Chapter 11 - The Woman in the Photograph
Stefano was stitched up in a private medical suite above one of his legitimate clinics.
The bullet had passed through muscle. The doctor called him lucky. Stefano called the doctor dramatic. I called both of them idiots.
Claire sat across the hall wrapped in a blanket, staring at the floor.
"Start talking," I said.
She did.
Teresa Bennett was not our biological aunt. She had been my mother's college roommate, then Paula's mother, Teresa Moretti. After she fled Stefano's father, she used our family name for protection. When Paula was born, she eventually lost custody during a brutal legal fight. Paula grew up inside the Moretti family, then later adopted Romano - Teresa's maiden name - when she tried to escape it.
"Mom called her Aunt Teresa so we wouldn't ask questions," Claire said.
"You knew?"
"Not all of it. Mom told me after I saw Vincent following Paula. She said if I ever told you, you would try to fix it."
"She was right."
Claire gave a broken laugh. "That was the problem."
I wanted to stay angry. I deserved to stay angry. Then she showed me the loan app on her phone.
Two years earlier, her husband had left her with debts she had hidden from everyone. She started gambling online, trying to win enough to cover them. Vincent's people found her, offered private loans, then demanded information about me, St. Bridget's, and anything our mother had left behind.
"I told them about the party," she whispered. "I told them you'd probably wear Mom's jewelry. I didn't know about the dress. When they asked me to get people to cancel, I did. I thought they wanted you alone so they could search the hall."
"You stole my identity."
She nodded, crying. "Yes."
I sat beside her.
"I don't know how to forgive that."
"You shouldn't yet."
That answer saved something between us.
At dawn, I went into Stefano's room.
He was awake.
"You look terrible," I said.
"You slapped me and tackled me on the same night. I had a difficult birthday."
I almost smiled.
Then I placed Paula's photograph beside him.
"Tell me why her mother is helping Vincent."
Stefano stared at the picture.
"Because Teresa thinks I killed Paula."
"Did Vincent convince her?"
"For years."
"Then we show her the tape."
He looked at me.
"There is more on the tape than you heard."
My chest tightened.
"What did you leave out?"
"Paula named the person who ordered the hit."
"Vincent?"
Stefano shook his head.
"My father."
I waited.
"Your father has been dead fifteen years. Paula died eight years ago."
May you like
Stefano's face went pale in a way the gunshot had not caused.
"Exactly."
