Chapter 12 - The Lie Rachel Had Lived With
Rachel admitted she had given Lucien the route to Marco's warehouse meeting. She had been told it was for a surprise security inspection. She had asked no questions because Lucien was a family ally and because Dante was away on business.
“I was careless,” she said. “And Marco died.”
Dante stood by the window for a long time. He did not excuse her. He did not throw her out. He asked her to tell the truth under oath, even if it damaged the family name. Rachel agreed.
Her testimony uncovered the method behind the conspiracy. Lucien had not simply bribed guards. He had used trusted relatives and staff as unwitting messengers, each carrying one harmless-looking piece of a lethal plan. Giselle had been his bridge into Dante's home. She had made the children seem unreliable so their memories could be dismissed.
When Rachel left the room, Dante told me he had once believed love meant never doubting your own people. “I think I used that belief as an excuse not to look,” he said.
“Looking hurts,” I answered. “But refusing to look hurts other people.”
The investigators located Hale in a motel outside Montreal. He was arrested with forged identification and a list of potential witnesses. Giselle was still missing. She sent a message through her lawyer offering testimony against Lucien in exchange for immunity.
The prosecutor refused blanket immunity but offered to hear her account. Giselle demanded that Dante attend the meeting. He declined.
Instead, he asked me to come with him to the family cemetery. We stood before Marco's grave while the late afternoon light faded across the grass. Dante spoke quietly about the man who had saved his life years before, the friend who had made him promise to raise the children if anything happened.
“I kept them alive,” he said. “I didn't keep them safe.”
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“You can do better now,” I said.
He took my hand only after I offered it. We stayed until the sun disappeared behind the trees.
