Chapter 13 - The Last Letter From My Mother Changed Everything I Believed About Enzo
The witness led investigators to an old boardinghouse.
Its owner remembered Evelyn Vance.
She had stayed there under another surname.
She'd been recovering from a serious injury.
She had left a sealed letter behind.
The owner kept it in a metal cashbox.
Police verified the handwriting before releasing a copy.
I opened it at Brennan's with Marisol beside me.
My mother wrote that she had discovered fraud.
She wrote that Cain had threatened her.
She had planned to bring records to investigators.
Someone intercepted her before the meeting.
A woman she trusted helped her escape.
But the threats continued.
My mother believed returning would endanger me.
She chose to disappear while collecting evidence.
The letter ended with an apology.
It didn't ask for forgiveness.
It only said she loved me.
I read that line until the ink blurred.
Then I read the last page.
She named the woman who had helped her.
Lucia Rinaldi.
Enzo's mother.
I looked up in disbelief.
Enzo had never mentioned her involvement.
He told me later that she'd died years ago.
He had known she disagreed with his father.
He hadn't known she'd helped Evelyn escape.
Lucia had left behind her own records.
They were stored with her attorney.
Those records included a statement about Victor.
They also included proof of payments to Cain.
For the first time, the history became clear.
Enzo's father had allowed the scheme to grow.
His mother had tried to stop it.
My mother had risked everything to expose it.
I still couldn't excuse Enzo's early silence.
But I could see the choice before him now.
He could protect his family's reputation.
May you like
Or he could help restore ours.
He chose the second.
