Chapter 8: What Richard knows

I got up before sunrise.

Bruno was already at the counter with his phone face down in front of him and a glass of water he hadn't touched. He looked like a man who had spent the night thinking rather than sleeping.

He glanced up when he heard me. Neither of us said good morning. It didn't feel like one.

I filled a glass of water and leaned against the kitchen wall. "Did you know Richard was watching this building before Cassano showed up?"

"I suspected he would eventually," Bruno said. "I didn't know he already was."

"There's a difference between those two things."

"Yes."

I looked at him. "So what do you know about how I ended up here?"

"Only what you've told me."

"I found the listing three weeks ago. Price was lower than anything else nearby. Agent was fast, processed everything quickly." I paused. "My best friend Mara sent me the link. Said she found it in a local group online."

Bruno was quiet.

"Richard moves through property quietly," he said after a moment. "It's possible he knew the agent."

"So he could have had the listing pushed to someone who passed it to Mara."

Bruno didn't confirm it. He didn't deny it either.

I didn't want to follow that thought any further. Mara had been the one person I trusted through everything with Richard. The one who told me to leave, helped me plan it, drove me to view this apartment the first time.

I moved on. "The records Cassano mentioned. You said something in them connects back to me. What did you mean?"

Bruno stood and walked to the window. "In Monaco, the deal had four parties. Cassano, Sara, myself, and a fourth investor who came in late and stayed anonymous. A shell company. No name on the paperwork, just an account number and a signature."

"And?"

"Sara handled their onboarding. I never met them directly." He turned from the window. "When I started tracing the money afterward, I found the shell company registered to a holding group. Two directors."

I waited.

"Richard was one," he said. "The other was listed under your name."

The counter was the only thing steady in the room.

"I've never signed anything like that," I said.

"I know."

"I don't have a holding company. I've never been a director of anything in my life."

"Richard registered it," Bruno said. "He used your name. Whether he forged your signature or had you sign something you didn't understand, I can't tell you. But on paper, you were part of the Monaco deal."

I pressed my palm flat against the counter.

Richard hadn't just controlled my life inside our marriage. He had reached outside it, into places I had never been, and written my name into things I knew nothing about.

"If those records surface," I said, "I look like I helped steal ten million dollars."

"Yes."

"That's why he won't sign the divorce papers." I said it more to myself than to him. "As long as I'm still his wife, I can't testify against him. And as long as my name is on those documents, I have every reason to stay quiet."

I had spent months believing Richard was holding on out of pride. The need to win.

But it was never about the marriage.

It was about silence.

He had built the trap before I even knew I was walking into it.

My phone buzzed on the counter.

A message from Mara.

"Hey. Can we meet today? Just us. I need to talk to you about something."

I typed back. "Where and when?"

Her reply came in seconds. Too fast for someone casually reaching out.

"The café on Brennan Street. Eleven o'clock. Come alone."

I set the phone down.

Bruno had read it over my shoulder without moving closer. He said nothing.

"Come alone," I repeated quietly.

He looked at me.

We both understood what that meant. Mara already knew I wasn't.

Bruno finally moved, pulling the phone from the counter without asking.

He studied the screen like it might change if he looked long enough.

“That’s not casual,” he said.

“I know.”

He handed it back to me, slower than necessary. “If she’s asking you to come alone, assume you’re already being watched.”

“I am being watched anyway,” I said.

“That doesn’t mean you walk into it.”

I stared at the message again. Brennan Street. Eleven o’clock. The kind of normal place that only felt normal if you ignored everything underneath it.

Mara wouldn’t send something like this unless it mattered. Unless she was scared. Or worse—unless she thought she was helping me.

My chest tightened at that thought.

“I have to go,” I said.

Bruno didn’t argue immediately. That was worse than arguing.

He exhaled through his nose. “Then we do it carefully.”

“We?”

“I’m not letting you walk into a setup alone.”

I looked at him. “If Richard is involved, he’ll notice you.”

“He already has,” Bruno said. “That stopped being avoidable the moment I spoke.”

I finished the water I hadn’t realized I was still holding. My hand was steady, but nothing else felt like it belonged to me anymore.

Bruno checked his watch.

“Ten-forty,” he said.

My phone beeped again and it was a call from Mara.

I froze.

Bruno’s eyes were red. “Don’t answer yet.”

The phone kept ringing, it rang once, twice then the third time and stopped.

A second later, a new message appeared without sound.

From Mara.

“I’m already here.”

I felt my stomach drop.

Bruno stepped closer. “Where exactly did she say to meet?”

“The café on Brennan Street,” I said slowly. “Eleven.”

He frowned. “That message didn’t come from someone waiting.”

My screen blinked again like a notification came in again.

Then another message appeared bearing Mara’s name.

It was unread but already opened.

And it wasn’t from her.

It said

“You shouldn’t have kept asking about Monaco.”