Chapter 18 - The Face Behind the LiesLuciano forced the study door open.
Marcus stood beside the desk, holding a folder of financial records.
“You were supposed to leave this alone,” Marcus said.
Luciano advanced toward him. “You helped Adrian forge the documents. You stole Isabella’s records. What else did you do?”
Marcus’s composure cracked.
He admitted that Adrian had paid him to manipulate the trust records and conceal unauthorized transfers. He also confessed to deleting security footage from the night Isabella died.
But he denied causing her death.
“Someone called me after the ambulance left,” Marcus said. “They told me to erase everything.”
“Who?”
Marcus hesitated.
Then he whispered a name.
Celina.
Luciano refused to accept it without proof.
Investigators searched Celina’s belongings and discovered messages between her and Marcus. The messages suggested she had helped conceal evidence after Isabella’s death.
When confronted, Celina finally admitted that she had known Isabella planned to expose the financial scheme.
“I thought she would destroy everything,” Celina said. “Adrian promised me control of the estate. I believed I could secure my future.”
“You used my daughter as a bargaining chip,” Luciano replied.
Celina began crying.
“I never wanted Isabella dead.”
“Then tell us who did.”
Celina looked toward the window.
“I don’t know who caused her death. But I know who entered her room afterward.”
She reached into her handbag and produced a photograph.
The person pictured was not Adrian, Marcus, or Celina.
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It was Luciano’s own family attorney, standing outside Isabella’s hospital room shortly before her death.
What had the attorney been hiding—and why had he never mentioned that visit?
