Chapter 13 - The Mother Who Wanted Everything
Nico returned to San Luca before sunset.
Isabella was waiting in the drawing room.
She looked at the folder in his hand.
Then at his face.
“You found Adrian.”
Nico closed the door.
“No.”
“I found myself.”
Isabella's expression changed.
Nico placed the DNA report on the table.
She looked at it.
No surprise.
Nico felt something inside him harden.
“How long?”
“All your life.”
“Salvatore knew?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Before you were born.”
Nico stared.
“And he stayed?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he loved you before he met you.”
The answer hurt more than cruelty would have.
Nico sat opposite her.
“Tell me about Adrian.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“We were young.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“Salvatore and I were engaged.”
“Adrian and I made a mistake.”
“A mistake that produced me.”
“Yes.”
“Did Adrian know?”
“Not until years later.”
“When?”
“When you were twelve.”
Nico remembered Voss visiting the family often during his childhood.
Suddenly every memory changed.
“Father let him remain around me?”
“Salvatore was a better man than any of us deserved.”
Nico looked down.
“Then why did he create the council?”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“Good men can build terrible things when they convince themselves the reason is noble.”
Nico placed the trust document beside the DNA report.
“If Vivia loses her claim, you inherit control.”
“Yes.”
“Did Elena know?”
“Yes.”
“Did she suspect you?”
“Yes.”
“Was she right?”
Isabella looked at her son.
“I wanted Bellandi Industries.”
Nico felt his chest tighten.
“But I did not want Vivia dead.”
“You drugged me.”
“To prevent the council from replacing you.”
“You helped conceal the truth.”
“To keep Sofia away from Vivia.”
“You hid for four years.”
“To build my own case.”
Nico laughed bitterly.
“Everyone is secretly building a case.”
“And somehow Elena is still the only one who ended up dead.”
Isabella had no answer.
Nico leaned forward.
“Would you have taken control if Elena's evidence disappeared?”
“Yes.”
The honesty surprised him.
“Would you have given it back to Vivia?”
Isabella remained silent.
Nico nodded.
“There's the truth.”
Isabella looked away.
“I believed a child could not protect this company.”
“She wouldn't need to.”
“You would control it until she was old enough.”
“And then?”
Isabella looked at him.
“I don't know.”
Nico stood.
“I do.”
“You would convince yourself every year that she wasn't ready.”
“At eighteen.”
“At twenty-five.”
“At thirty.”
“You would tell yourself the family needed you.”
“You would die with your hand still around something that never belonged to you.”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“Perhaps.”
Nico took the documents.
“Then you're finished.”
She laughed softly.
“You cannot remove me.”
“Watch me.”
The emergency board meeting began the following morning.
Nico presented evidence of hidden accounts.
The false medical records.
The trust manipulation.
The council's influence network.
Marcella testified remotely before investigators.
Isabella attended in silence.
Three directors resigned immediately.
Two were arrested outside the building.
The board voted to suspend every Bellandi family member from operational control pending an independent audit.
Including Nico.
He voted yes.
Isabella stared at him.
“You're giving away your own company.”
Nico corrected her.
“It was never mine.”
Then the doors opened.
Camilla entered with two investigators.
Behind her came Adrian Voss.
Alive.
A bandage covered his shoulder.
Nico stood.
Voss looked at him.
Neither man knew how to address the truth between them.
Nico chose first.
“Mr. Voss.”
Pain flashed across Adrian's face.
“Nico.”
Isabella stood slowly.
Adrian looked at her.
“It has been a long time.”
“Not long enough.”
Nico interrupted.
“Who attacked you?”
“Sofia's men.”
“Why?”
“Because I refused to give her the archive location.”
Nico frowned.
“She already knew Camilla had it.”
“She knew the apartment.”
“Not where Rafe moved the files.”
Nico looked at Camilla.
She remained near the door.
No engagement ring on her hand.
Nico noticed.
He appreciated the decision.
Adrian placed a flash drive on the table.
“What is that?”
“The council's financial key.”
Marcella appeared on the video screen.
Her eyes widened.
“You had it?”
Adrian nodded.
“For nineteen years.”
Isabella looked furious.
“You let us tear each other apart while you held that?”
Adrian looked at her.
“I was waiting for proof.”
“Of what?”
“That Sofia murdered Salvatore.”
Nico went still.
Adrian inserted the drive.
A scanned bank transfer appeared.
Corrado had received two million euros three days before Salvatore's death.
The account belonged to Sofia.
A second payment had gone to Dr. Serrano.
Nico stared.
“Father's doctor.”
“Yes.”
Adrian opened another record.
A payment to the mechanic who later sabotaged Elena's car.
The payment came from Corrado.
Nico's jaw clenched.
Then one final transfer appeared.
Five hundred thousand euros.
From Isabella.
To Corrado.
Dated two days before Elena died.
The room fell silent.
Nico slowly turned toward his mother.
Isabella looked stunned.
“I didn't send that.”
Adrian stared at her.
“The account is yours.”
“I didn't send it.”
Marcella whispered through the screen.
“Mother.”
Isabella stood.
“Someone used my account.”
Nico's voice became hollow.
“For what?”
Adrian opened the payment memo.
Three words.
STOP ELENA PERMANENTLY.
Isabella shook her head.
“No.”
Nico backed away from her.
“No.”
Isabella reached for him.
“Nico.”
He pulled away.
She began crying.
“I did not order her death.”
Investigators moved toward her.
Isabella shouted.
“I DID NOT SEND THAT PAYMENT!”
They placed her under arrest.
Nico watched silently.
Then Camilla spoke.
“She may be telling the truth.”
Everyone turned.
Camilla looked at the transaction.
“My father showed me something similar three weeks ago.”
Adrian frowned.
“What?”
Camilla opened her phone.
She displayed another bank transfer.
Same amount.
Same date.
Same account.
But the payment memo was different.
STOP ELENA FROM REACHING PROSECUTOR.
Nico stared.
“Someone changed the memo.”
Camilla nodded.
Adrian looked alarmed.
“Which version is authentic?”
Rafe examined both.
“Metadata can tell us.”
He began typing.
Then his face changed.
“The version implicating Isabella was created yesterday.”
Nico looked around.
“By whom?”
Rafe traced the digital signature.
The originating device appeared.
Nico stared at the name.
May you like
The device belonged to Dante.
Marcella's son.
