Chapter 19 - THE LAST ENGAGEMENT GIFT
The lake house had been empty for seven years.
Salvatore Marchetti bought it when Enzo was a child and used it for weekends away from Chicago.
After Salvatore died, Enzo stopped going.
Too many rooms held conversations he did not want to remember.
The property remained in a family trust.
Only three people were supposed to have access.
Enzo.
Antonio.
Matteo.
Camilla had visited twice during the engagement.
Enzo had never given her a key.
That no longer meant much.
Adeline read the message again.
COME ALONE.
Enzo took the phone from her.
“You are not going alone.”
“I know.”
He looked surprised.
She almost smiled.
“I am learning.”
Matteo checked the property map.
“The state team can be there in forty minutes.”
“Too visible,” Daniel said from the hospital bed.
Everyone looked at him.
“You are not part of this operation,” Adeline said.
“I spent four months studying how Camilla thinks.”
“You spent four months getting hurt.”
“Both can be true.”
Enzo looked at the address.
“If Camilla wanted Adeline alone, she would expect us to ignore that.”
Matteo nodded.
“She may be watching the roads.”
Daniel shifted carefully.
“She probably is.”
“Then what does she want?” Adeline asked.
Daniel looked at her.
“To separate Enzo from the investigators.”
“Why use me?”
“Because she has been trying to do that since the corridor.”
The answer felt personal because it was.
Camilla had not forgiven the coat.
Not because of fabric.
Because of what it represented.
In front of two hundred people, Enzo had protected someone Camilla considered insignificant.
That choice had publicly rejected Camilla's hierarchy of worth.
Everything after had become an attempt to reverse that humiliation.
Enzo handed the phone back to Adeline.
“We answer.”
“What do I say?”
“That you are coming.”
She typed.
I'M COMING.
The reply arrived immediately.
NO ENZO.
Adeline typed again.
I SAID I'M COMING.
No further message came.
The state investigators objected to the plan.
They objected loudly.
Enzo let them.
Eventually they agreed to establish a distant perimeter and use an unmarked vehicle with Adeline wearing a concealed transmitter.
Enzo would approach separately through the woods from the north side.
Matteo would coordinate with investigators.
Adeline hated the plan.
That made it better than the reckless plans she had made earlier.
At eleven twenty, she drove toward the lake house alone.
Rain had begun again.
The narrow road wound between dark trees.
Her headlights caught the iron gate ahead.
It was open.
Of course it was.
Adeline drove through.
The house appeared beyond the trees, a dark silhouette beside the water.
Only one downstairs light was on.
She parked near the front steps.
Her concealed transmitter felt heavy beneath her blouse.
She got out.
The front door stood open.
“Camilla?”
No answer.
Adeline entered.
The foyer smelled of dust and cold wood.
A lamp burned in the living room.
On the center table sat Enzo's black coat.
The same coat he had placed over Adeline's shoulders in the corridor.
She stopped.
There was no reason for it to be here.
Enzo's coat had remained at the estate after he changed clothes that morning.
Someone had taken it.
On top of the coat rested the engagement ring Enzo had left beside the riding crop.
Camilla had taken that too.
A white card lay beside it.
Adeline picked it up.
A LAST ENGAGEMENT GIFT.
She heard a sound behind her.
Camilla stood in the doorway to the dining room.
She wore dark trousers and a gray sweater.
No makeup.
No pearls.
No cameras.
Without the armor of public performance, she looked exhausted and furious.
“You came.”
Adeline looked around.
“Where is Victor?”
Camilla laughed softly.
“You still think this is about my father.”
“Most of it is.”
“That is what he wants everyone to think now.”
Adeline watched her hands.
Empty.
“What do you want?”
“To show you something.”
“Show me.”
Camilla walked toward a cabinet.
Adeline stayed near the front door.
Camilla removed a thick file.
She placed it on the table beside the coat.
“Your father's original records.”
Adeline did not move.
“Why give them to me?”
“Because Victor is going to destroy me.”
Adeline almost laughed.
“He taught you well.”
“Yes.”
For once, Camilla did not deny it.
“He also taught me that when a plan fails, someone must become responsible.”
“You.”
“Me.”
Camilla looked toward the dark lake.
“He has already told his attorneys I acted without his knowledge.”
“Did you?”
“Not entirely.”
“What part was his?”
“The money.”
“The surveillance.”
“The pressure on Hale, Price, and Voss.”
“The plan to enter the Marchetti trust through marriage.”
“And the glass?”
Camilla's jaw tightened.
“That was mine.”
Adeline felt the transmitter beneath her blouse.
“Why Antonio?”
“You know why.”
“I want to hear you say it.”
Camilla's eyes flashed.
