Chapter 7 - THE FOUR-HOUR ROAD
Nico wanted police.
Rafe said police were exactly what Marcella expected.
Alessia wanted federal agents.
Rafe said they had no idea which old Bellandi contacts still had influence.
Vivia wanted only one thing.
Her mother.
The argument lasted nine minutes.
It ended when another message reached Vivia’s phone.
A live location pin appeared.
Northern Maine.
Then a warning.
FOUR HOURS.
Nico looked at Rafe.
“Can we make it?”
“By helicopter.”
“Arrange it.”
Rafe did.
The Bellandi helicopter lifted from a private pad outside White Plains twenty-three minutes later.
Nico sat opposite Vivia.
Neither spoke.
The old wedding dress rested between them inside a protective garment bag Alessia had taken from the estate.
Vivia had refused to leave it behind.
Nico had not argued.
Alessia sat beside him with the laptop containing the copied USB.
Rafe sat near the pilot.
He wore a borrowed shoulder holster but no weapon.
Nico had not returned his guns.
That did not seem to bother Rafe.
Halfway north, Vivia finally spoke.
“Why would Mom stay hidden after recovering?”
Rafe looked back.
“She may not have had a choice.”
“What if she did?”
Nico’s head lifted.
Vivia looked at him.
“What if she remembered us and still stayed away?”
“She wouldn’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do.”
“You were away at college when everything happened.”
Nico stared at her.
Vivia regretted the words immediately.
He looked toward the window.
She softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Nico said nothing.
Vivia touched the garment bag.
“I just don’t want to invent a mother who spent twelve years trying to get back to us if that isn’t what happened.”
Alessia studied her.
“You’re trying to prepare yourself to be rejected.”
Vivia looked away.
Alessia continued.
“That doesn’t mean rejection is coming.”
Vivia gave a bitter smile.
“You met this family yesterday as your in-laws.”
“I met them years ago.”
“Not like this.”
“No.”
Alessia looked at Nico.
“Definitely not like this.”
The helicopter crossed into Maine.
Rafe received a message on his phone.
He read it.
Then read it again.
“What?”
Rafe handed it to Nico.
A bank alert showed an emergency transfer from Bellandi Holdings.
$18.6 million.
Destination:
MERIDIAN INTERNATIONAL.
Nico stared.
“Daniel.”
Another alert arrived.
$11.2 million.
Then another.
$7 million.
Alessia’s face tightened.
“They’re emptying something.”
Nico called the company’s treasury director.
No answer.
He called the board chairman.
No answer.
He called his executive assistant.
She answered immediately.
“Nico, thank God.”
“What is happening?”
“Daniel issued emergency liquidity orders.”
“Under whose authority?”
“Yours.”
Nico went still.
“What?”
“We received digitally signed approvals from your account.”
“I signed nothing.”
Silence.
His assistant whispered.
“Then someone has your executive certificate.”
Nico looked at the laptop.
The USB.
Old access keys.
Marcella had prepared for this.
“How much can they move?”
“Potentially everything in the reserve pool.”
“Freeze all transfers.”
“I can’t.”
Nico’s voice sharpened.
“Why?”
“Daniel suspended my access.”
“Call the bank.”
“I did.”
“They said the instruction came with dual authorization.”
“Whose?”
There was a pause.
“Yours.”
“And?”
“Vivia’s.”
Everyone looked at her.
Vivia laughed in disbelief.
“I don’t even work for the company.”
Nico’s assistant continued.
“There was apparently a dormant trust authority created after your mother’s death.”
Vivia’s face changed.
“What trust?”
“No idea.”
Rafe looked at Nico.
“Elena’s trust.”
Nico remembered a folder on the USB labeled VIVIA.
“Open it.”
Alessia opened the laptop.
Inside the folder were trust documents.
Vivia Bellandi held a hidden forty-percent beneficial interest in a block of family shares.
Nico stared.
“Forty percent?”
Vivia looked equally stunned.
Alessia read further.
“Created by Elena three months before the crash.”
Rafe swore under his breath.
Nico understood.
“Marcella has been hiding Vivia’s ownership.”
“And if Daniel can fake her authorization…”
“He can move anything requiring beneficiary consent.”
Vivia’s phone chimed.
Marcella.
She answered.
