Chapter 9 - WHAT MARCO BURIED
They found Marco Bellini before sunset.
Not through Luca’s security.
Not through police.
Through Vanessa.
She called Sofia.
Sofia almost ignored it.
Then answered.
Vanessa’s voice sounded exhausted.
“I know where my father is.”
“Where?”
“At the old Bellini house.”
“In Chicago?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“He called me.”
“What did he say?”
Vanessa hesitated.
“He said he’s done running.”
Sofia looked at Luca.
They were still in Florida.
Luca mouthed,
“Speaker.”
Sofia activated it.
Vanessa continued.
“He has the Red File.”
Luca leaned closer.
“Is he willing to hand it over?”
“Yes.”
“Why now?”
Vanessa went quiet.
Then,
“Because Robert Vale called him.”
Everyone looked at Vale.
The old man nodded.
“I did.”
“When?”
“While you were inside getting water.”
Luca stared.
“What did you say?”
Vale looked at Sofia.
“That the children finally knew enough.”
Sofia did not correct the word children.
Vale continued.
“I told Marco either he gives you the rest or I will.”
Luca frowned.
“You said you didn’t know what happened after Antonio took Gabriel.”
“I know pieces.”
“Then tell us now.”
Vale shook his head.
“That belongs to Marco.”
Sofia’s patience snapped.
“No.”
Vale looked at her.
“No more of that.”
“Of what?”
“Adults deciding which truth belongs to whom.”
Vale stared.
Sofia continued.
“You’re eighty-four.”
“Dr. Mercer is eighty-one.”
“Leonard is sixty-three.”
“My parents are dead.”
“Luca’s parents are dead.”
“Gabriel is probably dead.”
She pointed toward the table.
“And I am thirty-eight years old.”
“You do not get to protect me with silence.”
Vale slowly nodded.
“You’re right.”
Then he told them.
After Elena’s crash, Antonio blamed Gabriel.
Marco Bellini located Gabriel at an abandoned warehouse outside Joliet.
Antonio arrived first.
Vale arrived second.
Marco arrived last.
Gabriel was alive.
Injured from the vehicle collision.
But conscious.
Antonio wanted to call police.
Gabriel laughed at him.
He said police would expose Sofia.
He said the trust.
The hidden payments.
The staged death.
Everything.
Antonio hesitated.
That hesitation was enough.
Gabriel reached for a weapon.
Marco stopped him.
Vale did not describe how.
He only said Gabriel never left the warehouse alive.
Sofia looked at him.
“Marco killed Gabriel?”
Vale nodded.
Daniel stood.
His face white.
Luca said nothing.
Vale continued.
“Antonio wanted to report it.”
“Marco refused.”
“Why?”
“He believed Vanessa would lose her father.”
Sofia laughed bitterly.
“So Marco protected his daughter by making everyone else live inside another lie.”
Vale looked down.
“Yes.”
“What did Antonio do?”
“He helped bury the truth.”
“Again.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Vale shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“Marco does.”
Daniel walked outside.
Emma followed at a distance but did not approach.
He stood near the driveway with both hands on his head.
Gabriel had been a terrible father.
But learning someone killed your father still cuts a place logic cannot reach.
Sofia eventually went outside.
Daniel looked at her.
“I shouldn’t be upset.”
She frowned.
“Why?”
“He tried to use you as leverage.”
“Yes.”
“He caused Elena’s death.”
“Yes.”
“He destroyed my mother.”
“Probably.”
Daniel stared at the ground.
“I still wanted him to have died in an accident.”
Sofia nodded.
“I understand.”
Daniel looked at her.
“How?”
“Because Antonio abandoned me.”
Her voice softened.
“And hearing his recording still broke my heart.”
Daniel nodded.
Family grief did not require innocence.
That evening, they flew back to Chicago.
Nobody spoke much.
By the time they reached the old Bellini house, rain had started.
Vanessa waited at the gate.
No makeup.
Jeans.
Black sweater.
Nothing like the woman in the red satin gown from the engagement dinner.
Sofia stepped out first.
Vanessa looked at her.
“I’m sorry.”
Sofia replied,
“You’ve said that.”
“I know.”
“I haven’t decided what it means.”
“I know that too.”
They entered.
Marco Bellini sat in the study.
Seventy years old.
Gray hair.
Straight posture.
The Red File lay on the desk.
Luca stopped across from him.
Marco looked at Sofia.
“You look like Elena.”
Sofia’s expression hardened.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“For what part?”
Marco looked down.
“All of it.”
She sat.
“Then start at the hospital.”
Marco did.
He admitted helping Gabriel.
He admitted paying Margaret Mercer.
He admitted believing they were temporarily moving Baby B.
He admitted discovering Gabriel’s real intent.
He admitted warning Antonio.
Then he described the years afterward.
Marco became Antonio’s secret source.
He watched Gabriel.
He kept records.
He helped move Sofia when threats resurfaced.
He knew where the Bennetts lived.
He watched from a distance.
Sofia stared.
“You watched me grow up too.”
“Yes.”
“Did you ever meet my parents?”
“No.”
“Did you send the man after Elena’s funeral?”
Marco looked confused.
