Chapter 3 - THE MAN WHO NEVER LEFT
For several seconds, Nico thought he had misunderstood.
There were only four men in the study.
Himself.
Rafe.
Two security guards.
Vincent Bellandi had been dead for two years.
Michael D’Angelo had been dead for fifteen.
Yet Rafe had said the man who authorized Michael’s death was standing inside the house tonight.
Nico walked toward him.
“Who?”
Rafe did not answer immediately.
Marcella did.
“He is lying.”
Nico ignored her.
“Who signed it?”
Rafe looked toward the closed study doors.
“Your uncle.”
Vivia’s eyes widened.
“Uncle Carlo?”
Rafe nodded.
Nico laughed once in disbelief.
Carlo Bellandi was Vincent’s older brother.
He was seventy-two.
He had spent most of Nico’s wedding dinner seated beside the family priest complaining about his knees.
He had hugged Vivia when she arrived.
He had cried during Nico’s vows.
He had raised a glass to Elena during the rehearsal dinner.
Nico turned to one of the guards.
“Find him.”
The guard touched his earpiece.
Nobody answered.
He tried again.
Then he looked at Nico.
“Mr. Bellandi’s car left twelve minutes ago.”
Nico’s expression hardened.
“I ordered the gates closed.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he leave?”
The guard hesitated.
“Gate Four opened under an executive override.”
Marcella folded her arms.
Nico looked at her.
She appeared almost relieved now.
“You knew he was leaving.”
“I know nothing about Carlo’s movements.”
“You looked at the door when his name came up.”
“I looked at the door because I was being held against my will.”
Vivia stepped closer.
“Why did Uncle Carlo run?”
Marcella stared at her.
“You’ve always had such an ugly imagination.”
Vivia’s cheek still carried the mark from Marcella’s hand.
She touched it once.
Then she smiled faintly.
“Mom had one too.”
Marcella’s face tightened.
Rafe suddenly pulled a phone from the desk charger.
“Call Gate Four.”
Nico nodded.
The guard dialed.
No answer.
He tried again.
Still nothing.
Rafe was already moving.
Nico blocked him.
“Where are you going?”
“To Gate Four.”
“You’re not going anywhere alone.”
“Then come with me.”
Marcella laughed.
“That is exactly what Elena did.”
Nico looked at her.
Marcella tilted her head.
“She followed him.”
Rafe went still.
Nico’s gaze moved between them.
“What is she talking about?”
Marcella looked at Rafe.
“You never told him?”
Rafe said nothing.
“Of course you didn’t.”
She turned to Nico.
“The night your mother died, she wasn’t running from me.”
Marcella’s voice lowered.
“She was following Carlo.”
Vivia shook her head.
“Why?”
“Because she believed he was moving records out of the company archive.”
Rafe stepped forward.
“Stop.”
Marcella ignored him.
“She asked Rafe to follow her.”
Rafe’s jaw clenched.
“She followed Carlo north.”
Marcella stared at Nico.
“And less than an hour later, Elena was dead.”
Nico turned toward Rafe.
“You said she was going to meet someone in Westport.”
“She was.”
“Carlo?”
Rafe did not answer.
Nico grabbed him by the front of his jacket.
“Was it Carlo?”
“Yes.”
The word barely left Rafe’s mouth.
Nico shoved him backward.
“You lied again.”
“I was trying to keep you focused on the drive.”
“You have been keeping me focused on whatever you want for twelve years.”
Rafe did not resist.
Nico pushed him against the bookcase.
“Did you see my mother before she died?”
Rafe stared at him.
“Nico.”
“Did you see her?”
“Yes.”
Vivia made a small sound.
Nico’s grip loosened.
Rafe continued.
“She was alive when I reached the car.”
Vivia’s knees nearly gave out.
Alessia caught her.
Nico stepped away from Rafe.
The official story said Elena died on impact.
The family had been told there was nothing anyone could have done.
Vivia had spent twelve years believing her mother never felt the wreckage around her.
Never knew she was alone.
Never waited for help.
Now Rafe was saying otherwise.
“How long?”
Rafe’s eyes were wet.
“Three minutes.”
Nico looked away.
Vivia did not.
“What did she say?”
Rafe struggled to answer.
“What did my mother say?”
“She asked whether you were safe.”
Vivia started crying again.
Rafe looked at Nico.
“She asked whether Nico was still at Columbia.”
Nico closed his eyes.
“And then?”
“She told me not to call your father.”
Everyone froze.
Even Marcella.
Nico opened his eyes.
“Why?”
Rafe looked at the floor.
“She said she finally understood why Carlo had never been afraid of Vincent.”
Nico waited.
“She said…”
Rafe stopped.
Vivia whispered.
“Say it.”
Rafe looked toward the photograph above the fireplace.
