Chapter 4 - The Man Who Already Knew
Marco Bellandi entered the drawing room smiling.
That frightened Elena more than anger would have.
He was fifty-two, impeccably dressed, silver beginning at his temples. Unlike Adrian, he carried no visible tattoos and made no effort to appear intimidating.
He looked like a senator.
Or a banker.
Or the kind of man whose photograph appeared in charity magazines while other people quietly disappeared.
“Adrian,” Marco greeted.
Adrian stood between him and Elena.
“Why are you here?”
Marco sighed.
“No hello?”
“You’re on camera switching my father’s medication.”
The smile disappeared.
“What?”
Adrian showed him the footage.
Marco watched.
Then laughed.
“That isn’t me.”
“It’s your face.”
“It looks like my face.”
“Who else would it be?”
Marco looked around the room.
“In this family? That is a dangerous question.”
Elena studied him.
Marco noticed.
His expression softened.
“And you must be Elena.”
She said nothing.
“You look like Sofia.”
“You knew my mother?”
“For many years.”
“That’s interesting.”
“Why?”
“Because she never mentioned you.”
Marco’s smile tightened.
“Your mother was very careful about what she mentioned.”
Vittorio’s voice came from the doorway.
“So were you.”
Everyone turned.
Vittorio sat in his wheelchair, pale but upright.
Elena moved immediately.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed.”
“I’ve been told that many times.”
“Mostly by me.”
“Yes.”
He looked at Marco.
“You came into my house to kill me?”
Marco spread his hands.
“You know me better than that.”
“I thought I did.”
“That footage is fake.”
Adrian said, “Convenient.”
Marco looked at him.
“So is a thirty-year-old secret daughter appearing days before your father reviews his estate.”
Elena stiffened.
“What are you implying?”
Marco turned toward her.
“That someone has manipulated you.”
“Who?”
“Daniel.”
Adrian laughed once.
“Of course.”
Marco ignored him.
“Daniel hates this family.”
“He is this family,” Elena said.
“He hasn’t been for years.”
Vittorio watched him carefully.
Marco continued.
“Ask yourself why Daniel arranged your nursing assignment.”
“He wanted me to find my father.”
“Did he?”
Marco stepped closer.
“Or did he want you inside this house when Vittorio died?”
Elena’s stomach turned.
“That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense if you inherit.”
Adrian moved forward.
“Enough.”
Marco raised both hands.
“I’m warning her.”
“No. You’re frightening her.”
“Sometimes those are the same thing.”
Then a voice came from the hallway.
“Still pretending you’re the reasonable one, Marco?”
Everyone froze.
Daniel stepped inside.
Elena had not seen him in seventeen years.
He was older.
Thinner.
His hair nearly white.
And Vittorio had been right.
He walked with a pronounced limp.
Elena’s breath caught.
Daniel looked at her.
For an instant, the dangerous family drama disappeared from his face.
“Elena.”
She remembered being six.
Remembered his hand holding hers while crossing a street.
Remembered him kneeling to tie her shoe.
Then she remembered the lies.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Pain crossed his face.
“Because your mother asked me not to.”
“She’s dead.”
“I know.”
“You had eighteen months.”
“I know.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
Daniel looked at Vittorio.
“But tonight there are more urgent problems.”
Marco chuckled.
“How dramatic.”
Daniel took an envelope from his coat.
“I have evidence linking Marco to Adriana’s death.”
Adrian moved first.
“What evidence?”
“Bank transfers. Medical records. Payments to the physician who altered her toxicology report.”
Marco remained remarkably calm.
“You expect them to believe documents you produced?”
“No.”
Daniel reached inside his jacket again.
Adrian’s guards raised weapons instantly.
Daniel slowly held up a flash drive.
“I expect them to believe the doctor.”
Elena stared.
“He’s alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Safe.”
Marco laughed.
“Nothing is safe around you, Daniel.”
Daniel’s eyes turned cold.
“Your father taught me that.”
Marco’s smile vanished.
For the first time, Elena saw the man beneath the polished exterior.
Daniel continued.
“Carlo recruited Marco when he was twenty-two. They diverted money from Bellandi companies and used the profits to build their own network.”
Vittorio stared at Marco.
“Why kill Adriana?”
“Because she found the accounts,” Daniel answered.
