Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN WHO WASN’T DEAD
Luca listened to Gabriel’s recording three times.
On the fourth, he stopped it halfway through.
“Voice could be fake.”
Daniel shook his head.
“It’s Gabriel.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes.”
Adrian sat in a separate room with David Rosen.
He had agreed to come back to the mansion only after Sofia insisted.
Luca did not trust him.
Adrian did not care.
The question was simple.
Was Gabriel alive after his reported death?
Leonard Bellini answered first.
“Yes.”
Everyone turned.
Vanessa stared at her uncle.
“You knew?”
Leonard nodded.
“His death was staged.”
Luca looked at him in disbelief.
“By whom?”
“Gabriel.”
“Why?”
“He was being investigated.”
“For what?”
Leonard looked uncomfortable.
“Financial crimes.”
Luca laughed bitterly.
“One normal lie.”
Leonard continued.
“He arranged the boating accident.”
“There was a body.”
“No.”
“There was a closed casket.”
Luca stared.
Of course.
He remembered.
He had been nineteen.
His mother stood at the back of the church.
She did not cry.
At the time, Luca believed she hated Gabriel so much that even death could not soften her.
Maybe she knew he was alive.
“Where did he go?”
“Canada first.”
“Then?”
“I don’t know.”
Adrian entered.
“I do.”
Luca looked at him.
“Where?”
“Wisconsin.”
Everyone blinked.
Adrian almost smiled.
“Not exactly exotic.”
“Where in Wisconsin?”
“A cabin outside Lake Geneva.”
Luca stared.
“That’s less than two hours away.”
“Yes.”
“During the period my mother died?”
“Yes.”
Sofia sat.
“Did Elena go there?”
Adrian nodded.
“Once.”
“When?”
“May 2007.”
Daniel looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“My mother drove her.”
Daniel stood.
“Anne?”
“Yes.”
“You knew Mom was involved?”
“Some of it.”
“And you never told me?”
Adrian laughed.
“You spent twenty years pretending Gabriel’s name didn’t matter.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“Because he ruined our mother’s life.”
“And yet she kept his recordings.”
“Because she was afraid.”
“Same difference.”
Sofia interrupted.
“No.”
Both brothers looked at her.
She continued.
“We’re not doing this.”
“Doing what?”
Daniel asked.
“Turning dead parents into weapons.”
Silence.
“I’ve had enough of people using what someone else did to control the person standing in front of them.”
She looked at Adrian.
“If you have evidence, give it.”
Then Daniel.
“If you know something, say it.”
Then Luca.
“And nobody gets to decide what I can handle.”
Luca nodded.
Adrian studied her.
Then removed another small envelope.
“Gabriel wrote this after Elena died.”
Sofia opened it.
The letter was not affectionate.
It was terrified.
ELENA IS DEAD.
ANTONIO THINKS I DID IT.
MARCO THINKS ANTONIO DID IT.
THEY ARE BOTH WRONG.
She read the next line.
Then froze.
THE PERSON WHO FOLLOWED HER WAS NOT WORKING FOR EITHER FAMILY.
Luca took the page.
“Who?”
Adrian pointed lower.
Antonio’s former chief financial officer.
Robert Vale.
The name meant something.
Luca remembered him.
Older man.
Quiet.
Worked for Antonio until 2008.
Retired suddenly.
Luca had attended his retirement dinner.
Vanessa whispered,
“Vale.”
Sofia looked at her.
“You know the name?”
Vanessa nodded slowly.
“My father hates him.”
“Why?”
“He says Robert stole from both families.”
Adrian laughed.
“That’s the polite version.”
Luca asked,
“Where is he now?”
David Rosen searched.
“Alive.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Eighty-four.”
“Residence?”
“Naples, Florida.”
Sofia looked at Leonard.
“You said you lived in Florida.”
Leonard’s face changed.
“I did.”
“Near Naples?”
Silence.
Vanessa turned.
“Uncle Leonard?”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Did you know Vale?”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
Leonard whispered,
“He was my neighbor.”
Everyone stared.
Sofia laughed softly.
“Of course he was.”
Leonard looked ashamed.
“I told you I was a coward.”
“What did he tell you?”
“He said Elena found something in Antonio’s finances.”
“What?”
“A hidden account.”
“Related to me?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Leonard looked at Luca.
“Payments to a private investigator.”
“For?”
“Tracking Gabriel.”
“That makes sense.”
Leonard shook his head.
“Not after Gabriel supposedly died.”
Luca frowned.
Antonio had continued paying someone to track Gabriel after the funeral.
Because he knew Gabriel was alive.
“And Vale?”
“He redirected some payments.”
“To whom?”
Leonard swallowed.
“Marco.”
