Chapter 14 - MICHAEL’S DAUGHTER
Vivia disconnected the call.
Her hands shook.
Nico took the phone.
Michael called again.
Nico answered.
“If you ever call her sweetheart again, I’ll—”
Michael laughed.
“You sound exactly like Vincent.”
“That isn’t a compliment.”
“It wasn’t intended as one.”
Nico stared at the security monitor.
Michael stood outside the building.
Marcella remained near the SUV.
Daniel talked to someone on another phone.
Federal agents moved quietly into position.
Nico lowered his voice.
“Why are you here?”
“For my daughter.”
Vivia’s face tightened.
Nico looked at her.
“She isn’t yours.”
Michael’s tone changed.
“You opened the locker.”
“Yes.”
“Then you know.”
“I know a paternity report says Vincent wasn’t her father.”
“That is enough.”
“No.”
Nico looked at Vivia.
“Fatherhood requires more than a lab result.”
Michael went silent.
Nico continued.
“You sabotaged her mother’s car.”
“I made a mistake.”
“You kept Elena hidden.”
“I kept her alive.”
“You threatened her children.”
“I protected my child.”
Vivia grabbed the phone.
“You watched me grow up from a distance.”
Michael stopped.
Vivia’s voice shook with anger.
“You let me bury my mother.”
“I had no choice.”
“You had twelve years of choices.”
“Elena—”
“Do not say her name like you loved her.”
Michael became quiet.
Vivia looked at the old hospital bracelet.
“Did you know I was yours when I was born?”
“No.”
“When did you know?”
“When you were six.”
“The hospital test.”
“Yes.”
“Why did Carlo order it?”
“Because he suspected.”
“Why?”
Michael hesitated.
Vivia’s anger rose.
“Answer me.”
“Because Elena came to me before Vincent returned from Italy.”
Nico stepped closer.
“For what?”
Michael answered.
“She wanted to leave him.”
Vivia stared.
Nico shook his head.
“Mom never said that.”
“She would not have.”
“Why?”
“Because she changed her mind.”
Michael’s voice softened.
“She was twenty-eight.”
“Vincent was already becoming the man Carlo wanted him to be.”
“She hated what the family was doing.”
“She came to me.”
Vivia whispered.
“And you slept with her.”
“Yes.”
Nico looked away.
Michael continued.
“It happened once.”
“Elena regretted it.”
“She told me to leave her alone.”
“I did.”
“Then Vivia was born.”
“You suspected?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t know until the hospital test.”
“No.”
Vivia closed her eyes.
“So all those years…”
“I watched.”
“You never spoke to me.”
“Elena asked me not to.”
“Yet you were willing to kill her.”
Michael became angry.
“I did not try to kill Elena.”
“You cut her brakes.”
“I created a pressure leak.”
Rafe stared at the phone in disgust.
Michael continued.
“She was supposed to notice the warning light before leaving the property.”
“You gambled with her life.”
“I needed her to stop.”
“Why?”
“Because she had decided to take everything to federal prosecutors.”
Nico laughed bitterly.
“That sounds like the correct decision.”
“You were children.”
Michael’s voice sharpened.
“Carlo had spent years buying people.”
“Vincent had blood on his hands.”
“Marcella had the Gino recording.”
“If Elena exposed everyone, all of you would have been dragged into it.”
Vivia stared at the phone.
“So you nearly killed my mother to save me from scandal?”
“I tried to stop her car.”
“You failed.”
“Yes.”
“And then what?”
“I found out she survived.”
“You helped hide her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent was terrified and Carlo wanted her dead.”
“So you became her jailer.”
“I became the only reason she remained alive.”
Vivia shook her head.
“You keep calling captivity protection.”
Michael said nothing.
She looked toward Marcella on the monitor.
“What does Marcella want?”
“Power.”
“Daniel?”
“Money.”
“Carlo?”
“Survival.”
“And you?”
Michael paused.
“You.”
Vivia’s expression turned cold.
“You don’t know me.”
“I know more than you think.”
“No.”
“I know you changed universities after your second year.”
Vivia froze.
“I know you spent three months in Florence when you were twenty-two.”
“Stop.”
“I know you still visit Elena’s grave every October.”
“Stop.”
“I know you hate roses because Marcella filled the funeral with them.”
Vivia’s face went pale.
Michael continued.
