Chapter 9 - The Wedding Invitations Burned
Vanessa's wedding invitations had already been mailed. The flowers had been ordered, the villa reserved, and the dress photographed for magazines. None of it mattered when Detective Price obtained a warrant for the financial records of Ashcroft Consulting.
The company belonged to Vanessa's brother, Adrian Bellini.
Investigators believed Adrian had coordinated the forged transfer and the threats against my family. Vanessa denied knowing anything about the kidnapping, but her calls placed her in contact with him throughout the evening of the dinner.
Luca invited me to witness the destruction of the remaining invitations. I refused the spectacle.
“Paper isn't justice,” I told him.
“No,” he said. “It isn't.”
Instead, he opened the company books to independent auditors and agreed to testify about the old warehouse division. For the first time, I saw him surrender control rather than tighten his grip on it.
Before I left, he said, “Claire, I am sorry I let her speak to you that way before I understood what she was doing.”
May you like
I looked at him for a long moment. “You should have stopped her before you understood.”
He nodded. “You're right.”
