Chapter 6 - The House Where Isabella Waited
Nico refused to let Vivia come with him.
This time she did not argue.
She had heard enough to understand that the adults around her were afraid.
Rafe placed six trusted guards around the villa.
Nico kissed Vivia before leaving.
“I'll come back.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck.
“Promise?”
Nico closed his eyes.
“I promise.”
Marcella insisted on going to San Luca.
Nico wanted to refuse.
Rafe advised against it.
“If Isabella is there, Marcella may be the only person she'll speak to.”
Nico finally agreed.
Dante came as well.
“No.”
Nico blocked him.
Dante stared at Marcella.
“She is my grandmother too.”
Marcella spoke quietly.
“Let him come.”
They reached Villa San Luca at 1:38 a.m.
The estate stood above a dry vineyard.
Its windows were illuminated.
Nico had not seen lights inside that house since he was twenty-nine.
The front door opened before they knocked.
A housekeeper bowed.
“Mr. Bellandi.”
Nico stared at her.
“You were expecting us.”
“Yes.”
“Who told you?”
A voice came from the staircase.
“I did.”
Nico slowly looked up.
Isabella Bellandi descended the stairs.
She wore a cream silk robe.
Her silver hair was perfectly arranged.
She walked without assistance.
No stroke.
No wheelchair.
No trembling hands.
Nothing.
Nico looked at the mother he had visited every Sunday for four years.
The woman he had fed soup when she pretended she could not hold a spoon.
The woman he had read newspapers to when she pretended she could no longer understand words.
Isabella smiled.
“My son.”
Nico's voice broke.
“You let me believe you were dying.”
Isabella continued downstairs.
“You were safer believing it.”
“Safer?”
“Yes.”
“You buried my wife.”
Isabella's expression changed slightly.
Marcella stepped forward.
“Mother.”
Isabella ignored her.
She looked only at Nico.
“You opened Elena's drive.”
“Yes.”
“Then she finally defeated me.”
Nico stared.
“You don't sound surprised.”
“Elena was the smartest person you ever brought into this family.”
Vivia's face flashed in Nico's mind.
“What did you do to her?”
Isabella walked toward the drawing room.
“Come.”
Nico did not move.
“Answer me.”
Isabella stopped.
“I did not order Elena's death.”
Marcella exhaled.
Nico remained unmoved.
“But you knew someone planned it.”
Isabella looked at him.
“Yes.”
Nico lunged.
Rafe stopped him.
Isabella did not flinch.
Nico shouted.
“You knew!”
“I knew Corrado wanted her frightened.”
“That's Marcella's excuse.”
Marcella looked away.
Isabella continued.
“I discovered the plan had changed too late.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“No.”
Isabella looked tired for the first time.
“I expect you to verify it.”
She placed a key on the table.
“Upstairs.”
“Your father's records.”
“Everything Elena never found.”
Nico stared at the key.
“What about Vivia's birth certificate?”
Isabella's expression hardened.
“Who told you?”
“Adrian Voss.”
Isabella's face changed.
“That man is alive?”
Marcella whispered.
“Apparently.”
Isabella almost laughed.
“Then Elena was cleverer than I thought.”
Nico struck the table with his palm.
“Stop admiring my dead wife and answer me.”
Isabella stared at him.
Then she opened a drawer.
She removed a sealed envelope.
Nico took it.
Inside was Vivia's original birth certificate.
Her name was the same.
Her mother's name was Elena Bellandi.
Nico's eyes moved to the line naming the father.
It was blank.
He stopped breathing.
Marcella whispered.
“Nico.”
He looked at Isabella.
“What is this?”
“Truth.”
“I'm Vivia's father.”
Isabella did not answer.
Nico's face hardened.
“I am her father.”
“No one is questioning how you raised her.”
“That isn't what I said.”
Isabella looked toward Rafe.
Nico followed her gaze.
Rafe went completely still.
Marcella noticed.
“No.”
Dante looked between them.