“Where is my mother?”
Marcella sounded calm.
“You’ll see her soon.”
“Put her on.”
“No.”
“Let me hear her voice.”
“No.”
Vivia’s anger broke through.
“You kept her from us for twelve years.”
Marcella laughed softly.
“You still think the story is that simple.”
Nico took the phone.
“Stop the transfers.”
“No.”
“You’re stealing from Vivia.”
“Am I?”
Nico glanced toward the trust documents.
Marcella continued.
“Ask yourself why Elena gave your sister forty percent and gave you nothing.”
Nico did not react.
Vivia did.
Marcella heard the silence.
“That bothers you, doesn’t it, Nico?”
“No.”
“It should.”
“Put Elena on.”
“Your mother left more than money behind.”
Marcella’s voice sharpened.
“She left instructions.”
“What instructions?”
“She expected one of you to become dangerous.”
Nico looked at Vivia.
“Which one?”
Marcella laughed.
“That is what you’re going to discover.”
The call disconnected.
Vivia stared at Nico.
“You believe her?”
“No.”
“You hesitated.”
“I was listening.”
“You hesitated.”
Alessia interrupted.
“She wants you divided before you arrive.”
Vivia looked toward the window.
Nico leaned forward.
“Whatever Mom put in that trust, it’s yours.”
Vivia said nothing.
“Vivia.”
She looked at him.
“I don’t care if she gave you the entire company.”
“You say that now.”
“I’m saying it before we know why.”
She studied him.
Then nodded once.
Rafe pointed ahead.
“We’re close.”
The helicopter descended near a private coastal property.
Below them stood an abandoned-looking medical complex near the water.
One main building.
Two cottages.
An old maintenance structure.
A narrow road leading through dense trees.
No vehicles were visible.
The pilot circled once.
Rafe frowned.
“Something’s wrong.”
Nico looked down.
“What?”
“No lights.”
“It’s nearly dawn.”
“Exactly.”
They landed in a clearing.
Vivia’s phone chimed immediately.
WALK TO THE MAIN BUILDING.
BRING THE LAPTOP.
ONLY NICO AND VIVIA.
Rafe read the message.
“No.”
Nico looked at him.
“You’re staying here.”
“No.”
“They said only us.”
“And they already shot one of your guards.”
“If they see you—”
“They expect me to come anyway.”
Alessia touched Nico’s arm.
“I’ll stay with Rafe.”
Nico nodded.
Vivia picked up the garment bag.
Nico looked at it.
“You don’t need that.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Mom told me never to let them take it.”
Nico wanted to argue.
Then stopped.
They walked toward the building.
The front door was unlocked.
Inside, the halls smelled of dust and disinfectant.
Wheelchairs sat stacked against one wall.
Old medical charts filled boxes.
Nico called out.
“Marcella?”
No answer.
“Mom?”
Vivia’s voice echoed.
Nothing.
They reached a large therapy room.
A wheelchair sat in the center.
Empty.
Vivia ran toward it.
A blanket was still warm.
“She was here.”
Nico saw something on the wall.
A camera.
A red light blinked.
Then a television turned on.
Marcella appeared.
She was somewhere else.
Carlo stood beside her.
Daniel Mercer sat behind a desk.
Elena was not visible.
Marcella smiled.
“Welcome.”
Nico stepped toward the screen.
“Where is she?”
“Close.”
“You have the copy.”
“I know.”
Nico’s expression changed.
Marcella continued.
“I never actually needed you to bring it.”
She looked toward Daniel.
“We needed you away from New York.”
Nico froze.
Daniel smiled.
At that exact moment, Alessia’s phone rang outside.
Then Rafe’s.
Then Nico’s.
Emergency alerts flooded every device.
BELLANDI HOLDINGS BOARD NOTICE.
SPECIAL MEETING COMPLETED.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER REMOVED.
NEW INTERIM CHAIR APPOINTED.
Nico read the name.
MARCELLA BELLANDI.
Vivia whispered.
“This was a distraction.”
Marcella smiled from the television.
“No, sweetheart.”
“This was a transfer of power.”
A door slammed behind Nico.
He turned.
Metal locks engaged.
Marcella’s final words filled the room.
“And the building you’re standing in was condemned for a reason.”
May you like
Nico smelled smoke.
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