Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87155 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 436(@200wpm)___ 349(@250wpm)___ 291(@300wpm)
We flew to Philadelphia the following morning. I had Sofia’s suitcases in the car and had already made flight arrangements before coming to Venice.
“You didn’t come to Venice because of the annulment papers, did you?” she asked as we pulled through the gates of her family home.
“No.”
“What’s going to happen now?”
“I don’t know. The charges against your grandfather are damning. If he’s smart, he’ll sign a plea deal, but he will go to prison. And he’ll have to pay back what he stole from investors, from you.”
She shook her head, forcing a smile on her face as Lina opened the front door and stepped outside.
“I don’t care about the money. Not mine, anyway. I need to make sure my sister’s okay.”
We parked and got out. Lawyers were already waiting for us when we walked inside. Sofia and Lina spent fifteen minutes together before she emerged alone. I’d expected tears, but instead, her face was set. Hard.
“Okay?” I asked her just outside the study doors.
“I’m fine. It’s Lina I’m worried about.”
“She’s not joining us in there?”
“No.”
We walked into the study together. Sofia knew one of the attorneys by name, Mr. Adams. He was the one to whom I’d sent the annulment paperwork. He introduced the other two, and we sat down.
“I’ve arranged for a criminal attorney for Marcus,” Adams said. “I’ll go see him myself later today, after the bail hearing.
“Will he be released until the trial?”
“It’s unlikely, Sofia.”
The room fell silent until Adams cleared his throat. He spoke briefly about the charges Marcus would be facing but focused more on winery business.
“All bank accounts have been frozen. Any money will be used to repay investors.” He looked around the room. “The house…”
“What about the house?”
“It too will likely be seized.”
“But it’s been in my family—”
“It’s all tied up in the business. If it were in your name, or your sister’s—”
“What do you mean, exactly?”
“I mean you will have to move out.”
“What? But what about the insurance money? Won’t that pay—”
She stopped as Adams shook his head.
“No. And any money that’s leftover will go toward your grandfather’s court fees. It’s all gone, Sofia. I’m sorry.”
Sofia sat mute. I stood to shake hands with the men as they cleared out and walked them to the door. When I got back to the study, I found her in exactly the same place.
“What am I going to do? How am I going to take care of Lina? What about her future?”
“You’re not alone, Sofia.” I stood behind her chair, squeezing her shoulders, then moved around to take her hands. “I won’t leave you to do this alone.”
“Even the money he promised you…”
“It never was mine to begin with.” I paused. “Sofia, your sister… Was she the one who turned over evidence?”
She looked at me, and it took her a long time to answer. “No.”
That was the first lie Sofia told me.
Chapter Thirty
Sofia
The house had never felt like home to me. I didn’t want to stay here and wouldn’t have if it weren’t for Lina. But she’d been closer to our grandfather than I ever had been. And she’d lived here for as long as she could remember.
After the very public scandal, Grandfather took the plea deal he was offered, which meant a reduced prison sentence—they took into consideration his age—in exchange for full disclosure. He’d kept meticulous notes, so much like him. In addition to the notebook Lina had found, there were three others. At least three that were uncovered. I wondered if there were more. If he’d ever tell us. The land in Italy was auctioned off, bought by Vincent Moriarty of all people. And what a deal he got. It was unfair, but it was also finished.
I saw my grandfather during his sentencing. I watched from inside the courtroom. I didn’t make physical contact with him. Seeing him like that, up there looking smaller, older, I wondered if there was something wrong with me because after everything he’d done, after all the destruction and pain he’d caused, I felt regret and a sense of loss I didn’t expect to feel. Maybe it was for Lina. I didn’t know. But when, before they led him away, he turned to me, I didn’t smile. I didn’t go to him. I only watched him with sad, resigned eyes. Justice was being served, everything coming full circle—almost.
Lina had only started to draw her circle, though, when she’d turned Grandfather in.
I knew she felt that burden deeply, and although we shared everything, she never once spoke about it after that first day, after telling me it was her.
Raphael stayed throughout the proceedings and made no demands of me. We didn’t share a bed, and we didn’t talk about it. I felt like he grew more and more distant as I spent more and more time with Lina. I needed to be with my sister. She was hurting, and right now, she was what mattered.