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I can’t believe it!” Julia bounced in the back seat of the Uber, ebullient as a little girl. They were going to a gallery to meet her biological mother . “We did it! We found her!”

“You found her!”

“We!”

“ You! I’m so happy for you! It’s amazing!”

Julia felt giddy. “I was so excited I didn’t ask any questions!”

“Like what?”

“Anything! Whether she’s married, whether she has kids, whether she even put a baby up for adoption. What if she didn’t?”

“They didn’t seem that surprised.”

“This is so crazy!” Julia felt a rush, marveling. “Do you realize this means the vision was real ? The vision is what sent us to that school!”

“I know!” Courtney squeezed her arm. “You legit have superpowers!”

“No, I used to, but I don’t think I do anymore.”

Courtney made a sad face. “Well, whatever, bottom line, you found your bio mom .”

Julia still reeled. “Should I call her Fiamma? I’m not calling her Mom.” She flashed on her adoptive mother, whom she loved so much. “I had a great mom, and she raised me.”

“Call her whatever you want.” Courtney grinned. “She sounds nice, doesn’t she? Taking her class to the hospital and all? That was sweet.”

“It really was!”

“Those teachers were dying for her to answer the phone. I think she’s going to be happy to meet you.”

“I hope so.” Julia tried to process the implications. “But I don’t know. I’m crashing her life.”

“If the teachers thought it was going to go badly, they would’ve said something. They wanted you two to connect. I mean, reconnect.”

Julia felt a thrill at the thought. “I can’t even believe this. She must be a great artist to have a show in Florence.”

“She’s where you got your art skills from. Isn’t that so cool? I’m so happy for you and I’m so glad I’m here.”

“Aw, thanks for your help.” Julia blinked back tears. “I never could’ve done this without you.”

“Yes, you could. You’re Batman.”

Julia laughed. “You know, I wish I had more information about her.”

“Look her up.”

“Right, I’ll search Fiamma and Moravia Montessori School.” Julia scrolled to Google, plugged in the search, and got a bunch of results. She skimmed them and realized the problem. “They’re not about her. They’re about the school and Adamo Bucci.”

“The guy in the picture?”

“Yes, from the bulletin board.” Julia clicked the link, and it brought her to a corporate website.

She switched to the English version and read About Us aloud: “We are the Romagna Group, the crown jewel in Adamo Bucci’s suite of multinational corporations, comprising his successful entertainment, gaming, hospitality, and tourism divisions. ”

“A certified BFD, huh?”

Julia read “Upcoming Projects: Romagna Group is a huge fan of motorsports like Formula 1, Italian cart racing, and motorcycle racing. The Ferrari circuit at Imola is the most prestigious in the Romagna region.…” Julia paused, remembering. “I was there with Gianluca. We watched racing.”

“Cool.”

Julia read on, “Romagna Group looks forward to developing a hospitality complex catering to those who appreciate excellence in fine accommodations when they visit Imola.” Julia looked up, remembering. “Gianluca said whenever there was an F1 race, Imola got overrun with tourists.”

“Maybe that’s the project that Giovanna meant, the one she got the gossip about.” Courtney shifted over, reading the phone. “Jules, look, it says the project’s going to cost seven hundred million euros. That’s a lotta lira.”

“Really.” Julia scrolled down to a photo of Adamo Bucci with three other men in suits and gold lapel pins, a large R in a Gothic font. “They all have the same pin.”

“Welcome to my world. Every polo shirt I own has a dancing printer. Have you ever seen a printer dance?”

Julia eyed the picture of Adamo Bucci. “Funny, something about this guy looks kind of familiar.”

“You just saw his picture. Giovanna dropped it.”

“No, I mean he looks familiar from before, somehow.”

“Not to me. We never see people in suits here.”

“Except my realtor, Franco.” It made Julia think. “That’s it. Now I remember, from yesterday. When we were going to lunch, in Vincenza? Remember I wanted to avoid my realtor? He was sitting with men in suits.”

“Wait a minute, I might have a picture. I took some good ones yesterday, mostly flowers, but let’s see.” Courtney got out her phone, went to her photos, and started scrolling, then stopped at one. “This?”

“Yes.” Julia looked over, and it was a photo of the café at the top of the cobblestone street. There were people at the outside tables and among them was Franco with a group of men in suits. “Can you enlarge those men?”

“Hold on.” Courtney enlarged the photo.

“Look, they have something in their lapels.”

“I’ll make it bigger.” Courtney did, and Julia could see that the lapel pin was an R . All the men wore one except Franco, and the man sitting next to him was Adamo Bucci.

“That’s interesting. Bucci and the other men were with Franco.

So Franco and Bucci know each other.” Julia mulled it over.

“And Giovanna told us the gossip that Bucci’s going to build something in Moravia.

Remember, she said Moravia was up against Croce.

So, I wonder if she was talking about this hospitality complex project. ”

“She could’ve been. It’s first on the upcoming list. What are you thinking?”

Julia tried to put it together. “Well, I’m a landowner in Croce, a big one, and Croce’s in the running for this project. My realtor Franco knows Bucci. We saw them at lunch.”

