Chapter 16 - THE CASE AGAINST NICO
Vivia did not show Nico the final line.
Not immediately.
She hated herself for that.
But Elena’s letter warned there was forged evidence against him.
Ethan’s message warned her not to trust him until she saw the case.
For the first time since the wedding, Vivia kept something from her brother.
She told him Ethan wanted to meet.
She did not mention the warning.
They drove to the farmhouse under federal surveillance.
Nico noticed her silence.
“What aren’t you telling me?”
“Nothing.”
He looked at her.
“You are terrible at lying.”
“So were you when you were fifteen.”
“I was not.”
“You told Mom the vodka in your room belonged to Rafe.”
Rafe looked back from the front seat.
“It did not.”
Nico almost smiled.
Then his expression became serious again.
“Vivia.”
She looked out the window.
“I need to see what Ethan has first.”
Nico studied her.
“He told you not to trust me.”
She turned.
“How did you know?”
“Because that’s what I would write if I wanted you to come without me.”
She said nothing.
Nico nodded.
“Fine.”
“You’re not angry?”
“I am exhausted.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“I trust you enough to let you decide when to tell me.”
That made the guilt worse.
At the farmhouse, Ethan waited alone.
He looked frightened.
No weapon.
No car visible.
He raised both hands when Rafe approached.
“I’m not trying to hurt anyone.”
Nico stepped forward.
“Then why disappear?”
“Because Marcella knows who my father was.”
“Did she contact you?”
“Three times.”
“What did she offer?”
“Two million dollars.”
“For?”
“The case.”
Vivia looked at the steel box.
“You refused?”
Ethan laughed nervously.
“My father spent twenty years terrified Bellandi money would get him killed.”
“I’m not taking Bellandi money.”
Nico glanced toward Rafe.
“Smart.”
Ethan looked at Vivia.
“My father made me memorize instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“If Elena’s dress was ever opened publicly, I was supposed to retrieve the case from storage.”
“Why wait for the dress?”
“Because that meant the family secret had already broken open.”
Nico stared.
“What is inside?”
Ethan handed the case to Vivia.
“Proof your mother created before her crash.”
The lock required a six-digit code.
Ethan gave it.
111699.
Vivia recognized the date.
Her birthday.
She opened the case.
Inside were original audit reports.
Digital-signature logs.
Bank authentication records.
And a video cassette.
A modern copy sat beside it on a memory card.
They played the video.
Thomas Vale appeared.
The recording date was twelve years earlier.
“If this is being watched, Elena Bellandi either succeeded or she is dead.”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
Thomas continued.
“I was asked to examine seventeen transactions carrying Nico Bellandi’s authorization.”
“I concluded the signature credentials were used while Nico Bellandi was physically outside the United States.”
Nico leaned forward.
“Where?”
Thomas answered.
“Three transactions occurred while Mr. Bellandi was in London.”
“Four occurred while he was attending university in New York with documented in-person examinations.”
“Six occurred while he was in Italy.”
“All were initiated from a Bellandi Holdings terminal assigned to Daniel Mercer.”
Rafe exhaled.
“That clears you.”
Nico did not relax.
“Keep watching.”
Thomas continued.
“The authorizations were requested by Vincent Bellandi.”
Nico went still.
His father forged him.
Again.
But then Thomas said something worse.
“On November 3, Vincent Bellandi instructed me to destroy the logs.”
“I refused.”
“The following morning, Nico Bellandi came to my office.”
Nico frowned.
“I don’t remember this.”
The video changed.
Security footage appeared.
Twenty-one-year-old Nico entered Thomas’s office.
Vivia looked at him.
“That’s you.”
“Yes.”
Young Nico sat across from Thomas.
There was no audio at first.
Then a recovered microphone track began.
Thomas said:
“Your father wants these records destroyed.”
Young Nico looked at the documents.
“Then destroy them.”
Present-day Nico went white.
Vivia stared at him.
“No.”
He shook his head.
“I don’t remember this.”
On screen, Thomas asked:
“Do you understand what these records show?”
Young Nico responded.
“I understand my father wants them gone.”
Thomas said:
“They contain your signature.”
Young Nico leaned back.
“Then I definitely want them gone.”
Vivia looked at her brother.
His face had emptied.
Rafe swore.
Ethan said nothing.
The video continued.
Thomas pushed a folder toward Nico.
“You could be implicated.”
Young Nico laughed.
“My father owns half the people who would investigate it.”
Present-day Nico closed his eyes.
Vivia felt sick.
Thomas asked one final question.
“Are you instructing me to destroy evidence of unauthorized financial transactions?”
Young Nico looked directly at him.
“Yes.”
The video ended.
Nobody moved.
Vivia turned toward her brother.
“Nico.”
He stared at the black screen.
“I remember the meeting.”
Her heart sank.
“You just said you didn’t.”
“I didn’t until I saw it.”
“What happened?”
Nico rubbed both hands over his face.
