Chapter 5 - What the Camera Saw
The memory card contained seven video files.
The first showed Isabella’s kitchen at 11:42 p.m.
Grant stood near the island while Isabella whispered, “Noah is asleep. Stop.”
He grabbed her arm.
She pulled away.
He shoved her into the counter.
Massimo’s hands closed into fists.
Torres paused the video.
“You want to leave?” she asked.
“No.”
“You sure?”
“I need to see it.”
The next clip was worse because Evelyn was there.
Isabella sat at the table with ice against her wrist.
Evelyn said, “You bruise easily. Wear the cream sweater tomorrow. Your father notices everything.”
Grant paced behind her.
“You embarrassed me.”
“I asked where the money went.”
“Not your concern.”
“It came from my account.”
Grant leaned close.
“You signed the papers.”
Isabella’s voice shook. “You told me they were tax documents.”
Evelyn looked directly toward the hidden camera.
For one terrible second, Massimo thought she had seen it.
She had not.
Instead she said, “If Isabella becomes difficult, use the trust clause.”
Massimo looked at Torres.
“What trust clause?”
Isabella had gone pale.
“My grandfather’s trust.”
Massimo knew it well. Isabella held a large minority stake in Bellandi Freight. The shares were hers alone.
Grant could not touch them.
Unless Isabella became legally incapacitated.
The third video showed Grant speaking on his second phone.
“We don’t need her signature if the court says she can’t manage her affairs.”
A male voice answered through speakerphone.
Massimo recognized it.
Carlo Rizzi.
Bellandi Freight’s chief financial officer.
Massimo’s oldest friend.
His best man.
The man who had held Isabella at her baptism.
Grant continued.
“Once the guardianship is in place, I can vote the shares.”
Carlo replied, “Only if Massimo stays out of it.”
“He will.”
“How?”
Grant smiled toward the kitchen window.
“Because if he comes after me the old way, I own the story.”
Massimo felt the room narrow.
Grant had planned around his temper.
Around his reputation.
Around every mistake Massimo had ever made.
Torres opened the last file.
It was only fourteen seconds long.
Rosa’s voice whispered behind the camera.
“They’re talking about the river warehouse again.”
Then Grant’s voice came from another room.
“Rosa?”
The video jerked.
May you like
Footsteps rushed closer.
The screen went black.
