Chapter 4 - I sat.
“So you weren’t behind the chair.”
Evelyn looked startled.
“The chair?”
Victoria explained.
By the end, Evelyn seemed genuinely shaken.
“That was not me.”
I believed her.
Not because of anything dramatic.
Because her questions were practical.
Was the brake cable damaged?
Who serviced the chair?
Had staff records been checked?
She sounded like an accountant.
Like my father.
“Why did Dad stop investigating?”
I asked.
Evelyn’s face changed.
“He found the person responsible.”
Every thought in my head stopped.
“Who?”
She opened her handbag and removed a photograph.
Four people stood outside a brick office building.
Evelyn.
My father.
Lorenzo Vescari.
And a younger man I recognized from the mansion.
Anthony Vescari.
Julian and Victoria’s uncle.
“He was chief financial officer for twenty-three years,” Victoria whispered.
Evelyn nodded.
“Anthony created the exploitative purchases.
He used Lorenzo’s old reputation to pressure people, knowing most would never question whether the orders were real.”
“Why didn’t my father expose him?”
“Because Anthony discovered what I had been doing.”
“The compensation purchases.”
“Yes.”
“He threatened to expose you?”
Evelyn gave a tired smile.
“There was nothing criminal about helping people.
But I had hidden transactions and redirected family assets without authorization.
It would have created a scandal.”
“That still doesn’t explain Dad.”
“No.”
Her eyes met mine.
“Daniel discovered something else.”
I waited.
“Anthony was not acting only for himself.”
Victoria stiffened.
“Who was helping him?”
“Your father.”
I stared at her.
“Lorenzo?”
“Yes.”
“But Julian said—”
“Julian never knew.”
According to Evelyn, Lorenzo had spent his final years trapped between guilt and pride.
He wanted to repair old damage without admitting he had caused it.
So he created the North Shore Trust.
Evelyn used it to help families quietly.
But Lorenzo also allowed Anthony to continue certain acquisitions because they remained profitable.
“He tried to be generous without becoming accountable,” Evelyn said.
“Daniel despised that contradiction.”
“And my father?”
“He wanted Lorenzo to tell Julian everything.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Lorenzo died first.”
The café seemed very far away.
“Then why did Dad stop?”
Evelyn’s eyes lowered.
“Because Julian had just been injured.”
A chill passed through me.
“The attack?”
She nodded.
“Daniel believed the accident that injured Julian was connected to Anthony’s finances.”
Victoria leaned forward.
“Accident?”
Julian had always called it an attack.
Everyone did.
Evelyn looked confused.
“The car crash.”
Victoria and I stared at each other.
“What car crash?”
I asked.
Evelyn’s face went still.
Then she understood.
“Oh,” she whispered.
“What?”
She looked at Victoria.
“Julian never told you?”
“Told me what?”
“That nobody attacked him.”
Victoria’s voice became almost inaudible.
“Then why has he let everyone believe they did?”
Evelyn folded her hands.
“Because the person driving the car that night was Anthony.”
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And for the first time since I entered the Vescari house, I understood that Julian’s greatest secret was not about his enemies.
It was about the uncle he had been protecting for more than two years.
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