Chapter 9: The Brother-in-Law
Stefano Arditi arrived the next morning without being asked.
That was the first thing wrong.
Vittorio had not contacted him.
No one in the household had.
But at nine fifteen, his car came through the gate, and he walked into the entrance hall with the easy familiarity of a man who had been doing it for years — which he had, first as Elena's brother, then as Lucy's uncle, then gradually as something harder to name.
Vittorio met him in the hall.
"I heard Bianca left," Stefano said.
He had Elena's coloring — dark eyes, a particular way of holding his chin — and Vittorio had always found it difficult to look at him for too long.
"I wanted to make sure Lucy was all right."
"Lucy is fine," Vittorio said.
"Come into the study."
Domenico was already there.
Stefano saw him and slowed slightly, but recovered well.
"Domenico," he said, as though it were a pleasant surprise.
"Stefano." Domenico did not stand.
Vittorio closed the door.
"Tell me about Dr.
Renard."
Stefano's face did something careful.
"I'm sorry?"
"Henri Renard.
Elena's physician in her final months.
He retired to Lausanne.
He reached out to Bianca Ferrante's family eighteen months ago with concerns about Elena's treatment." Vittorio watched him.
"Tell me what you know about that."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sit down, Stefano."
"Vittorio, I came here to check on my niece—"
"Sit down."
Stefano sat.
He crossed one leg over the other and looked at Domenico with an expression that tried to be calm and landed somewhere near it.
"Renard had concerns," Vittorio said.
"About the medication schedule.
About the final weeks.
He believed someone with access to Elena's care altered it." He paused.
"He believed it was you."
"That is an extraordinary accusation."
"It is," Vittorio agreed.
"Which is why I'm asking you to explain it before I decide what to do with what Renard documented."
Stefano uncrossed his legs.
He leaned forward slightly.
"Renard was an old man with a guilty conscience.
Elena's death was difficult for everyone involved in her care.
Doctors sometimes look for explanations that aren't there because the alternative — that they simply couldn't save her — is harder to accept."
"That's a very prepared answer," Domenico said.
Stefano looked at him.
"It's the truth."
"Then you won't mind if we speak with Renard directly," Domenico said.
"I've already made contact with his office in Lausanne.
He's willing to provide a formal statement."
The leg recrossed.
A small movement.
But it was there.
"What do you want?" Stefano said.
His voice had changed — not dramatically, but the performance had thinned slightly at the edges.
"I want to know about the Meridian subsidiary," Vittorio said.
"The asset inside it that belonged to Elena's family before the marriage.
You've been asking about it for two years.
I want to know why."
"It was Elena's," Stefano said.
"It should have come back to her family after she died.
That's not greed, Vittorio.
That's a legitimate claim."
"You had a legitimate claim.
You could have pursued it through the estate process."
"The estate process was controlled by you."
"It was administered by three independent lawyers and audited twice," Domenico said.
"And the asset was still inside your structure at the end of it," Stefano said, his voice sharpening now.
"Funny how that works."
"So you found another way," Vittorio said.
"You found Bianca."
Stefano said nothing.
"Or she found you," Vittorio said.
"Through Renard.
Through whatever he told her family.
She came to you and said she could get inside this house, get close to me, find what she needed — and in exchange, the asset would be returned to Elena's family." He watched Stefano's face.
"How close am I?"
Stefano stood up.
"I want to speak to my own lawyer."
"That is your right," Domenico said.
"But I'd encourage you to consider your position carefully before that conversation.
Because right now, what we have is a housekeeper's testimony, two videos, a financial trail from Bianca's family trust to a woman paid to leave this household eleven years ago, and a physician in Lausanne who documented concerns about your sister's final care." He paused.
"What we do not yet have is a reason to believe you acted alone — or that you acted at all, rather than simply knowing and saying nothing.
Those are very different situations legally."
Stefano stood very still.
"Sit down," Vittorio said.
"And tell me what you know.
All of it.
Not what you planned to say.
What actually happened."
A long moment passed.
Stefano sat down.
He looked at his hands for a moment.
Then he looked up at Vittorio, and something in his face gave way — not fully, not cleanly, but enough.
"I didn't touch her medication," he said.
"I want you to understand that first.
Whatever Renard thinks he saw, I did not touch Elena's medication."
"Then what did you do?" Vittorio asked.
Stefano exhaled slowly.
May you like
"I knew someone was," he said.
"And I didn't stop it."
