Chapter 3 - The Burning Mill
Nico did not remember reaching the car.
He remembered Rafe driving.
He remembered Marcella shouting behind them.
He remembered the burning orange horizon growing brighter through the windshield.
But everything else disappeared beneath one thought.
Vivia.
His daughter was seven years old.
She hated dark rooms.
She slept with a small lamp beside her bed.
She still called thunder “the sky fighting.”
And somewhere ahead, the abandoned Bellandi textile mill was burning.
Rafe drove through the locked gate.
The SUV struck the rusted chain and tore it free.
Smoke rolled across the courtyard.
Nico opened the door before the vehicle completely stopped.
Rafe grabbed him.
“You run inside blind, you help nobody.”
“My daughter is in there.”
“And she needs you alive.”
Nico looked toward the building.
Flames were spreading across the western roof.
Several windows were already broken.
Marcella climbed from the second vehicle.
Nico spun toward her.
“Where would they keep her?”
Marcella pointed toward the rear section.
“Old accounting offices.”
“Why there?”
“Corrado used them.”
“For what?”
Marcella hesitated.
Nico stepped closer.
“For what?”
“Records that could never appear in Bellandi headquarters.”
Rafe turned toward her.
“How long has this been happening?”
“Years.”
Nico stared at his sister.
“You knew all of it.”
“No.”
“You knew enough.”
Marcella looked toward the burning building.
“We can hate each other after we get Vivia out.”
Nico said nothing.
They entered through an old loading entrance.
Smoke hung beneath the ceiling.
Sprinklers hadn't worked in decades.
Rafe handed Nico a wet cloth.
Marcella led them through narrow corridors.
The building had once employed more than six hundred workers.
Nico and Marcella had played there as children when their father inspected production lines.
Now the place looked like the skeleton of a dead empire.
They reached the administrative wing.
Nico shouted.
“VIVIA!”
Nothing.
Rafe kicked open the first office.
Empty.
Marcella opened the second.
Empty.
Nico reached the third.
A small sound came from inside.
“Daddy?”
Nico almost collapsed.
He forced the door open.
Vivia was sitting beneath a desk.
Her wrists had been loosely tied with fabric.
A woman lay unconscious nearby.
Nico dropped to his knees.
“Vivia.”
She threw herself into his arms.
He held her so tightly she squeaked.
“Daddy.”
“I've got you.”
“I knew you'd come.”
Nico closed his eyes.
He kissed her hair.
“Always.”
Rafe checked the unconscious woman.
“She's breathing.”
Marcella stared at her.
“That's Corrado's assistant.”
Nico looked at Vivia.
“Did anyone hurt you?”
She shook her head.
“The lady told me not to scream.”
“Where is Corrado?”
Vivia pointed toward a second door.
“He went downstairs.”
Rafe stood.
“We leave now.”
Vivia suddenly grabbed Nico's jacket.
“No.”
He looked down.
“What?”
“Mommy's box.”
Nico frowned.
“What box?”
Vivia pointed toward the adjoining room.
“The bad man asked me where Mommy's box was.”
Marcella went rigid.
Nico noticed.
“What box?”
Vivia looked at Marcella.
“Aunt Marcella knows.”
Nico slowly turned.
Marcella backed away.
“Nico.”
“What box?”
Marcella looked toward the smoke-filled corridor.
“We don't have time.”
Nico stepped closer.
“What box?”
“The red ledger.”
Rafe stared.
“Elena had it?”
Marcella nodded.
“She took it from Corrado.”
“When?”
“Before she died.”
Nico's anger returned.
“You told Corrado?”
“No.”
“Then how does he know Vivia knows where it is?”
Marcella looked at the child.
“Because Elena must have told her.”
Vivia shook her head.
“Mommy didn't tell me.”
Everyone looked at her.
Vivia whispered.
“She showed me.”
“Where?”
Vivia touched her chest.
“Inside the princess.”
Nico frowned.
“What princess?”
Vivia pointed toward the old factory floor.
“The stone one.”
Marcella's face changed.
Rafe noticed.
“You know what she means.”
Marcella whispered.
“The fountain.”
Nico remembered.
A marble fountain had once stood in the center courtyard.
