Chapter 13 - My Best Friend's Darkest Secret|
"Hannah!"
I screamed her name across the reception hall.
She didn't stop.
Instead, she pushed through the side doors and disappeared into the corridor.
Massimo immediately turned toward Marco.
"Stop her."
Two guards ran after her.
I started following.
Massimo caught my hand.
"Sophie, wait."
"No!"
My voice cracked.
"That's my best friend!"
He looked at me.
"I know."
"Then why is she running?"
His silence frightened me more than any answer.
Detective Brooks approached.
"We need to find her before she leaves the property."
I shook my head.
"There has to be an explanation."
Brooks looked sympathetic.
"Maybe there is."
But her expression told me she wasn't optimistic.
Twenty minutes later, security found Hannah in the mansion's service courtyard.
She hadn't escaped.
She was sitting on the ground beside a delivery van, crying.
When she saw me, she covered her face.
I stopped several feet away.
"Hannah."
She shook her head.
"I'm sorry."
Two words.
Two terrible words.
My stomach twisted.
"What did you do?"
She began sobbing harder.
"I didn't know they were going to hurt anyone."
Massimo stood beside me.
"Who contacted you?"
Hannah looked up.
"Carlo Vitali."
I felt physically sick.
"Why?"
She wiped her eyes.
"Six months ago, my brother got into trouble."
I remembered her younger brother, Ethan.
He was twenty-four and had struggled to keep a steady job.
"What kind of trouble?"
"He borrowed money from people he shouldn't have."
Massimo's expression darkened.
"How much?"
"Seventy thousand dollars."
I stared.
"Hannah, why didn't you tell me?"
She laughed bitterly.
"With what money were you going to help?"
The words hurt.
Because she was right.
I had barely been able to pay our rent.
She continued.
"Carlo offered to settle the debt."
"In exchange for what?" Brooks asked.
Hannah looked at me.
"Information."
My blood ran cold.
"What information?"
"Your business records."
I stepped backward.
"The fraudulent transfers."
She nodded.
"He said it was temporary."
I stared at her.
"He used my company."
"I didn't know what he was doing!"
"But you gave him access."
Tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Yes."
I couldn't speak.
Hannah had been beside me when my father died.
She'd helped me keep the shop open.
She'd held me when I cried over unpaid bills.
And all that time, she had been feeding information to the people trying to destroy me.
"Did you tell them about the greenhouse?"
She hesitated.
My heart sank.
"Hannah."
"Yes."
I closed my eyes.
"Did you know Elena would send me into Massimo's bedroom?"
She shook her head.
"No."
"Then why were you at the mansion that night?"
She swallowed.
"Carlo asked me to make sure you stayed late."
Everything clicked.
The delayed flower delivery.
The missing centerpiece.
The mysterious request to rearrange roses after midnight.
Hannah had kept me working until the trap was ready.
I looked at her.
"You were supposed to be my friend."
Her face crumpled.
"I am your friend."
"No."
My voice was barely audible.
"Friends don't sell each other."
Silence fell.
Then Hannah reached into her purse.
Massimo's guards immediately tensed.
"Slowly," Brooks ordered.
Hannah removed a small flash drive.
"I kept copies."
Brooks stepped closer.
"Copies of what?"
"Everything Carlo asked me to send."
I stared.
"Why?"
"Because I knew something was wrong."
She looked at me.
"And because I couldn't stop thinking about your dad."
My throat tightened.
"He trusted me."
"Yes," I whispered.
"He did."
Hannah began crying again.
"I wanted to fix it."
Brooks took the flash drive.
"You're going to need a lawyer."
Hannah nodded.
"I know."
Then she looked at me.
"There's something you need to understand."
I waited.
"Carlo wasn't looking for money."
Massimo frowned.
"Then what?"
"He was looking for the original ownership documents."
I looked at him.
"What ownership documents?"
Hannah swallowed.
"The ones proving that Romano Holdings doesn't legally own several of its most valuable properties."
Massimo went still.
"That's impossible."
Hannah shook her head.
"Your grandfather transferred them into a protected trust years ago."
"Whose trust?" I asked.
She looked directly at me.
"Your father's."
The courtyard seemed to spin.
"What?"
Hannah continued.
"Thomas Miller was appointed trustee because your grandfather didn't trust Vittorio."
Massimo stared.
"And after Thomas died?"
Hannah looked at me.
"The trusteeship passed to his daughter."
My knees weakened.
"Me?"
She nodded.
I looked at Massimo.
He looked equally stunned.
Then Hannah said the words that changed everything.
"Sophie, you've been controlling a piece of the Romano family empire for two years."
I could barely breathe.
"And Carlo needs your signature to take it."
Massimo's expression became deadly serious.
"That's why they wanted the engagement scandal."
Hannah nodded.
"They needed Sophie frightened enough to sign away her rights."
I stared at my best friend.
"Then why did you run?"
She began shaking.
"Because Carlo sent me a message."
"What message?"
She handed Brooks the black phone.
On the screen was a photograph of Ethan tied to a chair.
May you like
Beneath it were six words.
BRING SOPHIE OR YOUR BROTHER DIES.
