Chapter 1 - The Woman on the USB
Marcella went completely pale.
For three seconds, no one beside the wedding table moved.
The champagne glasses that had fallen during Marcella’s stumble continued rolling across the marble floor.
One finally struck the leg of a chair and shattered.
The sound made Vivia flinch.
Nico immediately looked down at his daughter.
A red mark was already forming on the side of her small face.
His expression changed.
The anger he had felt toward Marcella became something colder.
Something far more dangerous.
He crouched beside Vivia and carefully moved a strand of hair away from her cheek.
“Does it hurt?”
Vivia tried to be brave.
She shook her head.
Then her lower lip trembled.
“A little.”
Nico stood again.
He looked across the table at his sister.
Marcella was holding one hand against her own cheek.
The fury in her eyes had disappeared.
Fear had replaced it.
Nico held the black USB between two fingers.
“You struck my daughter because of this?”
Marcella swallowed.
“You don't understand what you're holding.”
“Then explain it.”
Marcella looked toward the surrounding guests.
Nearly sixty members of the Bellandi family, friends, employees, and business associates were staring at her.
The wedding music had stopped.
Even the bride and groom had abandoned the dance floor.
Marcella lowered her voice.
“Not here.”
Nico did not move.
“You seemed perfectly comfortable humiliating a seven-year-old in front of everyone.”
Marcella's jaw tightened.
“I said not here.”
Rafe stepped closer to Nico.
He had known the Bellandi siblings for thirty years.
He had seen Nico furious before.
But he had never seen him this quiet.
That silence worried him more than shouting would have.
Nico unfolded the handwritten note that had fallen from the torn seam.
The paper was yellowed along the edges.
The handwriting was instantly recognizable.
Nico stopped breathing.
Vivia whispered from behind him.
“That's Mommy's writing.”
Nico's fingers tightened around the paper.
His wife Elena had been dead for eleven months.
Eleven months since her car had plunged through a guardrail on the mountain road north of Verona.
Eleven months since police had called it a tragic accident caused by rain and brake failure.
Eleven months since Nico had stood beside a grave while Vivia held his hand and asked when her mother was coming home.
Marcella took one step toward him.
“Nico.”
He lifted his eyes.
“Don't.”
She stopped.
Nico read the note.
The first line nearly brought him to his knees.
My love, if you have found this, then I was right to be afraid.
His eyes moved faster.
Do not confront Marcella until you have watched everything on the drive.
Nico looked up.
Marcella's face had become almost gray.
He continued reading.
Do not believe the police report.
Do not believe the laboratory report.
And no matter what they show you about Vivia, remember that panic is exactly what they want from you.
Nico's heartbeat began pounding in his ears.
The final line was underlined twice.
Trust the dress before you trust anyone in this family.
Nico slowly lowered the note.
Marcella whispered.
“Elena was sick.”
Rafe turned toward her.
Marcella kept speaking.
“She was paranoid during those last months.”
Nico stared at his sister.
“You told me Elena died instantly.”
Marcella blinked.
“What?”
“You were the first person who called me.”
“Nico—”
“You told me she never knew what happened.”
Marcella looked around desperately.
“That is what the police told me.”
“Then why are you afraid of something she hid before she died?”
Marcella's composure cracked.
“I am trying to protect you.”
Nico almost laughed.
“From my dead wife?”
“From what she became.”
Vivia stepped from behind Nico.
“My mommy wasn't bad.”
Marcella looked at the child.
Something hard flashed across her face.
Nico noticed it immediately.
He moved between them.
“You will never look at my daughter like that again.”
Marcella's voice dropped.
“You have no idea what Elena put on that drive.”
“Apparently you do.”
Marcella said nothing.
That answer was enough.
Nico turned toward Rafe.
“Lock the doors.”
Rafe hesitated.
The wedding guests began whispering.
Marcella's son Dante stepped forward from beside his new bride.
“Uncle Nico, this is my wedding.”
Nico looked at him.
“And I am sorry for what is about to happen to it.”
Dante stared.
Nico spoke to Rafe again.
“No one leaves until I know who knew about this.”
Rafe immediately signaled the security team.
The ballroom doors were closed.
Marcella exploded.
“You cannot imprison sixty people because Elena left behind some ridiculous accusation.”
Nico looked at the USB.
“No.”
Then he looked at Marcella.
“But I can keep the people who watched you strike my daughter from disappearing before the police arrive.”
Marcella froze.
“You called the police?”
“No.”
Nico's voice remained calm.
“I called someone I trust more.”
Marcella suddenly looked toward the ballroom entrance.
That reaction caught Rafe's attention.
He leaned close to Nico.
“She expected somebody.”
Nico nodded once.
Rafe removed his phone.
He checked the security camera feeds from outside the villa.
His expression changed.
“Three black cars just turned off the main road.”
Nico frowned.
“Guests?”
“No.”
Rafe enlarged the image.
The cars had no license plates.
