Chapter 11 - Grandmother's Last Game
Margaret Moretti disappeared before police reached the vineyard.
Her bedroom was empty.
Passport gone.
Private driver missing.
A single envelope waited on the dining-room table.
Silvio’s name was written across it.
Inside were instructions.
Bring Lucinda.
Come alone.
An address followed.
The old Moretti cannery at Fisherman’s Wharf.
Rachel refused.
“Absolutely not.”
Silvio looked at her.
“You said that about the shipyard.”
“And I was right.”
“Margaret wants Lucinda.”
“Lucinda is in custody.”
“Then get permission.”
Rachel shook her head.
“We don’t use prisoners as bait.”
Lucinda surprised everyone.
“I’ll go.”
She stood behind the interview-room glass later that evening.
Silvio studied her.
“Why?”
“Because she raised me.”
“She manipulated you.”
“Yes.”
“You owe her nothing.”
Lucinda gave a sad smile.
“That’s easy for you to say.”
Silvio frowned.
“She made me believe Mom abandoned us.”
Lucinda looked down.
“She told me Mom chose you.”
Silvio’s anger softened.
“What?”
“When Mom disappeared, Grandma said Mom wanted to take you but not me.”
Silvio stared.
“I was fourteen.”
Lucinda’s eyes filled.
“She said there was something wrong with me. That Mom saw it.”
“Lucinda—”
“She told me family loyalty was the only thing that could make me worthy.”
Silvio finally understood the machinery behind his sister.
Not an excuse.
But an origin.
Margaret had taken a terrified fourteen-year-old girl and trained her fear into obedience.
Lucinda wiped her eyes.
“Then Dad cut my voting shares.”
“So you killed him.”
“I know.”
There was no defense in her voice now.
“I deserve whatever happens to me.”
She looked at Silvio.
“But I want one thing before I go to prison.”
“What?”
“To stop her.”
The meeting was approved under controlled conditions.
Lucinda wore a concealed transmitter.
Silvio went with her.
Police surrounded the cannery from several blocks away.
Inside, Margaret sat at an old wooden table.
The black ledger lay in front of her.
A second copy.
She smiled when Lucinda entered.
“My girl.”
Lucinda stopped.
“Don’t call me that.”
Margaret looked wounded.
“I raised you.”
“You trained me.”
“To survive.”
“To obey.”
Margaret glanced at Silvio.
“He’s poisoned you against me.”
Lucinda laughed.
“No. Prison sobered me up.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
She opened the ledger.
“Do you know what this is worth?”
Lucinda stared.
“Too much.”
“Enough to rebuild everything.”
“I don’t want it.”
Margaret froze.
Silvio almost did too.
Lucinda had spent her entire adult life chasing control.
Margaret slid the ledger toward her.
“Take it.”
“No.”
“You are a Moretti.”
“So is Silvio.”
“He was always weak.”
Lucinda looked at her brother.
“He came for two children who weren’t even his.”
Silvio said nothing.
Lucinda continued.
“That isn’t weakness.”
Margaret’s face darkened.
“He will dismantle what generations built.”
“Good.”
Margaret slapped Lucinda.
The sound echoed through the cannery.
Silvio stepped forward.
Lucinda raised one hand.
“No.”
She looked at Margaret.
“You’ve been doing that my entire life.”
Margaret’s eyes narrowed.
“Doing what?”
“Punishing me whenever I became someone you couldn’t control.”
Lucinda removed her diamond bracelet.
Arturo’s bracelet.
She placed it on the table.
“I killed Dad because I thought losing money meant losing myself.”
Her voice shook.
“You taught me that.”
Margaret stared at the bracelet.
Lucinda continued.
“But I locked two children in a car because I was still listening to people like you.”
She began crying.
“I almost became exactly what you wanted.”
Margaret reached for the ledger.
Lucinda grabbed it first.
Margaret pulled a pistol from beneath the table.
Silvio moved.
A gunshot cracked.
Lucinda fell.
“LUCINDA!”
Silvio caught her.
Blood spread along her side.
Police stormed the building.
Margaret tried to run.
Rachel tackled her near the rear exit.
Silvio pressed both hands against Lucinda’s wound.
“Stay with me.”
Lucinda gasped.
“Did she get the book?”
“No.”
“Good.”
“Don’t talk.”
She looked at him.
“You were always the better one.”
“Stop.”
“Dad knew.”
Silvio shook his head.
“You’re not dying.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“All of it.”
Silvio held pressure against the wound.
Lucinda’s eyes closed.
“Tell Mia…”
“You’re telling Mia yourself.”
“She’ll hate me.”
“Maybe.”
Lucinda gave a weak laugh.
Silvio leaned closer.
“But she gets to decide.”
Paramedics rushed in.
Lucinda survived surgery.
Margaret was charged with attempted murder and conspiracy.
Anthony faced federal racketeering, kidnapping, sexual assault-related charges where legally viable, and numerous financial crimes.
Grant faced murder charges.
The Marcellus ledgers went to federal investigators.
It looked like the nightmare was finally ending.
Then Silvio received the bloodwork from Mia and Ethan’s hospital screening.
The physician called personally.
“Mr. Moretti, both children have an unusual marker.”
“What kind?”
“A toxin exposure.”
Silvio gripped the phone.
“From the sedatives?”
“No.”
His stomach dropped.
“What toxin?”
“Something slow acting.”
“How slow?”
“Weeks.”
Silvio stood.
“Are they in danger?”
“If we identify the source quickly, we can treat them.”
“And if you don’t?”
The physician hesitated.
“Organ damage.”
Silvio closed his eyes.
Lucinda had almost killed them in the SUV.
Grant had drugged them.
May you like
But someone else had been poisoning them long before Bellavista.
And that person might still be free.