Nico slowly turned toward his closest friend.
“Rafe?”
Rafe shook his head.
“I don't know what she's implying.”
Isabella spoke.
“Elena became pregnant while Nico was in Singapore for eleven weeks.”
Nico remembered the trip.
A merger.
Constant meetings.
Almost three months away.
He had returned in early June.
Elena told him she was eight weeks pregnant.
At least that was what they had believed.
Nico felt sick.
Rafe stepped forward.
“I never touched Elena.”
Isabella smiled faintly.
“I didn't say you did.”
Nico looked at her.
“Then who?”
Isabella pointed toward the envelope.
“There is another page.”
Nico pulled it out.
It was a fertility clinic document.
An embryo transfer authorization.
Nico's name was listed.
So was Elena's.
A third signature appeared beneath theirs.
Salvatore Bellandi.
Nico frowned.
“My father?”
Isabella nodded.
“Elena and Nico froze embryos after their second miscarriage.”
Nico remembered.
They had decided not to use them.
Then Elena became pregnant naturally.
Or so he had thought.
Isabella continued.
“Elena secretly underwent implantation while you were abroad.”
Nico stared.
“Then Vivia is mine.”
“Yes.”
Nico nearly sagged with relief.
“Why leave my name off the certificate?”
“Because Salvatore instructed the clinic to conceal the father's identity in the original registry.”
“Why?”
Isabella looked directly at him.
“To activate the trust.”
Marcella gasped.
Isabella nodded.
“Salvatore's trust transferred control to the first verified biological descendant of Nico and Elena.”
“Vivia.”
“Yes.”
“But Corrado couldn't know when the child was born.”
“So Elena concealed the documentation.”
Nico stared.
“Father died before Vivia was born.”
“He knew Elena had undergone implantation.”
Silence settled.
Isabella looked toward Marcella.
“Your sister discovered the trust six months after Vivia's birth.”
Marcella closed her eyes.
Nico understood.
“That is when you began stealing from her.”
Marcella shook her head.
“No.”
Isabella laughed.
“Do not lie now.”
Marcella turned furiously.
“You signed the transfers.”
“To protect the company.”
“You protected yourself.”
Isabella's smile vanished.
They stared at one another.
Nico realized the two women were not allies anymore.
They were enemies.
Isabella looked toward him.
“Your father did not die because of money.”
“Then why?”
“He changed the trust again.”
“When?”
“The morning he died.”
Nico frowned.
“What changed?”
Isabella spoke slowly.
“If Elena produced evidence that any Bellandi family member had stolen from the company, all controlling shares would bypass us.”
“They would go directly to her child.”
“Vivia?”
“Yes.”
Nico understood everything.
Vivia was not merely an heir.
She was a threat to every corrupt member of the family.
A seven-year-old child unknowingly owned the key to an empire.
Isabella continued.
“That is why the false birth certificate exists.”
“Corrado wanted to make Vivia legally impossible to verify as your daughter.”
Nico whispered.
“And the fake paternity evidence on the USB.”
Isabella nodded.
“Elena knew they planned to use it against you.”
Nico remembered the note.
No matter what they show you about Vivia, remember that panic is exactly what they want from you.
Elena had known.
Rafe suddenly received a message.
He read it.
His face changed.
“Nico.”
“What?”
“The guards at the villa aren't answering.”
Nico's blood ran cold.
He called the captain.
Nothing.
He called another guard.
Nothing.
Then his phone displayed an incoming video call.
Unknown number.
Nico answered.
Vivia appeared on the screen.
She was sitting in the wedding ballroom.
Alone.
The old dress lay across her lap.
A masked man stood behind her.
Then Corrado's voice spoke.
“Bring Isabella.”
Nico stared.
Corrado was supposed to be in police custody.
The voice continued.
“And bring the real birth certificate.”
Isabella closed her eyes.
May you like
Corrado delivered the final instruction.
“Otherwise, Nico, your daughter will learn exactly how her mother died.”
