“Go on.”
Julius sits on the dining table in front of her.
“Where are the keys?”
“They’re, um, with my family in Italy. You will never find the keys.”
“What do they unlock?”
The guards string a rope from the rafters, and Morgan’s eyes flick to the makeshift noose, and she shivers.
“Um, money. Papers. A secret bank account.”
“Then why haven’t you accessed it if money is what you want?”
He asks a valid question, and she says quickly, “Because they are in the girl’s names. It only reverts to the estate if they are dead.”
“So why sell them? Suely it was in your best interests to kill the sisters, not sell them on the open market.”
“Because I wanted more. I’ve waited a long time to get Enrico’s money. One more year watching them suffer was my reward.”
“I don’t believe her.”
I step forward, firing a dismissive glare into her eyes.
“She doesn’t know about the keys. That is why our father was so worried when he gave them to us.”
Joseph adds, “Mom has the keys.”
“No way.”
Both Alice and Rose gasp and he turns to his brothers.
“She has nothing and is plucking things out of thin air to save her own skin.”
He nods toward the hanging rope.
“I’m so done with this shit.”
He turns to me.
“Just say the word.”
I stare at my sisters, wondering what to do. We are not killers, not even close. Can we really do this? End this woman’s life as she cruelly did Edwina’s and our father’s. Are we the same as her?
“I… I…” stumble over my words, Eliza’s declaration playing on repeat in my mind. She had the strength. She ended her stepmother’s life. Why can’t I?
Alice shakes her head, her frown deep and her eyes bright.
Rose inhales sharply and appears defeated.
My attention turns to the woman who made our lives hell and note the defeat in her eyes.
She’s lost.
Surely that’s enough and with the Ravera family behind us, it’s doubtful she can ever be a threat.
I place my hand on my belly, hoping a new generation is already forming and wondering if I can ever look my children in the eye, knowing I took another person’s life on purpose. Then I gaze at my husband, his enigmatic expression hiding his revenge for his friend. None of this helping him to heal, merely sending him spiraling into madness and I know this isn’t the right thing.