Chapter 9 - VINCENT’S SECOND LIE
Vincent had lied about one thing.
He knew more about the threat.
A week before the poisoning, someone left an envelope in his car.
Photograph of Ava.
Then:
RAFAEL IS ABOUT TO MAKE A MISTAKE.
KEEP HIM CALM.
Vincent destroyed it.
He told nobody.
“Why?”
Rafael asked during a confrontation through attorneys.
Vincent looked ashamed.
“Because I thought it was about business.”
“What business?”
“Dominic.”
The room changed.
Vincent had spent years mediating between Rafael and Dominic.
Uncle and nephew.
Old criminal power versus polished legitimate power.
He knew they were fighting.
He assumed someone wanted him to prevent a family rupture.
“You thought threatening your granddaughter was business?”
Rafael asked.
Vincent stared at him.
“In your world?”
That answer landed.
Rafael had built a life where violence around family could be interpreted as internal negotiation.
He had his own responsibility here.
Then Vincent described an earlier conversation.
Dominic complained that Rafael had become irrational after Sofia died.
“He said grief made you easy to manipulate.”
Rafael went still.
Vincent continued.
“He said Nell Hart started this.”
My name.
Before the dinner.
Before I entered the room.
I stared at him.
“Dominic knew who I was?”
Vincent nodded.
“He mentioned you during the Caldera argument.”
That was impossible.
I had never met Dominic.
Then Vincent clarified.
“He knew you worked at Bello Rosso.”
My skin prickled.
“How?”
No answer.
Restaurant payroll records showed my name.
Nothing secret.
But why would Dominic check?
Then investigators found a corporate intelligence search performed from Dominic’s office six weeks earlier.
NELL HART — PROVIDENCE RI.
Employment trace.
Address history.
Professional status.
Bello Rosso appeared in the report.
Dominic knew the toxicologist his consultants helped destroy was washing dishes in the same restaurant Rafael used for private dinners.
He knew before Saturday.
That was clue number three.
And it made the poisoning night look very different.
May you like
Had Dominic chosen Bello Rosso because Rafael liked it?
Or because if something went wrong, a disgraced toxicologist on staff could become the perfect alternative suspect?