Marcella backed away from the table.
Nico saw her moving.
“Stay where you are.”
She stopped.
The ballroom lights suddenly went out.
Several women screamed.
Someone knocked over a chair.
Vivia grabbed Nico's hand.
“Daddy.”
“I've got you.”
Rafe's voice came through the darkness.
“Nico, move.”
Nico immediately pulled Vivia against him.
A second later, something crashed into the table where he had been standing.
People began shouting.
Security guards switched on flashlights.
A man in a catering uniform was running directly toward Nico.
Rafe intercepted him.
The two men slammed against the table.
Plates shattered.
The man reached inside his jacket.
Rafe drove him backward.
“Hands where I can see them.”
The man ignored him.
Nico pushed Vivia behind a marble column.
He turned just in time to see another supposed waiter reaching for the old dress.
Nico grabbed him by the shoulder.
The man swung.
Nico ducked and drove him into the wall.
Security rushed forward.
Within seconds, both men were restrained.
The emergency lights came on.
The ballroom glowed red.
Marcella was gone.
Rafe looked around.
“Where is she?”
Dante turned in disbelief.
“My mother was right there.”
Nico searched the room.
A side service door stood open.
Rafe cursed.
“She knew the blackout was coming.”
Nico looked toward the men dressed as caterers.
“Take their phones.”
One guard searched them.
The first phone was locked.
The second was still illuminated.
A message was open.
Rafe read it aloud.
GET THE DRIVE.
Below that was another message.
IF HE OPENS FILE ONE, TAKE THE GIRL.
The ballroom became silent again.
Nico looked toward Vivia.
His daughter was still holding Elena's torn wedding dress.
Nico's face hardened.
“Everybody out except family.”
Dante stared at him.
“You just said nobody leaves.”
“That changed.”
“Why?”
Nico handed him the phone.
Dante read the message.
His face lost color.
Nico turned toward Rafe.
“Take Vivia upstairs.”
“No.”
Vivia clung to Nico.
“No, Daddy.”
Nico knelt.
“Sweetheart, Rafe will keep you safe.”
Vivia shook her head violently.
“Mommy said you would do this.”
Nico froze.
“What?”
Vivia looked down at the old dress.
“She said if people got angry about the dress, you would try to send me away.”
Nico stared at her.
“When did your mother tell you that?”
“Before she went to heaven.”
Nico's throat tightened.
Vivia continued.
“She said I had to stay where you could see me.”
Rafe exchanged a look with Nico.
Elena had anticipated this night.
Perhaps not the wedding.
Perhaps not the slap.
But the danger.
Nico took Vivia's hand.
“Then you stay with me.”
They moved to the villa's private library.
Rafe brought two security guards.
Dante followed despite Nico telling him not to.
The doors were locked behind them.
Nico placed the USB into an isolated laptop with no network connection.
A password screen appeared.
Rafe frowned.
“Encrypted.”
Nico examined the screen.
There was one question.
WHAT DID VIVIA CALL THE MOON?
Nico stared.
Vivia suddenly smiled faintly.
“Mommy's lamp.”
Nico typed it.
The drive unlocked.
There were seventeen folders.
Most were labeled only with dates.
One folder had a name.
FOR NICO FIRST.
Marcella's voice suddenly echoed from the hallway.
“NICO!”
Everyone turned.
She was pounding against the library door.
“Do not open that file.”
Nico stared at the door.
Marcella hit it again.
“You will destroy this family.”
Nico clicked the folder.
Inside was one video.
The thumbnail showed Elena sitting in the driver's seat of her car.
Nico's hand began trembling.
He clicked play.
Elena appeared on the screen.
She looked exhausted.
There were shadows beneath her eyes.
But her voice was steady.
“Nico, if you're watching this, something happened to me.”
Vivia stepped closer.
“Mommy.”
Nico couldn't speak.
Elena looked directly into the camera.
“I need you to listen to everything before you react.”
Marcella screamed from outside.
“NICO, TURN IT OFF!”
Elena continued.
“Your sister knows I discovered the Bellandi accounts.”
Nico's eyes moved toward the door.
“The accounts aren't the worst part.”
Elena swallowed.
“The worst part is what Marcella did when your father discovered them first.”
Nico went completely still.
His father had died six years earlier.
Official cause of death had been cardiac arrest.
Elena leaned closer to the camera.
“Salvatore Bellandi did not die from a heart attack.”
Marcella stopped pounding on the door.
The hallway became silent.
Elena whispered the next words.
“He was murdered.”
Rafe inhaled sharply.
Dante staggered backward.
Nico stared at the screen.
Elena continued.
“And I know who killed him.”
The video abruptly froze.
Then the laptop displayed another password request.
Five words appeared beneath it.
ASK MARCELLA ABOUT THE RED GLASS.
From outside the door came the sound of Marcella running away.
Rafe looked at Nico.
Nico slowly rose.
May you like
His face was empty.
“What the hell is the red glass?”
