Chapter 10 - The Woman at the Gate
At 8:42 in the morning, Camilla Ashford appeared outside Enzo’s gate barefoot and covered in her father’s blood.
Security nearly turned her away.
Then the camera operator recognized her.
Enzo watched the screen in the security room.
Adeline stood beside him.
Camilla pounded against the iron gate.
“Please!”
Enzo said nothing.
Adeline looked at him.
“If Vittorio is behind her, opening that gate could expose everyone.”
“I know.”
Camilla stumbled.
She pressed both hands against the bars.
“He shot my father!”
Adeline inhaled.
Enzo pressed the intercom.
“Who?”
Camilla looked up at the camera.
“Vittorio.”
Enzo’s face went still.
“Where?”
“My father’s house.”
“Is Charles alive?”
“I don’t know.”
Her voice broke.
“Please, Enzo.”
He looked at Adeline.
She had every reason to hate Camilla.
Hours earlier, Camilla had stood over her with a riding crop.
Now Adeline reached for the gate control.
Enzo stopped her hand.
“You’re certain?”
“No.”
“Then why?”
Adeline looked at the screen.
“Because I know what it feels like when powerful people decide someone deserves whatever happens to them.”
Enzo held her gaze.
Then he opened the gate.
Camilla collapsed before reaching the front steps.
Adeline was the first person to reach her.
Camilla saw her and recoiled.
“You.”
“Yes.”
Camilla began crying.
Not elegantly.
Not quietly.
Her entire body shook.
“He killed my father.”
Adeline crouched beside her.
“Did you see Charles die?”
“I saw him fall.”
“Where was he hit?”
“Shoulder.”
Adeline looked at Enzo.
“That may not be fatal.”
Enzo immediately sent Marco and a security team.
Police were also contacted.
Camilla was taken inside.
She refused a doctor until Enzo stood in front of her.
“Either the doctor examines you or you go back outside.”
She glared at him.
Then nodded.
Twenty minutes later, they sat in the same study where the sniper had killed Luca.
The shattered window had been covered with plywood.
Camilla looked at it.
“What happened?”
“Vittorio’s people.”
Her face paled.
Enzo remained standing.
“Tell me everything.”
Camilla described Caldwell’s words at the party.
The conversation with Charles.
Vittorio entering the townhouse.
Then she said something that made Adeline look up.
“He asked about a key.”
Enzo and Adeline exchanged a glance.
Camilla noticed.
“You have it.”
Neither answered.
She laughed weakly.
“Of course you do.”
Enzo leaned forward.
“Why does Vittorio want it?”
“I don’t know.”
“What did Charles say?”
“That we didn’t have it.”
“Anything else?”
Camilla thought.
“He said something before Vittorio came in.”
“What?”
“That Caldwell knows Enzo found something.”
Adeline frowned.
“How would Caldwell know?”
Camilla looked at her.
“Because someone inside this house is still talking to them.”
Silence.
Marco was outside.
Samuel had been in the conference room.
Staff moved through the halls.
Dozens of employees knew pieces of what had happened.
Enzo felt the problem widening.
Adeline stood.
“We need to stop telling people what we are doing.”
Camilla looked at her wrist.
The bandage was visible.
Guilt appeared on her face.
“Adeline.”
Adeline turned.
Camilla struggled with the words.
“I…”
Nothing came.
Adeline waited.
Camilla looked down.
“What I did last night was wrong.”
Enzo watched her.
Adeline said nothing.
Camilla continued.
“I could tell you Caldwell manipulated me.”
“He did.”
“But he didn’t put that crop in my hand.”
“No.”
“He didn’t swing it.”
“No.”
Camilla lifted her eyes.
“I am sorry.”
Adeline’s face did not soften.
But she nodded once.
“I heard you.”
Camilla swallowed.
It was not forgiveness.
She understood that.
A phone rang.
Marco entered without knocking.
“We found Senator Ashford.”
Camilla stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Her knees almost gave way.
Marco continued.
“But Vittorio took something from the house.”
“What?”
“Charles says it was a file.”
Enzo asked, “What file?”
Marco looked toward Adeline.
“Everything he had on Thomas Vale.”
Adeline’s expression changed.
Marco added one more detail.
“Charles says Vittorio didn’t take the file because he was afraid of what it contained.”
“He took it because there was a name in it.”
“What name?”
May you like
Marco swallowed.
“Your mother’s.”
