Chapter 3 - Vivien's Father Was Supposed to Be Dead—But He Had Been Living Under a False Name Inside Lorenzo's Own NetworkVivien's father was named Gabriel Varga.
The Varga family had once controlled half the illegal shipping routes along the East Coast.
Lorenzo had spent years dismantling their organization.
Gabriel disappeared after a failed assassination attempt fifteen years earlier.
Everyone believed he had died.
He hadn't.
He had been living in Florida under an assumed name.
And Vivien had been sending him money.
“Why?”
Lorenzo asked.
Vivien wiped her eyes.
“He has cancer.”
“So you stole five million dollars?”
“I was desperate.”
“You framed a three-year-old child.”
“I never intended Emma to be harmed.”
I stepped forward.
“You put medication in her backpack.”
Vivien looked at me.
“I knew you would fight for her.”
“You threatened me.”
“I needed you frightened.”
“You used my daughter.”
“I made a mistake.”
“No.”
My voice shook.
“You made a choice.”
For the first time, she looked ashamed.
But there was still something missing.
“The money transfers aren't enough,” Vincent said.
Lorenzo turned toward him.
“Why not?”
“Because Gabriel Varga didn't receive the money.”
He placed a file on the desk.
“The account belonged to a shell company.”
Lorenzo opened it.
The beneficiary wasn't Gabriel.
It was someone inside his estate.
A household employee.
Mrs. Carlisle.
The head housekeeper.
Everyone trusted her.
She had worked there for seventeen years.
She had taken care of Isabella since infancy.
Lorenzo stared at the account information.
“Call her.”
She didn't answer.
Security searched her room.
She was gone.
So was the family's original medical ledger.
And then another discovery was made.
Four bottles of Isabella's medication hadn't been stolen from the medicine cabinet.
They had never left the estate.
The bottles found in Emma's backpack were duplicates.
Counterfeit labels.
Fake medication.
The real bottles were still in Isabella's hidden emergency safe.
Lorenzo's face hardened.
The entire crime had been staged.
Someone wanted everyone to believe Isabella's medication had been stolen.
But why?
Because counterfeit bottles wouldn't kill Isabella.
The real medication could.
Someone was planning to replace the genuine medicine with something else.
That meant the theft hadn't been about Emma.
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It had been about Isabella.
And suddenly, the entire case became much darker.
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