Chapter 10 - THE DEAD MAN'S EMPIRE
Salvatore Bellini had never died.
He had disappeared.
There was a difference.
For twenty-five years, he had built an empire underneath other men's empires.
Shell companies.
Political favors.
Blackmail archives.
Judicial appointments.
Port contracts.
Salvatore had turned secrets into currency.
And Marco had been raised as his weapon inside the DeLuca family.
The realization shattered Lorenzo in ways he refused to show.
Every childhood memory with Marco now had another meaning.
Every argument.
Every loyalty test.
Every time Marco volunteered to stand beside Lorenzo.
He had been studying him.
Waiting.
Isabella found Lorenzo alone in his father's old study.
“You didn't know.”
“I should have.”
“You were fifteen when Marco moved into your house.”
“I trusted him for twenty-five years.”
“So did everyone else.”
Lorenzo stared at a photograph of himself and Marco as teenagers.
Marco's arm was around Lorenzo's shoulders.
Vittorio stood behind them.
Smiling.
“My father loved him.”
Isabella touched Lorenzo's hand.
“Maybe Marco loved him too.”
“That makes this worse.”
Antonio entered carrying a folder.
“We found Caterina.”
Lorenzo turned.
His aunt had entered the country three weeks before Isabella's convoy attack.
She traveled under a false identity.
After the crash, she disappeared again.
“She owns property in Red Hook through a shell company.”
“Warehouse?”
“Old maritime customs building.”
Lorenzo grabbed his coat.
Antonio stopped him.
“One more thing.”
He handed Lorenzo another photograph.
It showed Caterina standing beside Salvatore Bellini.
The picture was dated twenty-six years earlier.
They were holding hands.
Isabella stared.
“They were together?”
Antonio nodded.
“More than together.”
“Marriage records from New Jersey.”
Lorenzo looked up sharply.
“Caterina married Salvatore?”
“For eleven months.”
“Your father had it annulled.”
Lorenzo began to understand.
The DeLuca-Bellini war wasn't only business.
It was family.
Salvatore had loved Vittorio's sister.
Vittorio destroyed the marriage.
Years later, Salvatore disappeared.
Marco became an orphan.
Or pretended to.
Caterina vanished.
Now they were all connected again.
The phone rang.
Lorenzo answered.
Marco.
“Pier 19.”
“Midnight.”
“You bring Isabella.”
“You bring Emma.”
“And Lucia.”
Lorenzo's gaze moved to Isabella.
“No.”
Marco sighed.
“Then perhaps Emma stays with my father.”
“You know how much he likes children.”
Lorenzo's expression turned murderous.
Marco laughed softly.
“Careful.”
“Anger made your father predictable too.”
The line went dead.
Isabella looked at Lorenzo.
“We go.”
“No.”
“He needs me alive.”
“He needs Lucia.”
“He needs the trust.”
“Exactly.”
Isabella stepped closer.
“Then we give him what he thinks he wants.”
Lorenzo stared at her.
She smiled for the first time since returning.
And he suddenly remembered that Isabella Conti had never been fragile.
She had grown up around men who underestimated women because they spoke softly.
She had survived a staged execution.
Crossed a city carrying a newborn.
May you like
Lived eight months while hunted.
Now she looked at Lorenzo and said, “It's time Marco learns what my father actually put inside that trust.”
