Chapter 19 - THE LAST DEATH
Elena did not react the way Nico expected.
She did not deny it.
She closed her eyes.
That frightened him more.
“Mom?”
Vivia looked at her.
Elena sat slowly.
Nico stepped closer.
“Did you know Dad was poisoned?”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Rafe lowered his head.
Vivia whispered.
“Did you poison him?”
Elena opened her eyes.
“No.”
Marcella laughed from beside the federal vehicle.
“She’ll tell you just enough.”
An agent pushed Marcella toward the car.
She resisted.
“Ask Elena where she was three days before Vincent died.”
Nico looked at his mother.
Elena answered before he asked.
“New York.”
Vivia stared.
“You came back?”
“Yes.”
“To see Dad?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He contacted me.”
Nico’s pulse quickened.
“The confession.”
Elena nodded.
“He wanted to end it.”
“Everything?”
“Yes.”
“He wanted to testify against Carlo.”
“Yes.”
“Against Marcella?”
“Yes.”
“Michael?”
“Yes.”
Nico frowned.
“Then why did he die?”
Elena looked toward Marcella.
“Because somebody knew he was going to talk.”
Marcella laughed.
“You were in his house.”
“So were you.”
“You poured his tea.”
Vivia looked at Elena.
“Mom?”
Elena remained calm.
“Yes.”
Nico’s expression changed.
“What happened?”
Elena explained.
Vincent contacted her through Father Gabriel.
He asked to meet privately.
Elena agreed.
She entered the old Bellandi house through a service entrance.
Vincent cried when he saw her.
He apologized.
Not once.
For hours.
He gave her a copy of his confession.
He told her Samuel held another.
He said he had arranged to meet federal prosecutors.
Elena did not forgive him.
But she agreed to help.
They drank tea.
She left.
Three days later, Vincent died.
Marcella had been in the house that night too.
So had Daniel.
So had Carlo.
So had the private nurse.
Nico looked at Marcella.
“Why say Mom did it?”
“Because she had motive.”
“So did you.”
“Yes.”
Marcella smiled.
“But I didn’t need him dead.”
“Why not?”
“Vincent’s confession destroyed Carlo.”
“It destroyed Michael.”
“It destroyed Daniel.”
“It gave me leverage over all of them.”
She looked toward Elena.
“Only one person had something to gain by silencing Vincent after he confessed.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Marcella continued.
“The person who did not want Nico to know his father deliberately let her drive a sabotaged car.”
Nico stared at Elena.
“Did Dad tell you he put that in the confession?”
“Yes.”
“Did you ask him to remove it?”
“No.”
“Did you want me to know?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“No.”
The word hurt.
Vivia stepped closer.
“Why?”
“Because you loved him.”
Nico laughed bitterly.
“That stopped being a reason twelve years ago.”
“I was afraid it would destroy you.”
“You let me build my life around a lie instead.”
“I know.”
He flinched at the phrase he himself had repeated so often.
Elena looked at him.
“I was wrong.”
Nico looked away.
Federal forensic investigators reopened Vincent’s case.
His preserved blood sample contained traces of a rare cardiac medication that could mimic natural vascular collapse.
The drug had been prescribed to one person connected to the Bellandi family.
Carlo.
Everyone assumed that was the answer.
Carlo denied it.
Daniel claimed ignorance.
Marcella laughed when told.
Michael asked for his attorney.
Then Rafe remembered something.
“Vincent’s nurse.”
Nico looked at him.
“What?”
“She worked for Carlo before she worked for Vincent.”
They found the nurse in Florida.
Her name was Teresa Wynn.
She initially refused to speak.
Then federal agents showed her the reopened homicide investigation.
She broke.
Carlo had given her the medication.
But he had not told her to use it.
Marcella had.
Marcella denied it.
Teresa produced text messages.
They proved Marcella ordered her to put crushed medication into Vincent’s tea.
Except Teresa never did.
Nico frowned.
“Then how was he poisoned?”
