Chapter 7 - THE REVELATION
Celeste held the white dress like a shield, her knuckles white.
I looked at the intricate hem my mother had spent months stitching. I looked at the tiny pearls she had sewn onto the bodice, her arthritic hands aching just to make me feel beautiful on a budget.
Then I looked at Lily. My sister.
“Drop it,” I said.
Celeste blinked. “What?”
“Drop the dress,” I told her, my voice steady and cold. “It’s just fabric.”
I stepped forward. Celeste instinctively stepped back, her heel catching the edge of a traveler's suitcase.
“You think you can threaten me with a dress?” I asked, keeping my eyes locked on hers. “You took my mother’s peace. You took Tom’s brother. You took nineteen years of my sister’s life.”
I reached into my pocket and pulled out my mother’s tarnished silver rosary.
I held it out to Lily.
Lily’s eyes widened. She slowly reached out, her trembling fingers brushing mine as she took the beads.
“She never stopped praying for you,” I whispered to my sister. “Every single day.”
Lily yanked her arm out of Celeste’s grip and stepped behind me, burying her face in my shoulder. I wrapped my arms around her. She felt so small in our mother’s old green coat.
Celeste was suddenly very alone. She dropped the wedding dress onto the dirty floor.
“You’re fools,” Celeste spat, looking at Nico. “You can’t prove I had anything to do with Leo’s death. Richard gave the order on the scaffolding. I’m just a widow.”
Nico Caruso stepped forward, his heavy polished shoes stopping inches from the crumpled white dress.
“I don’t need to prove it to the police, Celeste,” Nico said softly.
The color finally drained from Celeste’s face. She realized, too late, who she was dealing with. Nico wasn’t a detective. He didn’t need a courtroom.
“Mr. Caruso, please,” she begged, shrinking back against the pillar.
“You used my construction site to launder a kidnapping,” Nico said, his voice void of any emotion. “You brought federal heat onto my investments. And you humiliated my host tonight.”
Nico nodded to his men.
Two large men stepped forward, grabbing Celeste by both arms. They didn’t drag her away screaming; they simply escorted her, firmly and quietly, out a side exit of the station. She didn’t fight. She knew it was useless.
Tom knelt down and gently picked up my mother’s wedding dress. He brushed the dust off the delicate pearls, folding it carefully over his arm.
He walked over to me and Lily.
“Leo didn’t die for nothing,” Tom said, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “He found her, Amelia. He brought us to her.”
I touched the silver watch still sitting in Tom’s shirt pocket.
May you like
“He did,” I said.
Nico Caruso buttoned his coat. “My car is outside. I believe you have a mother to visit. And a wedding to finish.”
