Chapter 7 - What Valentina Knew
Valentina returned to the mansion the next morning with her attorney.
Domenico hated the formality.
He accepted it.
Ruby was at preschool.
Clara remained upstairs.
They met in the library.
Domenico’s attorney Rachel attended remotely.
Valentina’s lawyer, Jonathan Pierce, placed a recorder on the table with everyone’s consent.
Domenico slid the printed email across.
Valentina read it.
She closed her eyes.
Her attorney whispered something.
She shook her head.
“No.”
Then looked at Domenico.
“I knew Marcus was hiding his relationship with Aurelia.”
Domenico felt his anger become strangely quiet.
“How long?”
“Seven months.”
“You knew he was making money from foundation contracts?”
“I knew he was receiving consulting fees.”
“Did you know the invoices were inflated?”
“No.”
“Did you suspect?”
Valentina looked away.
“Yes.”
Her attorney interrupted.
“My client should distinguish suspicion from knowledge.”
“I know what suspicion means.”
Domenico leaned forward.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Valentina laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“Because I knew exactly what you would do.”
“What?”
“This.”
She gestured around the room.
“Destroy everything.”
Domenico stared.
“Marcus stole from my company.”
“We do not know that yet.”
“He concealed a financial relationship.”
“Yes.”
“You helped him access records.”
“Yes.”
“You let him use your security credentials.”
“I did not know he was using them at night.”
“Why did you tell him Ruby saw the folder?”
Valentina’s composure faltered.
“Because she did.”
“What folder?”
“The blue authorization folder.”
“The one missing from Sofia’s cedar box?”
“No.”
She shook her head.
“Different folder.”
Domenico frowned.
Valentina explained.
Several weeks earlier she had entered Sofia’s morning room and found Ruby standing near the desk.
Marcus was there.
Ruby had seen blue invoice copies in his hands.
“She asked why Mama’s name was on them,” Valentina said.
“What did you tell her?”
“That they were business papers.”
“What did Marcus tell you after?”
“That Ruby had been wandering into private areas and needed boundaries.”
Domenico stared.
“And you believed him.”
“I wanted to.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Valentina continued.
“I knew Marcus was in trouble.”
“Financial?”
“Yes.”
“How bad?”
“He lost almost everything five years ago.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“Because it wasn’t your responsibility.”
“But you brought him into my company.”
“I asked you to give him a chance.”
“You asked me to trust him.”
Her eyes filled.
“He’s my brother.”
“That is not an explanation.”
“It is the entire explanation.”
She looked down.
Their father had left when Valentina was eleven.
Their mother suffered periods of severe instability and struggled to keep rent paid.
Marcus, seven years older, worked nights before he finished high school.
He bought groceries.
He lied to landlords.
He once slept in a car so Valentina could keep the bedroom in the apartment they were losing.
“He raised me,” she said.
Domenico listened.
“He also taught you loyalty means helping him hide fraud?”
“I didn’t know there was fraud.”
“You suspected.”
“Yes.”
“And instead of telling me, you punished Ruby for seeing evidence.”
Valentina flinched.
“That was not why I punished her.”
“Then why?”
“Because she would not stop going into Sofia’s rooms.”
“It is Ruby’s house.”
“You do not understand what that house became for me.”
“Then tell me.”
Valentina stood.
Her attorney quietly advised her to sit.
She ignored him.
“I married a man who still spoke to his dead wife when he thought nobody was listening.”
Domenico went still.
“I entered a bedroom where half the drawers were still filled with Sofia’s things.”
“That room was closed.”
“To you. Not to Ruby.”
“Because Ruby lost her mother.”
“And every time Ruby wanted something, she invoked her.”
Domenico stared.
“She is five.”
“I know!”
The shout echoed.
Valentina immediately looked ashamed.
Her voice lowered.
“I know.”
She sat.
“I kept telling myself I needed to create boundaries before Sofia became a ghost controlling our marriage.”
Domenico felt anger and grief twist together.
“So you made Ruby responsible for my grief.”
Valentina looked at him.
“Yes.”
The honesty hurt more than excuses.
“And the storage room?”
Her eyes dropped.
“I wanted to frighten her.”
Domenico’s expression changed.
Valentina forced herself to continue.
“I wanted her to understand that breaking rules had consequences.”
“You packed every piece of her clothing.”
“I was going to bring most of it back after one night.”
“She thought she was being removed from the family.”
“I did not think—”
“No.”
Domenico stood.
“That is exactly what happened.”
Valentina covered her face briefly.
Her attorney asked for a break.
Domenico refused to argue.
“Take one.”
He walked to the window.
A school bus passed beyond the gates.
Five minutes later Valentina spoke again.
“There’s something else.”
Domenico turned.
Her attorney whispered, “Valentina.”
She shook her head.
“Marcus took Sofia’s ledger.”
Domenico stared.
“You knew?”
“I found it in his apartment four months ago.”
“Why?”
“He said Sofia had written false accusations about his old business.”
“What did the ledger contain?”
“I never read all of it.”
“Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“Marcus took it back.”
Domenico’s hands tightened.
“What did you read?”
Valentina’s face went pale.
“One page.”
“What was on it?”
She swallowed.
“A note saying Sofia believed Marcus had billed her foundation for work that was never completed.”
The room became silent.
“When?”
“Four years ago.”
Domenico felt the shape of the betrayal expand backward in time.
Before Aurelia.
Before his marriage.
Before Sofia died.
He looked at Valentina.
“You protected him then too.”
“No.”
“You called Sofia suspicious.”
“I thought she was.”
“Because Marcus told you she was.”
“Yes.”
Domenico stared at the woman he had married.
Valentina whispered:
“I was wrong.”
Then her attorney’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Pierce looked at Valentina.
“Marcus has retained counsel.”
Domenico almost laughed.
Pierce continued.
“And apparently he has made a police complaint regarding the incident in the dining room.”
Valentina looked up.
“What complaint?”
Her lawyer turned toward Domenico.
May you like
“Assault.”
---