Teresa cried.
“Someone stole the pills.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Security footage from Vincent’s house still existed on an archived server.
The night Elena visited, five people moved through the kitchen.
Elena.
Vincent.
Teresa.
Daniel.
And Father Gabriel.
Nico stared at the last name.
“No.”
Rafe looked pale.
They found Gabriel at the hospital chapel where he had gone after being released.
He did not run.
Nico entered alone.
Gabriel sat in the first pew.
“You know.”
Nico stopped several feet away.
“Did you poison my father?”
Gabriel looked toward the altar.
“Yes.”
Nico felt no relief.
Only exhaustion.
“Why?”
Gabriel’s eyes filled.
“Because he changed his mind.”
“What?”
“He was going to confess.”
“Yes.”
“Then Marcella called.”
“When?”
“After Elena left.”
“What did she say?”
“She reminded Vincent what would happen to Vivia if the paternity records became public.”
Nico frowned.
“He already knew.”
“It was not about shame.”
“What then?”
“Michael.”
Gabriel looked at Nico.
“If Michael publicly established paternity, he could challenge parts of Vivia’s trust.”
“He could use her.”
“Yes.”
“So Dad backed out?”
“Yes.”
Nico closed his eyes.
“Again.”
“Vincent called the federal prosecutor and canceled.”
“He told me he would destroy the confession.”
“He said the family could survive another lie.”
Gabriel began crying.
“I had listened to that sentence for thirty years.”
Nico stared.
“So you killed him.”
Gabriel nodded.
“I put the medication in his second cup of tea.”
“Mom had already left?”
“Yes.”
“Marcella knew?”
“No.”
“Carlo?”
“No.”
“Rafe?”
“No.”
“Why keep the confession?”
“I took it before I left.”
“Then gave it to Samuel?”
“Yes.”
Nico laughed without humor.
“You murdered him so the truth could come out.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“No.”
“I murdered him because I was angry.”
Nico stopped.
Gabriel continued.
“Do not make me noble.”
“He had confessed to me for years.”
“Gino.”
“Elena.”
“Michael.”
“Carlo.”
“All the things he allowed.”
“All the things he regretted after they became inconvenient.”
“I kept telling him to tell the truth.”
“He kept asking God to forgive what he refused to confess to anyone else.”
Gabriel looked at Nico.
“When he backed out again, I hated him.”
“So you poisoned him.”
“Yes.”
“That is murder.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Marcella might be blamed.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Mom might be blamed.”
Gabriel started crying harder.
“Yes.”
Nico stared at the priest who had baptized him.
The man who had buried an empty coffin.
The man who had hidden keys in a wedding dress.
The man who had finally killed Vincent Bellandi.
No one in the story remained pure.
That was perhaps the worst truth of all.
Nico called the federal agents.
Gabriel surrendered.
He did not ask for protection.
He did not ask Nico to forgive him.
He simply walked out of the chapel with his hands visible.
The criminal cases expanded.
Marcella faced conspiracy, kidnapping, fraud, obstruction, and charges related to Elena’s unlawful confinement.
Michael faced attempted homicide charges arising from the brake sabotage, kidnapping-related counts, fraud, and his role in the staged death of Michael D’Angelo.
Carlo faced bribery conspiracy, attempted murder related to the original D’Angelo plan, obstruction, and decades of financial crimes.
Daniel faced fraud, kidnapping conspiracy, wire fraud, extortion, and theft.
Gabriel faced Vincent’s murder.
Rafe was investigated for years of concealment but ultimately treated as a cooperating witness in several central matters.
Nico resigned from Bellandi Holdings before the board could reinstate him.
The announcement stunned Wall Street.
Vivia activated her forty-percent trust voting block.
Her first vote was to support him.
Not as CEO.
As the man dissolving the structure that had protected the family for decades.
They appointed an independent board.
They opened the books.
They turned over internal records voluntarily.
They began compensating families harmed by Bellandi corruption.
