came too quickly.
Lorenzo noticed.
So did Isabella.
She had just revealed that she had been watching Arthur.
Before he could question her, Camila crawled toward them from the other side of the altar.
“Lorenzo!”
He reached for her.
“Stay down.”
Camila’s hands were shaking.
“I don't understand. Arthur has been with your family for twenty years.”
“Apparently that wasn't long enough to make him loyal.”
Lorenzo reached for the phone.
The screen was cracked, but the recording was still running.
A conversation played.
Arthur's voice.
“Once Lorenzo is dead, the Russo family will take the blame.”
Camila went pale.
“My family?”
The recording continued.
Another man spoke.
“Camila doesn't know anything.”
Arthur answered calmly.
“She doesn't need to. Her wedding is enough. By midnight, everyone will believe the Bianchis attacked the Russos.”
Lorenzo stared at Camila.
She shook her head immediately.
“I swear I knew nothing.”
“I believe you.”
His answer surprised her.
Arthur had planned to turn the wedding into a massacre, then make it look like a war between two families.
But Isabella noticed something else.
A timestamp.
The recording had started hours before the ceremony.
She looked at Lorenzo.
“This wasn't recorded by accident.”
“What do you mean?”
“Arthur knew someone might discover him.”
Lorenzo took the phone.
The recording suddenly stopped.
A message appeared on the screen.
IF YOU ARE HEARING THIS, LOOK UNDER THE THIRD PEW ON THE LEFT.
Lorenzo looked toward the pews.
Isabella grabbed his sleeve.
“No. It's bait.”
He turned toward her.
“Then how do you know?”
She hesitated.
Because she had already searched that area the night before.
And she had found something.
But she had not been brave enough to tell him.
Before she could answer, footsteps sounded behind the altar.
Arthur's voice came from the shadows.
“You really should have stayed a maid, Isabella.”
Lorenzo froze.
Arthur knew her name.
Not the name written on her employment file.
May you like
Her real name.
The cathedral doors slammed shut.