Vanessa stiffened.
“What?”
Leonard nodded.
“Your father was being paid by Antonio.”
“For what?”
“To watch Gabriel.”
Vanessa stared.
“So Marco wasn’t working with Gabriel anymore.”
“Not by then.”
Luca rubbed his face.
The alliances kept changing.
Enemies became informants.
Informants became threats.
Everyone had been protecting someone from someone else.
And every act of protection had produced another lie.
Sofia asked,
“Why was Vale following Elena?”
Leonard shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“But you think he was.”
“Yes.”
“Did he cause the crash?”
“I never asked.”
“Why not?”
Leonard’s eyes filled.
“Because I was afraid the answer would make me responsible for doing something.”
Sofia stared at him.
That was the theme of the entire family.
People choosing ignorance because knowledge created obligation.
She looked at Luca.
“We go to Florida.”
He nodded.
“When?”
“Today.”
“You haven’t slept.”
“Neither have you.”
“I can sleep on a plane.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Private?”
“Yes.”
“That is going to take some getting used to.”
Luca almost smiled.
Before they left, Sofia asked to return to her apartment.
Luca offered a driver.
She accepted.
He did not insist on security.
Emma went with her.
Sofia lived in Evanston.
Third floor.
Two-bedroom apartment.
Books everywhere.
Plants in the windows.
Nothing luxurious.
Nothing that looked like a woman expecting forty-one percent of a corporate empire.
Emma stood near the door while Sofia packed.
On a bookshelf, photographs showed Rachel and Thomas Bennett.
Normal birthdays.
A graduation.
Christmas sweaters.
A beach.
Sofia noticed Emma looking.
“That’s my family.”
Emma nodded.
“They look kind.”
“They were.”
“Did they know?”
Sofia continued folding shirts.
“My mother knew I was adopted.”
“Obviously.”
“I mean about the Morettis.”
She looked uncertain.
“After today, I’m not sure.”
Emma picked up a photograph.
Rachel Bennett standing beside Elena Moretti.
Different from the café image.
This one had been taken at a park.
Sofia froze.
“I’ve never seen that.”
It had been tucked behind another photo.
She turned it over.
Rachel’s handwriting:
SHE ASKED ME TO WAIT UNTIL SOFIA WAS READY.
I TOLD HER I WOULD.
Sofia sank onto the bed.
“My mother knew.”
Emma sat beside her.
Sofia kept staring.
“Rachel knew who Elena was.”
“Yes.”
“She never told me.”
“Maybe she planned to.”
“When?”
Emma had no answer.
Sofia opened the back of the frame.
Another paper fell out.
A letter.
From Rachel.
Sofia.
If you are reading this, then someone from the Moretti family has finally found you, or you found them.
Sofia stopped.
She could not continue.
Emma waited.
Eventually Sofia read aloud.
I promised Elena I would never lie if you asked directly.
But you never asked whether I knew your birth mother.
You asked whether she loved you.
I always said yes.
That was the truth.
Sofia cried.
Rachel wrote that Elena had contacted the Bennetts when Sofia was eleven.
She explained everything.
She wanted to meet her daughter.
Rachel agreed only if Sofia was not told until all adults were certain she would be safe.
Elena met Sofia from a distance first.
Then twice as “Rachel’s friend.”
Sofia remembered a dark-haired woman named Ellie.
Her chest tightened.
“Elena called herself Ellie.”
Emma looked at her.
“You remember?”
Sofia nodded.
“She gave me a book.”
“What book?”
Sofia stood.
She went to a shelf.
Pulled out an old copy of Little Women.
Inside the cover was a message.
For Sofia.
Never let anyone decide the size of your life.
Love, Ellie.
Sofia pressed the book to her chest.
Her mother had touched this.
Her mother had chosen it.
Her mother had written her name.
Sofia sat again.
Rachel’s letter continued.
In 2007, Elena said the danger was finally ending.
Gabriel was “gone.”
She planned to tell Luca.
Then she planned to let Sofia decide whether she wanted contact.
Three weeks later, Rachel saw the news.
Elena Moretti had died.
Rachel became frightened.
A man came to the Bennett house two days after the funeral.
He told them never to contact the Moretti family.
He said Sofia would be safer if the past remained buried.
Rachel did not know his name.
But she described him.
Late forties.
Dark suit.
Scar beside his left ear.
Emma frowned.
“Do you know anyone like that?”
Sofia shook her head.
They took the letter back to Luca.
Leonard recognized the description instantly.
“Robert Vale.”
Luca stared.
“So Vale followed my mother.”
“Then threatened the Bennetts.”
“Yes.”
Sofia folded Rachel’s letter carefully.
“We go to Florida.”
By noon they were in the air.