“She said your father knew.”
Nico turned toward Vincent’s picture.
His father’s younger face smiled back at him.
Nico could hear the blood in his ears.
“Knew what?”
“Elena didn’t have time to explain.”
Rafe rubbed a hand across his mouth.
“She tried to give me something.”
“What?”
“A key.”
“To what?”
“I didn’t know.”
“Where is it?”
Rafe looked at Marcella.
“I lost it.”
Marcella smiled.
Nico saw the smile.
“No.”
Rafe’s expression darkened.
“What?”
“You didn’t lose it.”
Nico walked toward Marcella.
“She took it.”
Marcella did not move.
Nico stopped inches from her.
“You took the key from Rafe.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Nico looked at her evening clutch.
Marcella gave a tired laugh.
“You seriously think I’ve carried a key for twelve years?”
“No.”
He glanced at the guards.
“Search her.”
Marcella’s face transformed.
“You will not.”
Alessia stepped forward.
“You struck Vivia in front of two hundred witnesses.”
“This is not your concern.”
Alessia smiled coldly.
“I became a Bellandi four hours ago.”
She looked at Nico.
“It seems to have become my concern very quickly.”
The female security supervisor was called upstairs.
Marcella was searched.
Her clutch contained a phone, lipstick, compact, two credit cards, and an antique silver key.
Rafe stared at it.
His face emptied.
“That’s it.”
Marcella stopped fighting.
Nico held the key beneath the desk lamp.
A tiny number had been engraved into its head.
317.
Vivia frowned.
“What does 317 open?”
Marcella said nothing.
Rafe did.
“Safe-deposit box.”
Nico turned.
“How do you know?”
“Because your mother used to keep one at First National on Madison.”
Marcella looked at him sharply.
“That branch closed nine years ago.”
Everyone stared at her.
Marcella realized what she had just said.
Vivia stepped closer.
“How would you know where Mom kept a safe-deposit box?”
Marcella’s mouth tightened.
Nico held up the key.
“And why do you have the key she tried to give Rafe while she was dying?”
Marcella’s eyes shifted to the door.
Nico followed her gaze.
He saw nothing.
Then the lights went out.
The study dropped into darkness.
Vivia screamed Nico’s name.
Glass shattered.
A body slammed into the desk.
Nico grabbed for the USB.
His fingers hit the laptop.
Someone shoved him sideways.
Rafe shouted.
“Down!”
A gunshot cracked from the hallway.
Alessia dropped behind the desk.
Emergency lighting flickered red.
Nico looked toward the door.
One security guard was on the floor clutching his shoulder.
The second guard aimed into the hallway.
Marcella was gone.
So was the USB drive.
Rafe ran for the door.
Nico grabbed him.
“Wait.”
Footsteps pounded down the corridor.
Then came the sound of a car engine roaring outside.
Nico rushed to the window.
A black sedan tore around the fountain.
The rear door was open.
Marcella climbed inside.
Beside her sat Carlo Bellandi.
Nico stared.
Carlo had never left.
The car that exited Gate Four had been a decoy.
Rafe appeared beside Nico.
Then his face changed.
“What?”
Nico looked at him.
Rafe pointed toward the driveway.
A third figure sat behind the wheel.
Nico recognized him.
His stomach dropped.
The driver was Daniel Mercer.
Bellandi Holdings’ chief financial officer.
The same man who had signed every annual audit telling Nico there was nothing wrong with the family company.
The sedan disappeared beyond the trees.
Nico turned back toward the desk.
Alessia was already checking the laptop.
The folder remained open.
The USB was gone.
Vivia rushed toward her.
“Did they erase it?”
Alessia stared at the screen.
“No.”
Nico moved closer.
“What?”
Alessia clicked a small progress window.
It showed one hundred percent.
She looked up.
“The second I opened File Seven, the laptop automatically copied the entire drive.”
For the first time that night, Nico smiled.
Then Alessia’s expression darkened.
“But there’s something else.”
She opened the folder labeled LAST DAY.
One video remained.
The timestamp was forty-eight minutes before Elena’s crash.
Alessia pressed play.
Elena appeared on the screen inside her car.
Rain streaked the windows.
Her face was pale.
Her breathing was fast.
She looked directly into the camera.
“Carlo knows I copied everything.”
She turned toward something outside the passenger window.
Then she whispered a sentence that made Nico’s blood run cold.
“And Vincent just called me.”
Nico leaned closer.
Elena looked terrified.
“My husband told me to stop running.”
She swallowed.
“He said Carlo isn’t the person I should be afraid of.”
The video shook.
Then Elena whispered two final words.
“Rafe is.”
The recording ended.
Everyone turned.
Rafe was no longer standing beside them.
The study door was open.
May you like
And the antique key marked 317 was gone.
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