“You think you are clever now.”
“No.”
“I think you have spent your whole life saying terrible things because everyone around you was too afraid to make you hear them again.”
The insult landed.
Camilla stepped closer.
Adeline did not move.
“You took that glass from me.”
“Yes.”
“You had no idea what you were interfering with.”
“I knew you put something in it.”
“You could have walked away.”
“So could you.”
Camilla's face tightened.
“You embarrassed me in front of everyone.”
There it was.
The same grievance.
The same words.
Adeline looked at the coat on the table.
“No.”
Camilla frowned.
“You embarrassed yourself.”
The answer was Enzo's from the corridor.
Camilla recognized it.
Her expression changed.
She reached for the file.
Adeline moved first and placed her hand over it.
Camilla grabbed her wrist.
Pain shot through the existing injury.
Adeline gasped.
Camilla smiled.
For one terrible second, they were back in the marble corridor.
Powerful woman.
Injured maid.
An audience that would not move.
Except this time, Adeline did.
She twisted her wrist free and stepped back.
“No.”
Camilla stared.
Adeline's voice remained steady.
“You do not get a fourth strike.”
Camilla's face contorted.
She reached behind the cabinet.
A riding crop appeared in her hand.
The same kind as before.
Adeline's stomach tightened.
Camilla raised it.
“You think he chose you.”
“This is not about Enzo choosing me.”
“It has always been about that.”
“No.”
Adeline stepped sideways, keeping distance between them.
“He chose not to be the man you expected him to be.”
Camilla swung.
Adeline moved back.
The crop struck the table and knocked the engagement ring onto the floor.
Camilla stared at it.
Something inside her broke.
She lifted the crop again.
The front door opened.
Enzo stood there.
Camilla froze.
The scene mirrored the ballroom so perfectly that even Adeline felt the shock of it.
Camilla holding the crop.
Adeline backed against a wall.
Enzo at the doorway.
But this time there were no two hundred guests.
Only truth.
Camilla laughed shakily.
“Of course you came.”
Enzo's eyes went to Adeline.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
He looked at Camilla.
“Put it down.”
She tightened her grip.
“You always ask the wrong woman whether she is hurt.”
Enzo's expression did not change.
“Put it down.”
Camilla's eyes filled.
“I loved you.”
“Maybe.”
The answer struck her harder than anger.
“What does that mean?”
“It means I no longer know what you call love.”
Camilla's hand shook.
“You were going to marry me.”
“Yes.”
“And she destroyed it.”
“No.”
Enzo's voice remained quiet.
“You did.”
Camilla looked at the coat.
Then the ring on the floor.
Then Adeline.
Her face hardened again.
She reached into her sweater pocket.
Enzo moved.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Camilla pulled out a small remote.
Matteo's voice shouted through Adeline's hidden transmitter.
“Device!”
Camilla pressed the button.
For half a second, nothing happened.
Then smoke began pouring from the hallway behind her.
Enzo swore.
Camilla smiled.
“The files are not the only copies.”
Flames appeared near the back of the house.
She had rigged the old study to burn.
Adeline grabbed the Croft file.
Enzo pulled her toward the front door.
Camilla ran the opposite direction.
“Camilla!”
She disappeared into the smoke.
Adeline tried to turn back.
Enzo caught her.
“No.”
“She will die.”
“She chose the fire.”
“That does not mean we leave her.”
Enzo stared at Adeline.
Then he swore again and ran into the smoke.
Adeline followed despite every instruction she had been given.
They found Camilla near the back stairs.
A burning beam had fallen across the hallway.
She was trapped on the other side.
For the first time all night, Camilla looked truly afraid.
“Enzo.”
He grabbed a chair and smashed the burning wood aside.
Adeline pulled Camilla through the gap.
Camilla coughed violently.
Outside, investigators rushed toward them.
Matteo reached Enzo first.
Then state officers took Camilla by the arms.
She looked at Adeline in disbelief.
“You came back for me.”
Adeline held the Croft file against her chest.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Adeline looked at the woman who had beaten her, watched her family, used her brother, and tried to burn evidence.
“Because I will not become you just to defeat you.”
Camilla's face collapsed.
An investigator placed her in restraints.
Then Matteo shouted from near the tree line.
“Enzo!”
Everyone turned.
A black SUV had appeared at the edge of the property.
The driver's door opened.
An older man stepped out with both hands raised.
Matteo stared at him as if seeing a ghost.
Carlo Rinaldi had finally come home.
But he was not alone.
A woman stepped from the passenger side.
Her hair was silver now.
Her face was older.
May you like
Enzo recognized her anyway.
Margaret Ashford looked across the burning lawn at her daughter in handcuffs.
