Chapter 3 - The Secret Isabella Had Been Hiding
Lorenzo turned toward Isabella.
“You said he didn't know you.”
“I said I didn't think he knew.”
Arthur's voice echoed through the cathedral.
“You have been lying to Lorenzo for three months.”
Isabella swallowed.
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Three months?”
She nodded.
“I took this job because I suspected someone inside your household was leaking information.”
“You suspected Arthur?”
“Not at first.”
She glanced toward the locked doors.
“I suspected someone was selling your private schedules.”
Lorenzo's jaw tightened.
“And you investigated my home without telling me?”
“I tried telling you.”
“When?”
“The night your security chief disappeared.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
His security chief, Daniel, had vanished six weeks earlier.
Everyone had assumed he left after an argument.
But Isabella had never believed that.
She had been working in the mansion for only days when she noticed Daniel always checking one particular drawer in Lorenzo's study.
After Daniel disappeared, Arthur ordered the drawer removed.
Isabella had watched.
She had also seen Arthur place something inside the drawer before it was taken away.
A small silver key.
“I followed the key,” she said.
“Where?”
“To the old records room beneath the estate.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
“What did you find?”
“A list.”
“What kind?”
“Names. Payments. Dates.”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“Mine?”
“No.”
She looked at him.
“Yours was the first name on the list of people they planned to remove.”
Silence.
Then Camila whispered, “Who were the others?”
Isabella looked at her.
“Your father.”
Camila froze.
“My father died eight years ago.”
“I know.”
Arthur laughed softly from across the cathedral.
“That is what makes the list so useful.”
Lorenzo raised his weapon.
“Show yourself.”
Arthur stepped into view.
He held a gun against the side of a wounded wedding guest.
“You still don't understand.”
Arthur's eyes settled on Isabella.
“She didn't discover the list.”
Lorenzo looked at Isabella.
Arthur smiled.
“She was given it.”
Isabella's face drained of color.
Because that part was true.
Someone had secretly placed the list in her room.
May you like
Someone who wanted her to find it.
And she still did not know why.
