Chapter 9 - THE DEAD CFO
Michael D’Angelo was alive.
That fact alone made twelve years of family history unreliable.
Elena was taken to a private hospital under state police protection.
Nico refused to use a Bellandi-owned facility.
For the first time in his life, the family name felt like a liability instead of protection.
Doctors examined Elena for nearly three hours.
Vivia stayed beside her.
Nico waited outside with Alessia and Rafe.
Nobody discussed the board vote.
Nobody discussed the missing money.
Nico’s phone rang constantly.
Lawyers.
Executives.
Reporters.
Board members suddenly eager to explain why they had voted to remove him.
He turned the phone off.
Alessia watched him.
“That must be painful.”
“What?”
“Not answering calls.”
He almost smiled.
“Excruciating.”
Then he looked through the glass at his mother.
“I spent half my life building a company on top of a grave that was empty.”
Alessia squeezed his hand.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“You were twenty-five.”
“I was still old enough to ask questions.”
“You did.”
“Not enough.”
Rafe sat across the hallway.
Nico looked at him.
“You knew Michael.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me everything.”
Rafe leaned forward.
“Michael was Carlo’s CFO.”
“Not Dad’s?”
“The titles made it look like he reported to Vincent.”
“But?”
“He worked for Carlo.”
“How?”
“Carlo built the political side of the company.”
“Bribes.”
Rafe nodded.
“Permits.”
“Judges.”
“Union officials.”
“Inspectors.”
“Anyone who could slow a project.”
Nico’s jaw tightened.
“And Michael moved the money.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would Mom trust him?”
“She didn’t.”
Rafe looked toward Elena’s room.
“She caught him.”
“How?”
“One transfer.”
“Where?”
“Rhode Island shell company.”
“Then?”
“Michael told her everything.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo was preparing to blame him.”
Nico understood.
“Michael was expendable.”
“Yes.”
“So Carlo ordered his death.”
“That’s what my father believed.”
“But Michael survived.”
“Apparently.”
Nico leaned back.
“Whose body did we bury?”
Rafe had no answer.
A doctor emerged.
“She’s stable.”
Vivia stood behind him.
Her eyes were red.
“She wants to talk.”
The doctor looked at Nico.
“Not for long.”
Nico entered.
Elena looked small inside the hospital bed.
But when her eyes met his, he saw the woman he remembered.
Not the frightened patient.
His mother.
Vivia sat on the other side.
Nico took Elena’s hand.
“Tell us about Michael.”
Elena looked toward the door.
“Rafe?”
“He’s outside.”
“Bring him.”
Nico hesitated.
Elena noticed.
“He did not betray me.”
Rafe entered.
Elena studied him.
“You look like Gino.”
Rafe’s eyes lowered.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“For believing Vincent.”
Elena’s expression changed.
“He frightened everyone.”
Nico looked at her.
“Was Dad trying to protect you?”
“At first.”
“What changed?”
“Carlo.”
Elena closed her eyes for a moment.
“When Michael came to me, he showed me the accounts.”
“He told me Carlo had been moving money for years.”
“Dad knew?”
“Some of it.”
“How much?”
“Enough to be guilty.”
Nico looked down.
Elena squeezed his hand.
“Your father was not innocent.”
“But he didn’t want me dead.”
Vivia spoke.
“Then why hide you?”
Elena looked at her daughter.
“Because after the crash, I remembered almost nothing.”
“My name.”
“Your names.”
“Where I lived.”
“Who I could trust.”
She swallowed.
“Vincent came to the hospital.”
“He told doctors there had been threats.”
“He said I needed protection.”
“At first, I believed him.”
“Then?”
“He transferred me to Northshore.”
“Marcella paid.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Vincent could not use a company account without Carlo seeing.”
Nico frowned.
“So Marcella helped Dad hide you from Carlo.”
“At first.”
Vivia stared.
“At first?”
Elena nodded.
“My memory began returning.”
“Slowly.”
“I remembered Michael.”
