Chapter 10 - The Order
Nico turned toward his mother.
Isabella had heard enough to understand.
She shook her head.
“Voss is lying.”
Nico walked toward her.
“Who ordered Corrado to kill Elena?”
“No one.”
“Corrado admitted sabotaging her brakes.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
“You expect me to believe the woman who controlled the council didn't know?”
“I never controlled the council.”
“Sofia?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did Voss tell me to ask you?”
“Because Adrian Voss wants us divided.”
Marcella approached.
“Mother.”
Isabella looked at her.
Marcella's voice became cautious.
“Did you ever tell Corrado Elena had to be stopped?”
Isabella hesitated.
That hesitation destroyed her defense.
Nico stared.
“What exactly did you say?”
Isabella looked toward the lake.
“I told him Elena could not reach the prosecutor.”
Nico's jaw tightened.
“How was he supposed to stop her?”
“I expected surveillance.”
“Pressure.”
“Threats.”
Marcella laughed bitterly.
“The same thing I expected.”
Isabella turned on her.
“Do not compare us.”
“Why not?”
“At least I admit I'm a coward.”
Isabella's face changed.
Marcella stepped closer.
“You created us.”
“You taught me that family reputation mattered more than truth.”
“You taught Nico to forgive every secret if it came wrapped in the Bellandi name.”
“You taught Father that fear was loyalty.”
Isabella slapped Marcella.
Marcella staggered.
Nico caught her.
Vivia was not present.
Nico was grateful.
Marcella touched her cheek.
Then she laughed.
“See?”
“This is all you know.”
Isabella raised her hand again.
Nico caught her wrist.
“No more.”
Mother and son stared at one another.
Nico released her.
Rafe interrupted.
“Voss's boat is heading north.”
“Can we track him?”
“For now.”
Nico looked at the investigators.
“Go.”
The chase ended at a private marina.
Voss's boat was abandoned.
Inside they found blood on the railing.
No body.
No Voss.
Rafe examined the scene.
“Someone met him here.”
Nico noticed tire marks.
“A struggle?”
“Maybe.”
Marcella spotted a phone beneath the seat.
Voss's phone.
It was unlocked.
The final outgoing call had been made three minutes earlier.
Recipient name.
Sofia.
Nico stared.
“She arranged the meeting.”
Rafe scrolled through messages.
One stood out.
YOU PROMISED ELENA WOULD NEVER OPEN THE COUNCIL ARCHIVE.
Sofia replied.
SHE DIDN'T.
Voss answered.
THEN WHO DID?
Sofia's response came one minute later.
ASK NICO'S WIFE.
Rafe frowned.
“Elena was Nico's wife.”
Nico stared.
“No.”
Marcella looked at him.
“What?”
Nico took the phone.
The message had been written two days earlier.
Sofia could not have meant Elena.
Dante whispered.
“Uncle Nico.”
Nico slowly turned.
Dante looked uncomfortable.
“At the wedding.”
“There was someone we haven't talked about.”
Nico knew immediately.
Camilla.
His fiancée.
The woman he had planned to marry six weeks later.
She had attended Dante's wedding.
She had been seated beside Nico until Vivia arrived carrying Elena's dress.
During the chaos, Camilla disappeared.
Nico had assumed she had been taken somewhere safe.
He had not called her.
He had barely thought about her.
Rafe looked at him.
“Where is Camilla?”
Nico called.
Disconnected.
Rafe called her security detail.
No answer.
Marcella whispered.
“She left the ballroom five minutes before the blackout.”
Nico looked at her.
“How do you know?”
“I saw her.”
“And you didn't mention it?”
“I thought she was frightened.”
Rafe searched Voss's messages.
There were twenty-three exchanges with an unidentified number.
The number belonged to a prepaid phone.
One message contained a photograph.
Camilla was standing inside a records room.
Behind her were shelves filled with black binders.
She was holding one marked with the Bellandi crest.
Nico stared.
“The council archive.”
Rafe nodded.
Nico felt another betrayal forming.
Camilla had entered his life eight months after Elena died.
Elegant.
Patient.
Sympathetic.
Marcella had introduced them.
Nico slowly looked at his sister.
“You brought Camilla into my house.”
Marcella shook her head.
“I met her through the foundation.”
“You recommended her.”
“I didn't know.”
“Did she know Sofia?”
“I swear I didn't know.”
Nico wanted to believe her.
That meant nothing anymore.
Rafe searched Camilla's name through private databases.
Her official history appeared.
Thirty-four years old.
Born in Milan.
Luxury brand consultant.
University in Paris.
Then Rafe opened another identity match.
He stopped.
“Nico.”
He rotated the screen.
An older photograph showed Camilla at twenty-one.
Different surname.
Camilla Voss.
Nico stared.
“Voss?”
Rafe nodded.
“Adrian Voss has a daughter.”
Marcella whispered.
“Oh God.”
Nico looked toward the abandoned boat.
Voss had not merely helped Elena.
His daughter had positioned herself to marry Elena's husband.
Nico's phone rang.
Camilla.
He answered.
“Where are you?”
Her voice was calm.
“Where my father told me to go if everything collapsed.”
“Where?”
“Elena's apartment.”
Nico froze.
“Elena didn't have an apartment.”
Camilla answered.
“Yes, she did.”
“She rented it six months before she died.”
“Why?”
“To hide the council archive.”
Nico gripped the phone.
“What do you want?”
Camilla's voice became quieter.
“I want you to come alone.”
“No.”
“Then you'll never hear Elena's final recording.”
Nico stopped.
“What recording?”
“The one she made after the crash.”
Nico could barely breathe.
“Corrado said she lived six minutes.”
Camilla answered.
May you like
“She lived eleven.”
“And for five of those minutes, my father was with her.”
