Chapter 5 - THE BOX MARKED 317
Nico did not remember leaving the study.
He remembered the elevator.
He remembered Vivia beside him.
He remembered Alessia saying she was coming whether he liked it or not.
He remembered ordering two trusted security men to drive.
Everything else felt detached from reality.
His father had been at Elena’s wreck.
Vincent had told the family he learned about the crash from police.
He had arrived at the hospital almost an hour later.
Nico remembered him walking through the emergency room doors with rain on his coat.
He remembered his father holding him.
He remembered Vincent saying the six words that had repeated in Nico’s mind for twelve years.
“She was gone before anyone arrived.”
It had been a lie.
By the time their SUV reached White Plains, dawn was less than two hours away.
Rafe stood outside a private records facility converted from an old bank vault.
His motorcycle leaned against the curb.
Nico stepped out.
Rafe raised both hands.
“I’m unarmed.”
“I don’t care.”
Nico walked straight toward him.
“Was my father there?”
“Yes.”
“You saw him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you see him hurt her?”
“No.”
“Did you see him help her?”
Rafe looked away.
“No.”
Nico struck him.
Rafe stumbled but remained upright.
Vivia did not intervene.
Nico hit him again.
Alessia caught Nico’s arm before a third blow.
“Enough.”
Nico pulled free.
“Twelve years.”
Rafe wiped blood from his lip.
“I know.”
“You ate at my table.”
“I know.”
“You stood beside me at his funeral.”
“I know.”
“You watched me give a eulogy about what kind of man he was.”
Rafe looked at him.
“I know.”
Nico’s voice broke.
“And you knew he stood over my mother while she was dying.”
“Yes.”
Nico nearly hit him again.
Vivia stepped between them.
“Did Mom see Dad?”
Rafe looked at her.
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked why.”
Vivia began crying.
Rafe continued softly.
“Vincent told her he was sorry.”
Nico turned away.
The city lights blurred.
Alessia approached him.
He did not want comfort.
She gave it anyway.
Her hand rested against his back.
After a minute, Nico faced Rafe again.
“What happened next?”
“I was down the road when I saw the wreck.”
Rafe swallowed.
“I ran toward it.”
“Dad saw you?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“He left.”
“Just left?”
“He got into another car and drove away.”
“Whose car?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Why didn’t you follow him?”
“Because your mother was alive.”
That stopped Nico.
Rafe looked toward Vivia.
“She was trapped.”
“Did you call an ambulance?”
“Yes.”
“Then why weren’t you in the report?”
“Vincent had me removed from it.”
“How?”
“Same way Bellandi money removed a lot of things.”
Vivia stared at him.
“Why did you let him?”
Rafe’s expression twisted.
“Because three days later my father died.”
Silence.
“And after Gino died, Vincent came to me.”
Rafe’s voice hardened.
“He put the insurance policy in front of me.”
“He said he had taken care of my father’s funeral.”
“He said he would take care of me too.”
Nico felt sick.
Rafe continued.
“Then he told me if I ever talked about the crash, he would make sure the police found evidence that my father had sabotaged Elena’s brakes.”
Vivia whispered.
“Did he?”
“I didn’t know.”
Rafe looked at her.
“My father had worked on that car that morning.”
“He had already admitted cutting Michael D’Angelo’s brake line three years earlier.”
“If Vincent planted one tool or one receipt, my father would become Elena’s killer forever.”
Nico rubbed both hands over his face.
“So you stayed silent to protect a dead man.”
“No.”
Rafe looked directly at him.
“I stayed silent because Vincent told me he had a second copy of everything Gino confessed.”
“And?”
“And he said if I spoke, he would release it in a way that made you believe Gino killed both Michael and Elena.”
Vivia’s voice shook.
“You chose your father’s reputation over our mother.”
Rafe absorbed the accusation.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
No defense.
Only yes.
That honesty hurt more.
Nico looked toward the building.
“Open the box.”
They entered.
The after-hours manager had already been contacted by Rafe using an old Bellandi legal authorization.
Nico expected resistance.
Instead, the manager looked terrified.
“Mr. Bellandi.”
“What?”
“There’s a problem.”
Nico’s stomach tightened.
“What problem?”
“Box 317 was accessed forty minutes ago.”
Rafe cursed.
“By whom?”
The manager looked at the computer.
“An authorized secondary holder.”
Nico stepped closer.
“Name.”
The manager swallowed.
“Vincent Bellandi.”
Nobody moved.
Vivia almost laughed.
“My father is dead.”
“I understand.”
“He has been dead for two years.”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he open a vault forty minutes ago?”
The manager shook his head.
“The access credential was registered under his name.”
“Camera.”
“We have footage.”
They hurried into the security room.
The manager rewound the recording.
A man wearing a dark coat and baseball cap approached the vault attendant.
He presented documents.
The attendant scanned them.
The man turned slightly toward the ceiling camera.
Vivia gasped.
Nico leaned toward the screen.
The face was older than the photographs.
The hair had turned almost white.
A scar crossed the left side of his jaw.
Rafe whispered.
“That’s not Vincent.”
Nico stared at him.
“Then who is it?”
Rafe looked stunned.
“Michael.”
Vivia shook her head.
“Michael D’Angelo is dead.”
Rafe moved closer to the monitor.
“No.”
His voice barely worked.
“I knew him.”
“That is Michael D’Angelo.”
Nico looked at the death report.
Then back at the living man on the screen.
The man had opened Box 317.
He removed a thick brown envelope.
He left something behind.
The manager checked the access log.
“He was inside for six minutes.”
“Can we open it?”
“If you possess the key.”
Rafe placed the antique key on the counter.
They entered the vault.
Box 317 slid out.
Nico carried it into a private room.
Inside sat one object.
A white envelope.
Across the front, someone had written a name.
VIVIA.
Her hands began trembling.
Nico opened it for her.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena stood beside Michael D’Angelo.
The picture had been taken after Michael’s supposed death.
The date stamped on the back was eleven years ago.
One year after Elena died.
Vivia stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Then she noticed the woman beside Michael.
She had long dark hair.
A scarf covered part of her face.
Her body was thinner.
But Vivia knew those eyes.
Nico did too.
His knees nearly buckled.
The woman in the photograph was Elena.
Their mother.
The mother they had buried twelve years earlier.
Alessia covered her mouth.
Rafe backed into the wall.
Nico turned the picture over.
A sentence had been written beneath the date.
Vivia read it aloud.
“Your mother survived the crash.”
Her voice stopped.
There was another line.
Nico finished it.
May you like
“And Marcella knew where she was.”
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