“I remembered the accounts.”
“I remembered the road.”
Nico leaned closer.
“The crash.”
“Yes.”
“Michael did it?”
Elena’s face tightened.
“He loosened the brake line.”
Rafe inhaled sharply.
“Why?”
“He was trying to stop me.”
“From exposing Carlo?”
“From exposing all of them.”
Vivia frowned.
“But Michael gave you evidence.”
“He gave me enough to make me dangerous.”
Elena’s voice weakened.
“He wanted leverage.”
“He never wanted justice.”
Nico felt something settle into place.
Michael had survived his own supposed murder.
Then reinvented himself as a hidden player.
He used Elena against Carlo.
He used Carlo against Vincent.
Everyone was carrying evidence against everyone else.
Nobody was clean.
Elena continued.
“After my memory returned, Vincent visited.”
“What did he say?”
“He wanted me to stay hidden.”
“Why?”
“Because Carlo knew I survived.”
Nico frowned.
“Marcella knew too.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t they kill you?”
Elena gave a sad smile.
“Because I told them the USB had been sent to a federal prosecutor.”
Rafe looked surprised.
“But it wasn’t.”
“No.”
“You hid it in the dress.”
“Yes.”
Vivia began crying again.
Elena looked at her.
“I needed one thing no one would think mattered.”
“The dress.”
“My mother made it.”
Elena smiled faintly.
“Marcella always hated it.”
Vivia laughed through tears.
“She still does.”
Nico looked at Elena.
“Why tell Vivia never to let them take it?”
“Because she was sixteen.”
“That made her the safest person?”
“No.”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“It made her the person they would underestimate.”
Vivia looked down.
Elena continued.
“I believed Vincent would protect Nico.”
“Nico was already involved in the company.”
“But Vivia…”
She touched her daughter’s hand.
“You were invisible to them.”
“I needed you to stay that way.”
Vivia struggled to breathe evenly.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Elena’s face collapsed.
“I know.”
“Twelve years.”
“I know.”
“I used to talk to you at the cemetery.”
Elena started crying.
“I know.”
Vivia froze.
“What?”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I went once.”
Nico stared.
“When?”
“Seven years ago.”
Vivia’s lips parted.
“I stood across the road.”
“You saw me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you come to me?”
Elena began shaking.
“Because Michael was watching you.”
Rafe’s expression hardened.
Elena continued.
“He found me after Northshore.”
“He told me if I contacted either of you, he would send Carlo proof that I was alive.”
“Why would that matter?”
“Because Carlo believed I still had evidence he needed.”
Nico looked at the laptop bag.
“The USB.”
“Yes.”
“But he never found it.”
“No.”
“So Michael kept you hidden.”
“For years.”
“Marcella?”
“She helped him.”
Vivia’s expression turned cold.
“Why?”
Elena did not answer.
“Mom.”
Elena looked toward Nico.
“Because Marcella needed Michael alive.”
Nico frowned.
“For what?”
“To control Vincent.”
Nico felt another layer moving beneath the first.
Elena whispered.
“Your father wanted to confess.”
“When?”
“After my crash.”
“He was going to turn on Carlo?”
“Yes.”
“But Marcella stopped him.”
“How?”
Elena looked at Vivia.
Then back at Nico.
“She showed Vincent a video.”
“What video?”
Elena began crying.
“One that proved Michael D’Angelo was not the first man Carlo had ordered killed.”
Nico stared.
“Who was?”
Elena’s eyes moved toward Rafe.
Rafe’s face changed before she spoke.
His breathing stopped.
Elena whispered the name.
“Gino Moretti.”
Rafe shook his head.
“No.”
Elena reached toward him.
“Your father did not die of a heart attack.”
Rafe stepped backward.
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No.”
Nico rose.
Rafe’s face had emptied.
Elena continued.
“Gino was killed because he wanted to confess.”
Rafe stared at her.
“Who killed him?”
Elena closed her eyes.
May you like
“Vincent.”
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