The company’s stock collapsed.
Nico did not try to save the price.
Reporters called it the destruction of an empire.
Vivia called it an audit.
Months passed.
Elena recovered slowly.
Some memories never returned.
Others arrived unexpectedly.
The smell of lemon soap reminded her of Nico’s childhood kitchen.
A red umbrella reminded her of Vivia’s first day at school.
A song in a grocery store made her cry because Vincent used to sing it badly.
She did not pretend the memories made Vincent good.
She also refused to pretend every good memory had been fake.
That frustrated Vivia sometimes.
It frustrated Nico more.
But gradually they understood what Elena had meant.
Truth did not become cleaner simply because lies had been removed.
One evening, six months after the wedding, Nico found Vivia in Elena’s apartment.
The old wedding dress lay on a table.
Professionally repaired.
Not restored to perfection.
The conservator had left one small section visibly mended.
Vivia touched it.
“Mom wanted the scar left.”
Nico nodded.
“Seems appropriate.”
Vivia looked at him.
“Do you still think of Vincent as Dad?”
Nico sat across from her.
“Yes.”
“After everything?”
“Yes.”
She nodded slowly.
“So do I.”
Nico looked surprised.
Vivia smiled faintly.
“Biology lost that argument.”
He laughed.
Then grew serious.
“What about Michael?”
“He is Michael.”
“That’s all?”
“That’s enough.”
Nico looked at the dress.
“What happens to it?”
“Mom wants me to decide.”
“And?”
“I’m not wearing it.”
“Good.”
Vivia smiled.
“You think it’s ugly.”
“I have always thought it was ugly.”
She threw a cushion at him.
He caught it.
For one brief moment, they were only brother and sister again.
Then Elena entered carrying an archival box.
“What are you two doing?”
“Insulting your dress.”
Elena looked offended.
“I made terrible choices in men.”
She pointed at the gown.
“But that dress was excellent.”
Vivia laughed.
Elena placed the archival box on the table.
“I found something.”
Nico groaned.
“No more seams.”
“No seams.”
“No keys?”
“No.”
“No dead men?”
“Not to my knowledge.”
She handed Vivia a photograph.
It showed Nico at seven years old.
Vivia as a baby.
Vincent held both children.
Elena stood beside him.
Nobody looked wealthy.
Nobody looked powerful.
Nobody looked dangerous.
They simply looked like a family.
On the back, Vincent had written:
Whatever happens to us, make sure they remain brother and sister.
Vivia stared.
“Why did he write that?”
Elena looked at her.
“Because he already knew.”
“About Michael?”
“Yes.”
Vivia touched the photograph.
Nico looked away.
Elena sat between them.
“For all the terrible things Vincent became…”
She stopped.
“That part was real.”
Vivia leaned against her mother.
Nico rested his hand over hers.
The family remained like that for several minutes.
No evidence.
No accusations.
No doors locking.
No secrets being pulled from seams.
Then Nico’s phone rang.
He stared at it.
Vivia groaned.
“If that is another hidden relative, throw it out the window.”
Nico smiled.
Then looked at the screen.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Nico answered.
He listened.
He said nothing for nearly a minute.
Then he ended the call.
Elena looked concerned.
“What happened?”
Nico stared at them.
“The federal archive team finished analyzing the original USB.”
Vivia frowned.
“They’ve had it for six months.”
“They recovered a deleted partition.”
Elena went still.
“I didn’t create one.”
Nico’s expression tightened.
“They know.”
“Then who did?”
Nico looked at the dress.
“They found files added eight years after your crash.”
Vivia whispered.
“Someone opened the dress.”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel?”
“No.”
“How do they know?”
“The files contain a video.”
Elena’s face changed.
“Of what?”
Nico struggled to answer.
“Marcella.”
Vivia frowned.
“Doing what?”
Nico looked at his mother.
“Confessing.”
Silence.
“Confessing to what?”
Nico took a breath.
May you like
“Something none of the charges against her include.”
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