Luca.
Sofia.
Emma.
David.
Leonard.
Daniel came too.
Adrian refused.
“I don’t trust planes owned by Morettis.”
Sofia told him he was dramatic.
He replied,
“Family trait.”
It was the first joke either had made.
Naples was bright and warm.
Robert Vale lived in a gated retirement community.
David called ahead.
Vale agreed to speak.
When they arrived, an older man sat on the porch.
Thin.
White hair.
Oxygen tube beneath his nose.
He looked at Luca.
Then Sofia.
And began crying.
“I wondered which of you would come first.”
Sofia stepped forward.
“You knew me?”
“I knew of you.”
“Did you kill Elena Moretti?”
Luca turned sharply.
He had planned to ease into it.
Sofia had not.
Vale stared at her.
“No.”
“Did you follow her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Antonio paid me.”
Luca frowned.
“My father paid you to follow my mother?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To keep her alive.”
Sofia’s face hardened.
“She died.”
Vale nodded.
“I failed.”
Luca stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Vale looked at him.
“Your mother discovered Gabriel was alive.”
“We know.”
“She planned to meet him.”
“We know.”
“She believed Gabriel had evidence that could free Sofia permanently from the threat.”
“What evidence?”
“Proof Marco Bellini had turned against Gabriel years earlier.”
Vanessa was not present.
But her father’s name still filled the room.
Vale continued.
“Antonio was terrified Elena would expose Gabriel publicly.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel had allies Antonio couldn’t identify.”
“So he had you follow her.”
“Yes.”
“What happened the day she died?”
Vale closed his eyes.
“She met Gabriel.”
“At Lake Geneva?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“She left.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“I followed.”
Vale’s breathing grew heavier.
“A gray sedan followed me.”
“Bellini shell company?”
Vale shook his head.
“It had Bellini registration.”
“But it wasn’t theirs.”
Leonard leaned forward.
“What?”
“The plates were cloned.”
Silence.
“Who?”
Vale looked toward Daniel.
Daniel’s face changed.
“My mother?”
Vale shook his head.
“No.”
Then he looked at Sofia.
“Rachel Bennett.”
Sofia froze.
“No.”
Vale nodded.
“Your adoptive mother was driving the gray sedan.”
Nobody spoke.
Sofia whispered,
“Why?”
Vale’s eyes filled.
“Because Elena called her.”
“What happened?”
“Rachel was following Elena too.”
“Why?”
“To stop her.”
“From what?”
Vale stared at Sofia.
“Bringing you home.”
Sofia stepped backward.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
Vale continued.
“Rachel believed Elena was going to take you away.”
“My mother wouldn’t—”
“She was afraid.”
“No.”
“Sofia.”
“No.”
Emma touched her arm.
Sofia pulled away.
Vale said,
“Rachel confronted Elena at a stoplight.”
“They argued.”
“Then Elena drove away.”
“Rachel followed.”
“What caused the crash?”
Luca asked.
Vale looked down.
“Not Rachel.”
“Then who?”
“There was a third vehicle.”
Everyone went still.
“Who was driving?”
Vale whispered,
“Marco Bellini.”
Leonard stood.
Vale continued quickly.
“But he didn’t hit Elena.”
“Then what did he do?”
“He tried to stop the third car.”
Sofia stared.
“You said he was the third car.”
“No.”
Vale shook his head.
“Rachel was second.”
“I was third.”
“Marco was fourth.”
Luca’s patience snapped.
“Who hit my mother?”
Vale looked directly at him.
“Gabriel.”
Silence.
“Gabriel left Lake Geneva before Elena.”
“He followed another route.”
“He reached her outside Chicago.”
“He rammed her car.”
Sofia covered her mouth.
Daniel whispered,
“No.”
Vale nodded.
“Marco tried to force Gabriel off the road.”
“He failed.”
“Gabriel disappeared.”
“Elena died at the hospital.”
Luca’s face emptied.
All his life, his mother’s death had been an accident.
Then maybe Marco.
Then Vale.
Now Gabriel.
The uncle whose funeral they had already held.
Luca asked,
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
Vale looked ashamed.
“Because Antonio told me not to.”
Of course.
Again.
Always.
Sofia’s eyes filled with fury.
“Why?”
Vale looked at her.
“Because Antonio found Gabriel first.”
Luca froze.
“What?”
“After the crash.”
“What did my father do?”
Vale’s face went pale.
“He took Gabriel somewhere.”
“Where?”
“I never knew.”
“Was he alive?”
“Yes.”
“For how long?”
Vale looked toward the sea beyond the house.
“I never saw Gabriel again.”
Luca stared.
May you like
Then Vale whispered the last truth.
“But Marco did.”