“I was twenty-one.”
“That doesn’t explain it.”
“No.”
He looked at her.
“Dad told me there were accounting records with my signature that had been created during a software error.”
“You believed him?”
“I wanted to.”
“He told me if auditors saw them, there would be months of investigation.”
“So you told Thomas to destroy them.”
“Yes.”
Vivia stepped back.
Nico continued.
“I didn’t know they were bribes.”
“You didn’t ask.”
“No.”
“You said Dad owned the investigators.”
Nico looked ashamed.
“I was an arrogant kid.”
“You were twenty-one, not twelve.”
“I know.”
“You helped him.”
“I know.”
The answer enraged her.
“Stop saying you know.”
Nico looked at her.
“I need you to be angry.”
“You don’t get to decide what I need.”
“No.”
“You built your entire adult life on this company.”
“Yes.”
“You defended Dad every time I said something was wrong.”
“Yes.”
“You told me Mom had been unstable.”
Nico’s face broke.
That one hurt.
Vivia continued.
“You told me I needed to stop obsessing over her death.”
“I was wrong.”
“You made me feel crazy.”
“I know.”
“There.”
She pointed at him.
“You said it again.”
Nico fell silent.
Vivia turned away.
Ethan spoke carefully.
“There’s more.”
She almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
He removed another file.
“Elena saw the video.”
“When?”
“Two days before the crash.”
Vivia looked at Nico.
“What did she say?”
Ethan opened a written transcript.
Elena had met Thomas.
She saw Nico’s recorded instruction.
Her handwritten note appeared below it.
Nico is not part of Carlo’s operation.
He is careless.
He is loyal to Vincent.
That may make him useful to them without making him guilty of what they are doing.
Do not confront him yet.
Vivia read the words slowly.
Nico looked down.
Elena had protected him.
Even from evidence that made him look terrible.
Ethan removed one final envelope.
“This is what my father believed Marcella wanted most.”
Inside was a list of numbered accounts.
Rafe leaned closer.
“What are those?”
Ethan shook his head.
“My father never knew.”
Nico recognized the account format.
“Political funds.”
“No.”
A voice came from the farmhouse doorway.
Everyone turned.
Elena stood there with Alessia beside her.
She had left the hospital against medical advice.
Nico rushed toward her.
“Mom.”
“I’m fine.”
“You are absolutely not fine.”
“I have spent twelve years being told to remain in rooms for my own protection.”
She looked at him.
“I am done with that.”
Vivia almost smiled.
Elena pointed toward the account list.
“Those are not bribery funds.”
“What are they?”
Elena looked at Ethan.
“Your father never opened them?”
“No.”
“Good.”
She took the list.
“These accounts belong to the children.”
Nico frowned.
“What children?”
Elena’s face darkened.
“The families Carlo ruined.”
Silence.
She explained.
Contractors bankrupted after refusing bribes.
Employees fired after discovering false invoices.
A city inspector who died under suspicious circumstances.
Michael D’Angelo’s fake-death victim.
Gino Moretti.
Dozens of families had been quietly paid from an anonymous fund Elena created.
Nico stared.
“You were compensating them.”
“I was trying.”
“Why hide it?”
“Because the money came from my Bellandi shares.”
Vivia understood.
“If Carlo found it, he could trace who talked to you.”
“Yes.”
Nico looked toward the list.
“There must be millions.”
“Thirty-eight.”
Rafe exhaled.
“Marcella doesn’t know about it.”
“No.”
“Michael?”
“No.”
“Daniel?”
Elena hesitated.
“That I don’t know.”
Nico’s phone rang.
Daniel Mercer.
Nico answered.
Daniel sounded amused.
“You found Thomas Vale’s case.”
Nico looked around.
“How do you know?”
“I know because Ethan’s father was not as careful as Elena believed.”
Ethan went pale.
Daniel continued.
“You now have a list of thirty-eight million dollars.”
Elena’s face tightened.
Daniel knew.
Nico lowered his voice.
“What do you want?”
“Nothing from you.”
A pause.
“I want Vivia.”
She stared at the phone.
Daniel continued.
“She is the only person who can legally release those accounts.”
Vivia shook her head.
“I don’t know how.”
Daniel laughed.
“You will.”
“Why?”
“Because I have someone who can explain it.”
A photograph arrived.
Father Gabriel sat in the back seat of a car.
Marcella sat beside him.
Then Daniel sent another photograph.
Samuel Price.
Then another.
Alessia’s father.
Three hostages.
Three separate locations.
Nico’s blood turned cold.
Daniel spoke again.
“Marcella wants the company.”
“Michael wants his daughter.”
“Carlo wanted his freedom.”
He laughed softly.
“I’m the only one who was never sentimental.”
“What do you want?”
“The thirty-eight million.”
“And if we refuse?”
Daniel’s voice became flat.
May you like
“Then before sunrise, three families learn what Bellandi loyalty costs.”
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