Adrian went rigid.
Marco said, “You have no proof.”
Daniel lifted the drive.
“I do.”
Marco glanced toward the door.
A small movement.
Adrian noticed.
“Don’t.”
Marco stopped.
Outside, shouting erupted.
Then gunfire.
Elena ducked instinctively.
Adrian pushed her behind a stone column.
Security men rushed into the hall.
Vittorio’s wheelchair jolted.
Elena ran toward him.
“Stay down!”
More shots echoed.
Daniel shouted, “Marco brought men!”
Marco moved toward a side door.
Adrian intercepted him.
They collided.
The fight was brutal and fast.
Marco struck Adrian across the jaw.
Adrian drove him into the wall.
A framed photograph crashed to the floor.
Elena crouched beside Vittorio.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
Daniel appeared beside them.
“We need to move.”
They headed toward the library.
Behind them, Adrian’s security fought through the corridor.
A hidden steel door stood behind one of the bookshelves.
Adrian caught up moments later, blood at the corner of his mouth.
“Marco escaped.”
Vittorio cursed.
“He knows the house.”
Daniel shook his head.
“He knows more than the house.”
“What does that mean?” Elena asked.
Daniel closed the safe-room door.
“He has men inside Adrian’s organization.”
Adrian stared at him.
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“Wonderful.”
Elena looked at Daniel.
“Why were you really keeping my mother hidden?”
Daniel’s face softened.
“At first? Because Carlo would have killed both of you.”
“And later?”
“Because Sofia refused to return.”
“Why?”
“She knew Adriana.”
Adrian frowned.
“My mother?”
Daniel nodded.
“They met secretly.”
Vittorio stared.
“What?”
“Sofia wanted to tell her everything.”
Elena could barely process it.
“About me?”
“Yes.”
“And Adriana knew?”
Daniel looked toward Adrian.
“Your mother knew Elena existed.”
Adrian said nothing.
“She didn’t hate Sofia,” Daniel continued. “She helped her.”
Vittorio closed his eyes.
Daniel spoke quietly.
“Adriana planned to expose Carlo and Marco and bring Sofia back after you were safe.”
Adrian’s voice cracked slightly.
“Then Marco killed her.”
“Yes.”
The safe room fell silent.
For years Adrian had probably imagined his mother’s death as one mystery.
Now it was tied to Elena.
To Sofia.
To everything.
Daniel handed Adrian the flash drive.
“This can destroy Marco.”
Adrian took it.
“Then why hasn’t it?”
“Because there’s one problem.”
“What?”
“The doctor’s testimony proves the poisoning.”
Daniel glanced at Vittorio.
“But Marco kept records too.”
“Of what?”
“Everything Vittorio did when he controlled the organization.”
Vittorio’s face hardened.
Elena looked between them.
“What does that mean?”
Daniel answered carefully.
“Your father built his empire in a violent world.”
Vittorio said nothing.
“If Marco is cornered, he will release evidence that could send Vittorio to prison for the rest of his life.”
Elena stared at the old man.
Vittorio looked back.
No denial.
No excuses.
Elena finally understood the real trap.
Stopping Marco might expose every sin her father had spent decades burying.
Adrian looked at Vittorio.
“What do you want me to do?”
Vittorio’s answer came immediately.
“Release everything.”
Daniel stared.
“Vittorio.”
“You heard me.”
“You could die in prison.”
“I could.”
Vittorio turned to Elena.
“But I already lost thirty years with one daughter because I allowed fear to make decisions for me.”
Then he looked at Adrian.
“I will not lose another child protecting my reputation.”
Elena’s eyes burned.
Before anyone could respond, Adrian’s phone buzzed.
A message.
He opened it.
His face changed.
“What?”
He turned the screen toward them.
A photograph.
Taken minutes earlier.
A woman tied to a chair.
Elena recognized her.
Maria Alvarez.
Her closest friend.
The nurse who had covered Elena’s hospital shifts during Sofia’s final months.
Beneath the photograph was a message.
BRING THE DRIVE AND ELENA.
MIDNIGHT.
NO POLICE.
Elena’s blood went cold.
Another message arrived.
May you like
THIS TIME, VITTORIO’S DAUGHTER DOESN’T GET TO DISAPPEAR.
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