Castella

e, but Dante Marchetti belon

ard the word no. The worst part was that he proba

heels clicking against the marble. I kept my

were shaking. I pressed them flat against the

who valued my grandfather's signature above my consent. But beneath the anger, something quieter ached.

one b

the

darling. Ho

duct

agree to

was only about saving the firm. She didn

o provide so

he mar

cuss that ov

Please don't make this h

expected. "I'm not the one

kno

to accept it as tho

heard how thin her breath soun

frightened. I'll come home to

tened too,

t very still for a mome

-

. The reception area needed paint, the waiting-room chairs were ol

he belief that everyone deserved a fair hearing, and I h

acy threatened to

called from reception. "D

of t

unds pro

ous benefactor weren't al

peak, Daniel hurried over with a stack

gain. They want an

ather had bought with his own

're reviewing

ard that th

Daniel was as tired as I was, and none of this was h

quested the old financial records yesterday. They

pped. "Did you

m the files wer

uches those with

-

hive and spent an hour comparing dates, loans, and correspondence. Mos

ey to my grandfather's firm shortly before the Accordo was signed. Later, the payme

business fro

arched our archive. Nothing. As

the doorway, pale. "Marco

I straightened

e and a face as unreadable as his

that you remember some records can be dangerous

s my cooperation, he can

ass it

ned to

Have you heard of

ond, but I saw it: recognition, an

" he

e believed it if I hadn't spent

ou for y

A copy of the Accordo. And a handwritten note addressed to m

ever emerges, neither famil

carried her illness. The people I loved most kept protecting me with silence

ing firm. Someone had spent years burying a truth,

at Dante's number. I didn't trus

Bellandi meant, I wo

k back into the devi