Chapter 9: What She Almost Walked Away From
Lorenzo came back upstairs at noon and told Nora everything.
He didn't soften it.
He gave it to her straight — Brody's arrival, the statement, the contact chain that led back to Mrs.
Gable, the ten thousand dollars, the plan to use her pregnancy and her instability against her.
He set the facts in front of her the same way he'd set the meal logs in front of Mrs.
Gable that morning — plainly, without theater.
Nora listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she was quiet for a long time.
"She was going to use him," Nora said finally.
"She was going to bring the man who abandoned me back into my life and use him like a tool."
"Yes."
"To make me look unstable."
"Yes."
She laughed.
It was not a happy sound.
It was the sound of someone realizing exactly how small they had been made to feel, by exactly how much calculation, for exactly how long.
"What happens now?" she asked.
"My attorney is reviewing the footage.
There are 41 recorded files.
I've watched 12.
What I've already seen is enough to bring a criminal case for elder neglect and financial fraud — there are conversations on those recordings that suggest Mrs.
Gable and at least one other person were directing funds away from my father's care into other accounts." He paused.
"The other person is the man who was standing in the room with her on the recording.
I don't know yet who he is."
"What do you need from me?"
"The written account you completed this morning is already useful.
I may need you to speak with my attorney directly."
"I'll do that."
"You should also know—" He stopped.
He seemed to be deciding something.
"My father's attorney sent a letter three weeks ago.
It was delivered here and never forwarded to me.
In that letter, my father had asked his attorney to update his personal wishes documentation to include a provision for you."
Nora stared at him.
"He had apparently communicated his wishes to his attorney through a method they had developed — a series of written responses to yes/no questions during the attorney's last in-person visit.
The attorney didn't inform me because the letter was addressed to me here at the estate, and—"
"Mrs.
Gable intercepted it."
"Yes."
"What did the provision say?"
Lorenzo looked at her steadily.
"That in the event of his passing, or in the event that he was removed from her care, a sum was to be set aside for Nora and her child.
Enough to clear any existing debts.
Enough to cover medical costs and housing for at least two years."
Nora's hands were on her belly.
She realized she was pressing too hard and loosened them.
She could feel Lily moving — that slow, rolling shift that meant she was awake and turning.
"He did that," Nora said.
"He did that while he couldn't speak.
While everyone told everyone else he was incapable of understanding anything."
"Yes."
She pressed two fingers to her mouth.
She looked at Giovanni.
He was watching her.
His expression, which had so rarely changed in three months, held something different now.
Something direct and purposeful and — she could find no other word — proud.
"John," she said.
His fingers tapped once.
"You stubborn, wonderful man," she said.
His fingers tapped once again.
As close to a laugh as his body could manage.
She pressed the back of her hand to her eyes.
Held it there for a moment.
Lorenzo was quiet, which she appreciated.
Then she lowered her hand and said: "Tell me what I can do to help your attorney."
"I'll set up the call for this afternoon."
"And Mrs.
Gable?"
"She's been confined to the guest wing until the roads clear.
She doesn't know yet what's on those recordings." He paused.
"She's going to find out."
What Nora didn't know yet — what she couldn't have expected — was that Mrs.
Gable was not confined to the guest wing as docilely as Sal had reported.
May you like
She had spent the past three hours doing something specific and methodical in the room she'd been assigned.
And what she had been doing was about to reach Nora directly.
