Chương 5
For the first time since Matteo had known her, she looked genuinely afraid.
“Matteo.”
He turned.
“What?”
She held out the phone.
“It’s Carlo.”
Matteo looked at the screen.
A message waited.
Three words.
I need to talk.
He looked back at Evelyn.
“When?”
Her fingers tightened around the phone.
“Before he leaves.”
“Leaves where?”
She hesitated.
Then answered.
“The country.”
Matteo stared at her.
The missing money was no longer a hidden household mistake.
It was becoming something bigger.
And somewhere between a scratched floor and a vanished accountant, someone had started running.
The message remained on the screen for several seconds after Matteo finished reading it.
He did not move.
He did not ask what it meant.
He already knew enough to understand that the next decision would matter.
People who were innocent usually wanted to explain themselves immediately.
People who were afraid usually wanted time.
Carlo had asked for neither.
He had asked to talk before leaving.
That was a person trying to control the final conversation.
Matteo handed the phone back to Evelyn.
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said he was leaving.”
“That’s what he told someone in accounting.”
“Someone?”
Evelyn looked uncomfortable.
“His assistant.”
“Name.”
“Marco.”
“Where is Marco?”
“I don’t know.”
Matteo watched her carefully.
A year ago, he might have accepted the answer.
Not because he trusted her.
Because he trusted the structure around him.
He believed people in his house knew their jobs.
He believed systems worked because he had built them to work.
Now every assumption felt like a loose thread.
“Norah,” he said.
She stepped forward from the hallway.
“Yes?”
“Find Marco.”
She nodded.
“I’ll start calling.”
“Not calling.”
She paused.
“Find him.”
The difference was clear.
A phone call could be ignored.
Finding someone required effort.
Norah understood.
She walked away.
Evelyn stayed.
Matteo looked at her.
“You knew Carlo was leaving before I did.”
“I knew he was upset.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She looked toward Lily and Anna.
The child was watching them quietly.
Evelyn noticed and lowered her voice.
“Not here.”
Matteo agreed.
Not because he wanted to protect Evelyn.
Because Lily had already spent enough time watching adults turn problems into storms.
He walked back into the office.
Evelyn followed.
The door remained open this time.
A small change.
But Matteo noticed.
“So,” he said.
“Tell me what you knew.”
Evelyn sat down slowly.
“I knew Carlo had been moving money.”
“When?”
“Three months ago.”
The answer surprised him.
Not because it was new.
Because it was older than he expected.
“Three months.”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I confronted him.”
“What did he say?”
“That he was fixing an issue.”
“What issue?”
She looked down.
“The restoration payments.”
Matteo stared at her.
“So you knew about the false charges.”
“Yes.”
“And you still allowed him access.”
“I didn’t know they were false.”
“But you suspected.”
A long pause.
“Yes.”
The honesty came too late to be comforting.
“Why?”
Evelyn pressed her lips together.
“Because Carlo had been with your family longer than I had.”
“That doesn’t answer the question.”
She looked up.
“You want to know why I trusted him.”
“Yes.”
“Because I knew him before you did.”
The answer carried something personal.
Not affection exactly.
Something closer to loyalty.
“He helped keep this place together after your father died.”
Matteo looked away.
His father’s name always changed the air around him.
Not because he missed him.
Because he remembered too many versions of him.
The businessman.
The father.
The man who could make a room silent without raising his voice.
“He was good at making people feel needed,” Matteo said.
Evelyn did not respond.
Because she knew that was true.
“He made me believe he was protecting the household,” she said.
“And now?”
“Now I think he was protecting himself.”
Matteo leaned back.
“Why did you protect him?”
The question landed harder.
Evelyn looked toward the open door.
Beyond it, the estate continued.
Employees working.
Phones ringing.
Someone preparing dinner.
A normal day pretending nothing had changed.
“I was afraid,” she said.
The admission seemed to cost her.
Matteo waited.
“Of what?”
“That if everything started falling apart, nobody would care why.”
Her voice became quieter.
“They would only see that I failed.”
Matteo looked at her.
For the first time, he saw the person underneath the title.
Not the manager.
Not the woman who controlled schedules and budgets.
Someone who had spent years believing her value depended on keeping chaos invisible.
It did not excuse what she had done.
But it explained why she had done it.
“You understand what happens now,” Matteo said.
“Yes.”
“An investigation.”
“Yes.”
“Possibly legal consequences.”
She nodded.
“I know.”
“And your position here?”
Her eyes lowered.
“I know.”
The answer was not dramatic.
No tears.
No plea.
Just acceptance.
That bothered him more.
People who begged were easier to deal with.
People who accepted consequences forced you to think.
A notification appeared on Matteo’s phone.
Norah.
He opened it.
A location.
A message underneath.
Found Marco.
He is at the old warehouse office.
Matteo looked at the time.
The warehouse was twenty minutes away.
“Did you tell anyone we were looking for him?” he asked Evelyn.
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
He believed she was telling the truth.
Not because he trusted her completely.
Because her reaction was different from before.
Before, she had been protecting information.
Now, she was afraid of what the information would reveal.
“Stay here,” he said.
Evelyn looked surprised.
“You’re leaving?”
“I’m going to talk to Marco.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
He walked to the doorway.
Anna appeared in the hallway before he reached it.
She looked concerned.
“What happened?”
Matteo stopped.
He considered giving her a simple answer.
Everything is fine.
It was the answer powerful people gave when they wanted the world to remain comfortable.
Instead, he told the truth.
“There was a financial issue.”
Anna looked toward Lily.
“Is she involved?”
May you like
“No.”
The speed of his answer mattered.