“I’m listening.” Courtney cocked her head, and Julia felt the conclusion just within reach, waiting for her.

“What if Franco is involved, somehow? What if Bucci is looking for a property in Croce? What if they’re thinking about mine ? My property is forty acres. That’s big enough for a hospitality complex, isn’t it?”

“Sure.”

“Maybe that’s where Bucci wants to put this development.”

“I hear that. Your property looks like shit, but it’s a lot of land.

It has value, and it’s not being used for anything else.

” Courtney’s bright eyes lit up. “The fact that it’s a ruin makes it better for them.

You’re the only owner so they don’t have to negotiate with a slew of owners. They’re gonna flip it.”

“Wait, what?” Julia couldn’t follow that fast.

“They’re offering you two million, but that’s nothing compared to what your property’s worth if Bucci wants to develop a seven hundred million euro complex there.” Courtney shifted over, newly urgent. “Did Franco tell you there were buyers for your place?”

“Yes, a few.”

“Did you meet them?”

“No.”

“So what if they’re not real?” Courtney’s eyes narrowed. “What if there is a group buying your land, like a consortium, and they’re going to flip it, in other words, resell it to Bucci for a fortune.”

“So, you’re saying a consortium is the real buyer?”

“Yes.” Courtney nodded, tense. “ Consortium is corporate for ‘conspiracy.’”

“Maybe that’s what the conspiracy wants—my land.” Julia felt her brain catch fire. “A project like that is so big, it would be a boon for Croce.”

“Of course, sure. It would bring tons of tourists, tons of jobs.”

“It would revitalize the town, even the region.” Julia thought of her visit to the police station with Gianluca. “People go to Savernella for jobs, remember? It’s the sister town, where the cops and administration are for Croce. Maybe that’s what’s been going on, all this time.”

“Croce could be bidding for Bucci’s project. If that’s true, then other players get involved. Not just private developers but local government.”

“It’s in Savernella, that’s why Torti and his thugs are in the conspiracy.” Julia put it together, and the realization horrified her. “They want my land. They want me to sell. That’s why Franco was bugging me with offers. That’s why they’re trying to drive me out.”

Courtney’s eyes glittered. “I bet they’re under a deadline, if other towns are in the running.”

“So I guess even Franco’s in the conspiracy.” Julia glanced out the window, trying to process what was going on. Rolling vineyards flew past without her seeing them. “Franco knew that Gianluca was telling me not to sell.”

“So that’s why they wanted to kill Gianluca.”

Julia felt her heart wrench. She struggled to stay composed. She couldn’t speak for a moment, and everything made horrifying sense.

“And that’s why they put cameras in the villa. They want to know what you’re thinking about selling.”

Julia tried to get it together. “But why’d they drug me?”

“They wanted to scare you away, gaslight you, make you think the house was haunted and you were going crazy—” Courtney stopped abruptly, her lips parting. “I just had a scary thought. They need the land because the site is being chosen now, right?”

“Right.”

“I wonder what happens if you die.”

“Yikes!” Julia recoiled, aghast.

“Do you have a will?”

“No. The lawyer in Milan said if I die without a will, the estate goes to the government. It loses money, and probate takes forever.”

“Probate causes delay, and delay would put Croce out of contention for the Bucci project. That’s why their Plan A was to get you to sell, fast.”

“Holy shit.” Julia felt stricken. “And Plan B? They kill me?”

Courtney nodded, grim.

Julia shuddered. “But what about the delay in probate? They don’t care then?”

“If this much money is involved and there’s this much benefit to the region, I bet probate gets fast-tracked. They can bribe government officials.”

“So, money talks.”

“And it speaks Italian.”

Julia’s thoughts raced ahead, her gut wrenching. Something told her she was on the right track. “I’m thinking about Mike’s murder. Gianluca and I thought the guy in the hoodie was really coming after me. But what if he was coming after Mike ?”

“Why would he?”

“Let me think out loud.” Julia tried to recall what Lombardi had told her about a will.

“If I died without a will, and Mike was alive when I inherited Rossi’s property, then he would inherit the property.

What if they wanted to eliminate Mike so the property was clear, before I was told about the inheritance? ”

Courtney moaned. “Oh, man.”

Julia felt a stab of grief, and bitterness. She thought of Mike and the night he was killed, then Gianluca and the night of his crash. There had been so much violence, death, and pain. Now she knew why. Money.

“Jules, are you okay?”

“Hell, yes.” Julia felt her teeth clench with anger, with resolve, with power .

“We have to get these bastards. We’re going to the Florence police.

We’ll tell them what the Savernella cops did to us.

We’ll show them the photo of Franco and Bucci together.

We’ll lay the whole thing out. We’ll make them investigate. ”

“Right, agree.” Courtney pursed her lips.

“I’ll call the Philly police, too. This is a break in Mike’s case, finally.”

“Thank God.” Courtney nodded. “But what about Fiamma?”

Julia’s throat went thick. “I want to meet her, first. Then, the cops.”