His mother had imported it from Florence.
At the center was a small stone girl holding flowers.
As children, Nico and Marcella called her the princess.
Rafe spoke urgently.
“We get out first.”
A beam collapsed somewhere nearby.
The building shook.
Nico lifted Vivia.
They ran toward the exit.
Marcella stopped.
Nico turned.
“What are you doing?”
She was looking toward the stairwell.
“Corrado.”
“Forget him.”
“He cannot get that ledger.”
“Marcella.”
She looked at Nico.
“If he finds it before you do, Elena died for nothing.”
Then Marcella ran toward the stairs.
Nico cursed.
Rafe grabbed his shoulder.
“Choose.”
Nico looked at Vivia.
The answer was immediate.
“My daughter.”
They ran outside.
Security and firefighters had begun arriving.
Nico carried Vivia across the courtyard.
Rafe handed her to a trusted guard.
“Stay with her.”
Vivia clung to Nico.
“Daddy, don't go back.”
Nico knelt.
“I need to help Aunt Marcella.”
Vivia looked confused.
“She hit me.”
“I know.”
“Why help her?”
Nico swallowed.
“Because what she did was wrong.”
“But leaving someone inside a fire would be wrong too.”
Vivia stared at him.
Then she slowly nodded.
Nico kissed her forehead.
He and Rafe returned inside.
The stairwell was filling with smoke.
They followed Marcella's footprints through the dust.
A gunshot echoed from below.
Nico froze.
Another shot followed.
Rafe moved first.
They descended.
The basement was partially flooded from broken pipes.
Marcella was crouched behind a concrete pillar.
Corrado Vale stood twenty feet away.
He looked nothing like the calm silver-haired attorney Nico had known his entire life.
His suit was torn.
Blood ran from a cut above his eye.
A pistol was in his hand.
He looked at Nico.
“You should have burned the drive.”
Nico stared at him.
“You took my daughter.”
Corrado smiled.
“I borrowed leverage.”
Nico moved forward.
Rafe blocked him.
Corrado pointed the pistol.
“You always were emotional.”
Nico's voice dropped.
“You killed Elena?”
Corrado tilted his head.
“That depends on what you call killing.”
Marcella shouted.
“Don't listen to him.”
Corrado laughed.
“Still protecting yourself, Marcella?”
Nico looked between them.
Corrado continued.
“Tell your brother who ordered Elena followed.”
Marcella said nothing.
“Tell him who gave me her travel schedule.”
“Shut up.”
“Tell him who replaced her driver.”
Marcella screamed.
“I SAID SHUT UP!”
Nico stared at his sister.
Corrado smiled.
“Family loyalty.”
The ceiling groaned.
Rafe shifted position.
Corrado noticed.
“Don't.”
Rafe stopped.
Nico looked directly at Corrado.
“What happened to my wife?”
Corrado smiled again.
“Ask your sister why Elena was driving alone that night.”
Nico turned slowly.
Marcella was crying.
“I thought they were only going to scare her.”
Nico felt the world tilt.
“What?”
“I didn't know about the brakes.”
Corrado laughed.
“That is almost true.”
Nico stepped toward Marcella.
“You sent them after her?”
“She was going to destroy everything.”
“She was my wife.”
“And you were my brother.”
Marcella's voice broke.
“She was taking you away from us.”
Nico stared as though he had never seen her before.
Corrado raised the pistol.
“That confession will be inconvenient.”
Rafe moved.
The gun fired.
Marcella screamed.
Rafe crashed into Corrado.
The pistol slid across the wet floor.
Nico tackled Corrado.
The older man fought desperately.
Smoke poured down the stairs.
Rafe dragged Marcella up.
Nico held Corrado against the floor.
“Where is the rest of Elena's evidence?”
Corrado laughed through the smoke.
“You still think this is about Marcella.”
Nico tightened his grip.
“Who else?”
Corrado looked directly into his eyes.
“Ask why your father changed his will twelve hours before he died.”
Nico froze.
Corrado smiled.
“He didn't leave Bellandi Industries to you.”
The fire alarm finally began screaming.
May you like
Corrado whispered.
“He left everything to Vivia.”
