Chapter 13 - UNDER SAINT LUCIA
Saint Lucia had once been one of Manhattan’s most discreet private clubs.
No sign had marked its entrance.
No photographs appeared online.
Politicians, developers, judges, investment bankers, and old-money families had used its dining rooms because membership meant privacy.
When the club formally closed, the building became luxury offices.
Nico knew the public story.
Rafe knew another entrance.
They arrived before midnight.
State police remained two blocks away.
This time Nico also had federal agents involved.
The decision had been simple.
The evidence had grown too large.
Bribery crossed state lines.
Money crossed international borders.
Two supposed deaths were fraudulent.
One real death involved a cover-up.
No Bellandi lawyer could contain it anymore.
Vivia stood beside Nico on the sidewalk.
“Do you think Gabriel is alive?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t know.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
Nico corrected himself.
“I need him to be.”
Rafe opened an old service door with a code from his father’s notebook.
The underground corridor smelled damp.
They descended two flights.
A brass plaque remained beside an unmarked door.
SLC MEMBERS ONLY.
The key marked 004 fit a private locker inside.
But Father Gabriel was nowhere in sight.
Nico called his name.
Silence.
Then Vivia noticed blood on the tile.
A few drops.
Not much.
They followed it.
Father Gabriel sat against a wall near the vault room.
His lip was split.
One eye was swollen.
He was conscious.
Vivia ran to him.
“Father.”
He looked at her.
“Elena’s girl.”
Nico crouched.
“Who did this?”
“Daniel.”
“Marcella?”
“She was here.”
“Where did they go?”
“Locker.”
Nico looked toward the vault.
“004?”
Gabriel nodded.
“They couldn’t open it.”
“Why?”
“Two keys.”
Vivia stared.
“Every locked door has two keys.”
Gabriel smiled faintly.
“Your mother loved that phrase.”
Nico held up the brass key.
“What is the second?”
Gabriel looked at the dress bag.
“You brought it.”
Vivia opened it.
Gabriel touched the old dress.
His fingers found one pearl button near the collar.
He twisted it.
The decorative pearl came free.
Inside was a tiny metal cylinder.
A second key.
Vivia laughed in disbelief.
“Mom turned a button into a key?”
Gabriel nodded.
“She had an inventive tailor.”
Nico helped him stand.
“What’s in the locker?”
Gabriel looked frightened.
“The reason Vincent could never leave Marcella.”
“We already know about Gino.”
“No.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Gino was only one recording.”
“What else?”
Gabriel looked at Vivia.
“Something about you.”
She froze.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“I never opened the locker.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Vincent told me.”
“When?”
“The day before your mother’s funeral.”
Nico stared.
“He told you Mom was alive.”
“Yes.”
“You still buried an empty coffin.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent said Carlo had men watching the church.”
“That part was true.”
“You could have told us afterward.”
“I was afraid.”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
“So was everyone.”
Gabriel accepted the judgment.
“Yes.”
They entered the vault.
Locker 004 required both keys at once.
Nico turned one.
Vivia turned the other.
The door opened.
Inside were four videotapes.
A hard drive.
Three sealed envelopes.
And a small red children’s bracelet.
Vivia stared at the bracelet.
Her name was printed across it.
VIVIA BELLANDI.
AGE 6.
She picked it up.
“I wore this in the hospital.”
Nico looked at her.
“When?”
“I had appendicitis.”
Elena had mentioned that hospitalization often.
Vivia had nearly died after complications.
She remembered little of it.
Gabriel looked away.
Vivia noticed.
“What?”
“Father.”
He did not answer.
Vivia stepped toward him.
“What is this doing here?”
Gabriel’s voice trembled.
“Because that was when Vincent learned.”
“Learned what?”
Gabriel looked at Nico.
Then at Vivia.
“Marcella said she would use it if Elena ever exposed the company.”
Vivia’s pulse quickened.
“Use what?”
Gabriel pointed toward one envelope.
Vivia opened it.
Inside was an old laboratory report.
PATERNITY ANALYSIS.
Child:
Vivia Elena Bellandi.
Presumed father:
Vincent Anthony Bellandi.
Probability of paternity:
0.00%.
The world stopped.
Vivia read it again.
Nico stared at the page.
“No.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
Vivia’s hands began shaking.
“No.”
Nico took the report.
“This could be fake.”
“It isn’t,” Gabriel whispered.
Nico looked at him.
“You don’t know that.”