“I know you almost joined Bellandi Holdings three years ago and changed your mind after Daniel humiliated one of the junior analysts in front of you.”
Vivia’s stomach turned.
He had been watching everything.
“You had people following me.”
“Yes.”
“You call that love?”
“I call it keeping you alive.”
“You are not my father.”
Silence.
“You are a stranger who collected information about me.”
Michael’s voice became quieter.
“Blood does not disappear because you dislike the person carrying it.”
Vivia looked at Nico.
“No.”
She spoke slowly.
“But blood also doesn’t create a family by itself.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Vivia continued.
“Vincent lied to me.”
“He failed Mom.”
“He helped bury an empty coffin.”
“He allowed horrible things.”
“But there is one thing even his confession proves.”
Michael waited.
“He knew I wasn’t biologically his.”
“And he still called me his daughter.”
Michael said nothing.
Vivia’s eyes filled.
“You knew I was biologically yours.”
“And you watched me cry at a grave for twelve years.”
She disconnected.
Outside, Michael’s expression changed.
Marcella said something to him.
He shoved her away.
Federal agents moved.
Michael spotted them.
He ran toward the SUV.
Daniel jumped inside another vehicle.
Marcella screamed.
Everything became motion.
Agents surrounded the first SUV.
Marcella raised her hands.
Michael disappeared down an alley.
Rafe ran after him.
Nico followed.
Vivia remained near the vault entrance.
Alessia grabbed her arm.
“Stay.”
Vivia shook free.
“No.”
She ran.
Michael reached a service tunnel beneath the building.
Rafe followed.
Nico entered behind him.
Vivia reached the tunnel seconds later.
Michael stood at the far end.
A metal gate blocked his escape.
He turned.
Rafe aimed his weapon.
“Done.”
Michael looked at Vivia.
His expression softened.
“Vivia.”
She stopped.
He reached slowly inside his coat.
Rafe shouted.
“Hands out.”
Michael removed an envelope.
He held it up.
“Elena wrote this.”
Vivia stared.
“When?”
“Eleven years ago.”
“Why do you have it?”
“She gave it to me.”
“For me?”
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t you give it to me?”
Michael’s voice broke.
“Because it says she wanted you to know who your father was.”
Vivia’s eyes narrowed.
“That helped you.”
“No.”
Michael laughed sadly.
“It destroyed me.”
Nico frowned.
“What does it say?”
Michael tossed the envelope across the floor.
It slid toward Vivia.
She picked it up.
Inside was a letter.
My dearest Vivia,
One day someone may tell you that Michael D’Angelo is your biological father.
The statement is true.
But do not allow him to use truth as proof that everything else he says is true.
Vivia looked up.
Michael’s face had become pale.
She continued.
Michael loved me once.
Perhaps part of him still does.
But love without conscience becomes possession.
He will tell you that everything he did was to protect you.
Do not believe him.
He sabotaged my car.
He kept me away from you.
And there is something worse.
Vivia stopped.
Nico moved closer.
“What?”
She read the next sentence.
Michael did not discover you were his daughter when you were six.
He knew before you were born.
Michael whispered.
“Elena misunderstood.”
Vivia kept reading.
I told him myself.
He asked me to leave Vincent.
When I refused, he made one promise.
If I stayed with Vincent, one day he would take you from us.
Vivia looked up.
Michael stepped backward.
Rafe’s weapon followed him.
Vivia read the final lines.
If Michael ever approaches you, remember this.
You were never abandoned by him.
You were hidden from him.
There is a difference.
And there is one final thing Michael never knew I discovered.
Vivia turned the page.
Nothing.
The lower half was missing.
Michael smiled faintly.
“I never found the rest either.”
Rafe looked toward his coat.
Michael shook his head.
“No.”
“The second page is not here.”
“Where is it?” Vivia demanded.
Michael stared at the old dress in her arms.
“Elena told me she put every truth she wanted you to have in the same place.”
Vivia looked down.
The dress.
Another seam.
Another hidden message.
Then Michael lunged.
Not at Vivia.
At the letter.
Rafe intercepted him.
They crashed into the wall.
Federal agents reached the tunnel.
Michael was restrained.
As he was handcuffed, he looked at Vivia and smiled.
“You think finding the second page will make you hate me.”
Vivia said nothing.
Michael’s smile widened.
“It won’t.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena’s last secret isn’t about me.”
He looked toward Nico.
May you like
“It’s about your brother.”
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