Chapter 8 - GHOSTS IN THE LEDGER
A week passed. The villa was repaired, the blood washed from the marble, but I was not allowed to return to my old life. Alessandro had moved me and Emma into a beautiful private wing of the estate. I was no longer a maid. I was his guest.
One evening, Alessandro called me into his office. He was sitting behind his massive oak desk, several file folders spread out before him.
“I had my men look into your past, Elena,” he said softly, gesturing for me to sit. “I apologize for the intrusion, but I needed to know how a brilliant forensic accountant ended up scrubbing my floors.”
I stiffened. “My husband died. The debts he left behind were massive. I was blacklisted by the firms because of his shady dealings.”
Alessandro slid a folder toward me. “Your husband didn't just have shady dealings. He was laundering money for the Romano family. When he tried to back out, they orchestrated the hit-and-run.”
I stared at the police reports and banking statements, the air leaving my lungs. The people who had ruined my life, who had taken Emma’s father, were the very people who had ordered me around in this house.
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“I avenged him, Elena,” Alessandro said quietly. “Without knowing it, you helped me destroy the people who broke your family.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks. For the first time in two years, the crushing weight of grief and injustice lifted from my chest. Alessandro walked around the desk, gently wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb.