“I was there when Vincent received it.”
Vivia backed toward the wall.
“My father wasn’t my father?”
Gabriel looked at her.
“Vincent raised you.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No.”
Gabriel swallowed.
“Biologically, no.”
Vivia stared at Nico.
His face had gone pale.
“Who?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
Nico opened another envelope.
Inside was a letter from Vincent to Elena.
I know Vivia is not mine.
I also know she is my daughter.
Carlo wants me to use this against you.
Marcella says I should.
I will not.
Whatever happened before she was born, Vivia is innocent.
Nico stopped reading.
Vivia covered her face.
Tears slipped between her fingers.
Nico moved toward her.
She stepped away.
“Don’t.”
“Vivia.”
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
She looked at the paternity report again.
“Did Mom cheat on Dad?”
Gabriel shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Was Nico his?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know?”
“There were tests.”
Nico frowned.
“Why were there tests on both of us?”
Gabriel looked toward the videotapes.
“Because Carlo ordered them.”
“Why?”
Gabriel whispered.
“He suspected Elena had been seeing Michael.”
Everything went silent.
Vivia stared.
“No.”
Gabriel did not answer.
Nico’s stomach turned.
“Michael D’Angelo?”
Gabriel nodded.
Vivia shook her head repeatedly.
“No.”
“Vivia—”
“No.”
She backed away.
“Michael sabotaged Mom’s car.”
Nobody spoke.
“He held her for years.”
Gabriel looked confused.
“What?”
“He may be my father?”
Nico stepped between her and the locker.
“We don’t know that.”
“Then open everything.”
“Not here.”
“Open it.”
“Vivia.”
“Open everything.”
Alessia arrived with federal agents as emergency medics began treating Gabriel.
One agent started cataloguing the vault contents.
The hard drive was connected to a secure forensic laptop.
Most folders were encrypted.
One was not.
VIVIA — ORIGINAL.
Nico looked at his sister.
She nodded.
They opened it.
A video appeared.
Vincent sat in this exact vault.
He was younger.
Angrier.
Elena stood opposite him.
Her voice shook.
“Michael is not Vivia’s father.”
Vincent answered.
“Then tell me who is.”
Elena said nothing.
Vincent struck the table.
“Tell me.”
Elena started crying.
“I can’t.”
“You can.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he doesn’t know.”
Vincent stared at her.
Neither Nico nor Vivia breathed.
Elena continued.
“It happened before you came home from Milan.”
Vincent’s expression hardened.
“You told me you were alone.”
“I was.”
“Then whose child is she?”
Elena covered her mouth.
“I don’t know how to tell you.”
Vincent looked sick.
“Tell me.”
Elena whispered a name.
The audio glitched.
The recording skipped.
Vivia leaned closer.
“What did she say?”
The file corrupted.
Then resumed.
Vincent was standing now.
His face was full of disbelief.
“You’re saying my brother…”
The file froze.
Vivia stared.
Nico whispered.
“Carlo.”
Gabriel made a sound from behind them.
“No.”
Everyone turned.
The priest shook his head.
“Elena did not mean Carlo.”
Nico frowned.
“She said your brother.”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Vincent had another brother.”
Silence.
Nico felt cold.
“No, he didn’t.”
Gabriel’s face tightened.
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“A younger brother.”
“What happened to him?”
Gabriel looked toward the vault.
“Carlo made sure nobody spoke his name.”
Vivia stepped closer.
“Why?”
Gabriel answered.
“Because he was supposed to inherit the company.”
Nico stared.
“What was his name?”
The priest swallowed.
“Michael.”
Vivia went completely still.
“Michael Bellandi?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Before he disappeared and changed his surname.”
Nico whispered.
“D’Angelo.”
Gabriel closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Vivia stared at the photograph of the man who had sabotaged Elena’s car.
The man who had hidden Elena.
The man who had spent twelve years manipulating the family.
The man who might be her biological father.
Then a federal agent interrupted.
“We’ve got movement outside.”
Rafe turned.
“How many?”
“Three vehicles.”
Nico looked toward the security feed.
A black SUV stopped at the curb.
Marcella stepped out.
Daniel Mercer followed.
Then the rear door opened.
Michael D’Angelo emerged.
He looked directly toward the hidden entrance camera.
Then he smiled.
Vivia’s phone rang.
She answered.
Michael’s voice came through.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Vivia could not speak.
Michael continued.
May you like
“I think it’s time you met your father.”
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