CHAP 6 — CAMILLA ASHFORD
Enzo reached Camilla’s building eighteen minutes later.
Federal agents arrived two minutes behind him.
Camilla’s apartment was empty.
There were no signs of struggle.
No broken furniture.
No blood.
Only her engagement ring resting in the center of the dining table.
Beneath it was a handwritten note.
STOP DIGGING UP DEAD WOMEN.
Cole examined the paper.
“Could be staged.”
Enzo looked at him.
“By Camilla?”
“Possibly.”
Adeline stood near the doorway.
“She was terrified on the phone.”
“Fear can be performed.”
“So can confidence.”
Cole looked at her.
She looked back.
Neither blinked.
They found Camilla seven hours later.
She had not been kidnapped.
She was sitting inside a Catholic church on the South Side.
Alone.
When Enzo entered, she did not look at him.
“You brought the FBI.”
“Yes.”
“My father will never forgive me.”
“I’m not here for forgiveness.”
Camilla laughed bitterly.
“You never were.”
He sat one pew behind her.
“Tell me what happened.”
Camilla stared toward the altar.
“My father came to the apartment.”
“What did he want?”
“To know what you found.”
“How did he know?”
“I told him.”
Enzo’s expression hardened.
She turned.
“I called him after the party. I was furious. I wanted him to destroy you.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“I told him the maid accused Conrad. I told him about the glass.”
“And?”
“He became frightened.”
“Your father doesn’t frighten easily.”
“No.”
She swallowed.
“That frightened me.”
Camilla admitted her father had spent years pushing the marriage.
At first, she had enjoyed the idea.
Enzo was rich, feared, handsome, and impossible for most people to reach.
Marrying him felt like winning a contest no one else knew they were playing.
Then the lawyers began appearing.
Trust amendments.
Voting agreements.
Insurance policies.
Documents Camilla barely read.
“My father said it was how families like ours protected assets.”
“Did you sign them?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know they gave you control if I became medically incapacitated?”
She shook her head.
“I swear.”
Enzo believed very few people completely.
He did not completely believe her.
But he believed her fear.
Camilla looked down at her hands.
“Conrad Pike has worked for my father since I was twelve.”
“Did you know he was at the party?”
“No.”
“What does your father want?”
“You.”
“Dead?”
“No.”
Her eyes met his.
“Owned.”
She explained.
Ashford Municipal Holdings was drowning.
Not publicly.
Its balance sheets looked perfect.
Behind them lay hundreds of millions in unfunded obligations tied to old city contracts and diverted pension money.
Marrying Camilla to Enzo would provide access to Marchetti capital.
An incapacitation event would give her temporary control.
And her father would control her.
“You were collateral,” Enzo said.
Camilla flinched.
“Yes.”
For a moment, he saw something he had rarely seen in her.
Shame.
Then she looked toward the church entrance.
“You think I’m a monster.”
“I think what you did to Adeline was monstrous.”
“There’s a difference?”
“Yes.”
Camilla looked surprised.
Enzo continued.
“People can answer for what they’ve done without becoming only the worst thing they’ve done.”
Her eyes filled.
“Is that what you tell yourself?”
The question landed harder than she knew.
Enzo looked away.
“My father says Lucia Croft stole from the company.”
“She didn’t.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“Because I found one of his old files.”
Camilla reached into her handbag.
She handed Enzo a photograph.
Lucia Croft stood beside Carlo Marchetti.
Marco stood nearby.
And behind all of them was Alden Ashford.
Young.
Smiling.
On the back was a handwritten date.
Three days before Lucia died.
“There’s more,” Camilla said.
“What?”
“My father kept records.”
“Where?”
“His private office.”
Cole had entered quietly behind them.
“Can you get us inside?”
Camilla gave a strange smile.
“No.”
“Why not?”
“Because twenty minutes ago, I sent my father a message telling him I was going to the FBI.”
Enzo stared at her.
“And?”
“He replied with one sentence.”
She showed them the phone.
COME HOME AND WE WILL DISCUSS YOUR MOTHER.
Camilla’s face had gone white.
“My mother died when I was fourteen.”
Enzo looked at Cole.
The pattern was no longer subtle.
Lucia Croft.
Benjamin Vale.
Carlo Marchetti.
Possibly Camilla’s mother.
May you like
Everyone who got too close to Alden Ashford seemed to suffer a remarkably convenient medical tragedy.
And now Camilla had been invited home.