“What man?”
“Robert Vale.”
“No.”
Vale had claimed he warned the Bennetts.
Marco denied ordering it.
Another loose thread.
Luca asked about Gabriel.
Marco’s face changed.
“I killed him.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Luca said nothing.
Marco continued.
“He reached for a gun.”
“I acted.”
“I could tell you it was self-defense.”
“Maybe it was.”
“But by then, I had spent nineteen years helping bury what he did.”
“I didn’t trust police.”
“I didn’t trust Antonio.”
“I barely trusted myself.”
Sofia asked,
“Where is he buried?”
Marco looked at her.
“He isn’t.”
Everyone froze.
“What?”
“I called authorities anonymously.”
“They found his body.”
Luca frowned.
“There was no report.”
“Not under Gabriel Moretti.”
“Then what name?”
“John Cross.”
Daniel went still.
His mother’s surname.
Marco nodded.
“Anne identified him privately.”
Daniel whispered,
“My mother knew?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She wanted Gabriel dead in your memory before he could destroy anything else.”
Daniel looked away.
Marco pushed the Red File toward Luca.
“Everything is there.”
Luca did not touch it.
Sofia did.
She opened it.
Inside were photographs.
Payments.
Transcripts.
Letters.
One file labeled ELENA.
Sofia opened it.
The first document was a handwritten statement from Marco.
Dated the day after Elena’s crash.
He described seeing Gabriel’s vehicle strike Elena.
He described trying to stop him.
He described Antonio’s arrival later.
Then Sofia found another envelope.
RACHEL BENNETT.
Her hands froze.
She opened it.
Inside was correspondence between Rachel and Marco.
Not threats.
Updates.
Rachel had voluntarily told Marco when Sofia changed schools.
When she went to college.
When she moved apartments.
Sofia stood so quickly the chair fell.
“No.”
Marco looked at her.
“Sofia—”
“My mother worked with you?”
“She wanted you safe.”
“Stop saying that.”
Marco fell silent.
Sofia read another letter.
Marco,
Sofia has started asking more questions.
I will not lie if she asks whether I knew Elena.
But she is finally happy after Thomas’s heart attack and I will not tear her life apart unless there is a reason.
Tell Antonio I will not accept any more money.
Rachel.
Sofia cried.
“My mother took money?”
Marco shook his head.
“Only for security expenses.”
“She refused personal payments.”
“Antonio tried.”
“She sent them back.”
Sofia read the next letter.
After Elena’s death.
Marco,
A man came to my home.
He said he worked for you.
I do not believe him.
He had a scar by his left ear.
If he comes again, I am calling police.
Who is he?
Rachel.
Marco’s face changed.
“I never saw this.”
Sofia looked up.
“It’s in your file.”
Marco stared.
“That letter was not in there when I sealed it.”
Luca stepped closer.
“Who had access?”
Marco answered immediately.
“Robert Vale.”
Everyone froze.
Sofia’s stomach dropped.
Vale had described himself as the man.
Rachel thought he worked for Marco.
Vale claimed he only wanted to protect her.
But he had apparently intercepted Rachel’s warning.
Luca took out his phone.
He called Vale.
No answer.
Again.
No answer.
Then Daniel found something deeper inside the Red File.
A payment.
June 4, 2007.
Two days after Elena died.
ROBERT VALE.
$250,000.
Source:
G. MORETTI LEGACY ACCOUNT.
Luca stared.
“Gabriel was dead.”
Marco shook his head.
“That account was controlled by Anne Cross after his death.”
Daniel went pale.
“My mother paid Vale?”
No one knew why.
Then Sofia found a second payment.
Same amount.
Same day.
Different recipient.
RACHEL BENNETT.
Sofia stared.
“No.”
Marco leaned closer.
“That isn’t real.”
“How do you know?”
“Rachel never accepted money like that.”
“Maybe you didn’t know her.”
Marco looked genuinely shaken.
Luca turned to David.
“Trace it.”
David photographed the page.
Then Sofia’s phone rang.
Florida number.
Robert Vale.
She answered.
“Why is there a quarter-million-dollar payment to my mother?”
Silence.
Vale whispered,
“You found that.”
“Yes.”
“What was it for?”
“Sofia—”
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“What was it for?”
Vale sighed.
“To leave Chicago.”
She froze.
“What?”
“Rachel wanted you away.”
“Why?”
“Because Elena’s death proved the danger wasn’t over.”
“Who paid her?”
Vale hesitated.
“Anne Cross.”
Daniel went pale.
“Why?”
Vale heard him.
“Because Anne knew Gabriel had another contingency plan.”
“What plan?”
Vale’s breathing became rough.
“He left instructions.”
“To whom?”
“Adrian’s mother.”
Adrian.
Again.
Sofia closed her eyes.
“What instructions?”
Vale whispered,
“If Antonio ever reunited the twins, someone was supposed to kill one of them.”
The room went silent.
Luca stepped toward the phone.
“Who?”
Vale’s next words were barely audible.
“I never knew.”
Then a crash sounded through the phone.
Sofia stood.
“Robert?”
No answer.
“Robert?”
May you like
A woman screamed in the distance.
The call disconnected.
