Chapter 5 - The Man Who Betrayed Don Vittorio
Rosa tried to open the car door.
Alessandro caught her wrist.
“Don't.”
“My home!”
“Rosa, listen to me.”
“My daughter's things are inside!”
“I know.”
“Her clothes. Her pictures. Her baby blanket.”
His expression softened.
“We'll get them.”
She stared at him.
“You don't understand.”
“Then help me understand.”
Rosa's eyes filled.
“That apartment is the only place where she belongs to me.”
The words hurt more than Alessandro expected.
For four years, he had lived in a mansion large enough to accommodate fifty people.
His daughter had lived above a laundromat.
He had spent fortunes on paintings, watches, cars, and properties.
Meanwhile, Lily had slept in a rented room whose floorboards had become a hiding place for a dead man's secrets.
He released Rosa's wrist.
“No one is taking her from you.”
She looked away.
“You can't promise that.”
“Yes, I can.”
“You don't know what your family is capable of.”
His jaw tightened.
“I know exactly what my family is capable of.”
Marco approached the SUV.
“The apartment is clear.”
“Any cameras?”
“One above the laundromat entrance.”
“Get the footage.”
“Already requested.”
“Neighbors?”
“Two heard movement around six this morning.”
“What kind of movement?”
“Several men carrying tools.”
Alessandro looked at his watch.
Six in the morning.
Less than an hour before Isabella confronted Lily.
Someone had known where Rosa lived.
Someone had known where she hid the envelope.
And someone had acted before Alessandro discovered the truth.
“Whoever took it knew exactly where to look,” he said.
Rosa covered her face.
“I should've moved it.”
“Don't blame yourself.”
“I should've burned it.”
“No.”
Alessandro looked toward the building.
“That letter is important enough that someone broke into your home for it.”
Rosa shook her head.
“I never even read it.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why does everyone want it?”
“That,” he said, “is what I'm going to find out.”
He called his chief financial officer.
“Daniel.”
“Boss?”
“I need everything my father signed during the last year of his life.”
A pause.
“Everything?”
“Every trust, partnership agreement, land transfer, and ownership amendment.”
“That could involve thousands of pages.”
“Then start reading.”
“Yes, Boss.”
“And find Arthur Bellini.”
Daniel hesitated.
“Sir, Bellini disappeared.”
Alessandro went still.
“When?”
“Two weeks ago.”
“Explain.”
“His office shut down.”
“And his home?”
“Empty.”
“Who told you that?”
“I had someone check after an old Romano account appeared in our quarterly audit.”
Alessandro narrowed his eyes.
“What account?”
“An offshore holding company called Meridian Crown.”
“Who owns it?”
“That's the problem.”
Daniel took a breath.
“The ownership is concealed behind several trusts.”
“Whose trusts?”
“We've never been able to confirm.”
Alessandro stared through the windshield.
The laundromat sign rattled in the wind.
“Find out.”
He ended the call.
Rosa was watching him.
“What is Meridian Crown?”
“I don't know yet.”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Anything my father hid from me usually was.”
Marco returned with a tablet.
“Boss, we have the camera footage.”
Alessandro took it.
The grainy video showed a gray van stopping outside the building at 5:52 a.m.
Three men climbed out.
Two entered through the front door.
The third remained beside the vehicle.
At 6:14, they emerged carrying a black leather briefcase.
Then a fourth man appeared.
He wore a dark overcoat and a flat cap.
The camera caught his profile as he turned toward the van.
Alessandro stopped the video.
His face changed.
Rosa noticed immediately.
“You know him.”
He enlarged the image.
“Yes.”
“Who is he?”
For several seconds, Alessandro said nothing.
Then he whispered a name.
“Enzo Bellini.”
“Arthur Bellini's son?”
He looked at her sharply.
“How do you know that?”
Rosa swallowed.
“Your father mentioned him.”
“When?”
“The night he gave me the envelope.”
Alessandro stared at her.
“What did he say?”
“He told me never to trust Enzo.”
Alessandro turned back toward the screen.
Enzo Bellini had worked inside the Moretti organization for twelve years.
He supervised sensitive financial arrangements.
He attended family dinners.
He had been present at Vittorio's funeral.
And he was currently one of Alessandro's closest advisers.
Rosa saw the realization spread across Alessandro's face.
“He works for you?”
“Yes.”
“Then he knew where I lived.”
Alessandro looked toward Marco.
“Get everyone away from this building.”
Marco frowned.
“Boss?”
“Now.”
Marco recognized the tone.
He turned and began issuing orders.
But before the security team could move, an explosion tore through the second floor of the building.
The windows burst outward.
Glass showered across the sidewalk.
Rosa screamed.
Alessandro threw himself over Lily's car seat as a wave of heat struck the SUV.
For one terrible second, the world became noise and flying debris.
Then silence.
Lily began crying.
“Mommy!”
Rosa reached for her.
“I'm here!”
Alessandro lifted his head.
Smoke poured from the apartment windows.
Flames climbed the curtains.
His daughter's bedroom was burning.
Marco ran toward the vehicle.
“Boss, we need to move!”
Alessandro looked at the building.
Then at Rosa.
Someone had not simply stolen a letter.
They had tried to erase the place where his daughter had spent her first three years.
His phone rang.
An unknown number.
He answered.
For a moment, there was only static.
Then a man spoke.
“Good morning, Alessandro.”
Alessandro recognized the voice.
Enzo Bellini.
“You made a mistake,” Alessandro said.
Enzo laughed softly.
“No, Boss.”
May you like
A pause.
“I just finished cleaning up one your father made.”
