Chapter 7 - What Vivia Heard
Nico's return to the wedding villa became a race against time.
No one spoke during the drive.
Rafe checked the security network repeatedly.
Every camera at the villa had been disabled.
Marcella sat beside Dante.
Isabella sat alone.
For the first time, the Bellandi matriarch looked afraid.
Nico noticed.
“You know Corrado escaped.”
Isabella stared out the window.
“He didn't escape.”
Nico frowned.
“What?”
“He was released.”
“By whom?”
“A magistrate.”
Rafe looked back.
“At three in the morning?”
Isabella's voice was quiet.
“The council never slept.”
Nico understood.
Police custody meant nothing if the same people controlled the police.
They stopped half a kilometer from the villa.
Rafe's men approached through the vineyard.
Nico received another call.
Corrado spoke immediately.
“No tricks.”
Nico stared at the dark villa.
“You took a child.”
“I took an inheritance.”
“She is seven.”
“She controls forty-one percent of an empire.”
“She doesn't even know what that means.”
“Which makes her remarkably convenient.”
Nico's voice became deadly calm.
“If you touch her—”
Corrado laughed.
“You threatened me at the mill too.”
“That fire apparently damaged your memory.”
“Your threats don't matter.”
“The certificate does.”
Nico looked at Isabella.
“Why?”
Corrado continued.
“Because it is the last surviving original.”
“You destroy it, and Vivia's claim becomes difficult to prove.”
“Not impossible.”
“Difficult is all expensive lawyers need.”
Nico glanced toward Rafe.
Rafe was already sending instructions to his men.
Corrado continued.
“Bring Isabella into the ballroom.”
“Alone.”
“You have ten minutes.”
The call ended.
Isabella opened her door.
Nico grabbed her arm.
“You're not going in alone.”
“She wants me.”
“Corrado is a man.”
Isabella looked at him.
“I wasn't talking about Corrado.”
Nico stopped.
“Who?”
Isabella didn't answer.
Nico tightened his grip.
“Who is inside?”
She stared toward the villa.
“The seventh council member.”
Marcella went pale.
“You said the seventh member was dead.”
“I hoped she was.”
Nico frowned.
“She?”
Isabella nodded.
“Your aunt Sofia.”
Nico almost laughed from disbelief.
“Sofia died twenty-two years ago.”
“No.”
Marcella looked stunned.
Even she had not known.
Isabella continued.
“She disappeared.”
“Father told everyone she drowned.”
“In reality, she built the council with him.”
Nico's mind reeled.
“How many dead relatives are actually alive?”
Isabella almost smiled.
“Fewer than you fear.”
Rafe opened his door.
“We move.”
Nico entered through the kitchen.
The house was eerily quiet.
No bodies.
No guards.
Only abandoned radios on the floor.
They reached the ballroom.
Vivia sat exactly where the video had shown.
Nico rushed toward her.
“Daddy.”
No one stopped him.
He lifted her into his arms.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did they touch you?”
Vivia shook her head.
“A lady talked to me.”
Nico looked around.
“What lady?”
Slow applause came from the balcony.
A woman stepped into view.
She was perhaps seventy.
Tall.
Elegant.
White hair reached her shoulders.
Isabella stared upward.
“Sofia.”
The woman smiled.
“Little sister.”
Marcella whispered.
“Oh my God.”
Sofia descended the stairs.
Corrado followed behind her.
He was not holding a weapon.
He did not need one.
Six armed men stood around the perimeter.
Sofia looked at Nico.
“You have Salvatore's eyes.”
Nico held Vivia closer.
“You kidnapped my daughter to tell me that?”
Sofia smiled.
“I asked Corrado to bring the heir.”
Vivia hid her face against Nico's neck.
Sofia continued.
“She is beautiful.”
Nico's expression hardened.
“You don't get to speak about her.”
Sofia stopped smiling.
“You sound like Elena.”
Nico stared.
“You knew my wife.”
“Very well.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No.”
Sofia glanced toward Corrado.
“He failed to protect her.”
Corrado's face hardened.
Marcella laughed bitterly.
“Everybody in this family seems to have accidentally failed Elena.”
Sofia turned.
“And you must be Marcella.”
Marcella froze.
“You've never met me?”
“Not since you were an infant.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“This ends tonight.”
Sofia smiled.
“It ended six years ago.”
“When Salvatore died?”
“When Salvatore tried to dismantle what we built.”
Nico looked between them.
“The council.”
Sofia nodded.
“Your father became sentimental.”
“Elena encouraged him.”
“They wanted legitimate business.”
“Transparent accounts.”
“Independent audits.”
Sofia almost sounded disgusted.
“They would have destroyed forty years of influence.”
“So you killed him.”
Sofia did not deny it.
Marcella covered her mouth.
Nico's entire body became rigid.
Sofia continued.
“Salvatore understood the risk.”
“He made his choice.”
“And Elena?”
Sofia looked at Vivia.
“That was unnecessary.”
Corrado flinched.
Nico noticed.
He turned toward him.
“You killed her.”
Corrado said nothing.
Sofia spoke.
“Corrado was instructed to recover the ledger.”
“The brakes were not my order.”
Nico stared at Corrado.
Corrado's face remained calm.
Marcella whispered.
“I told you.”
Nico looked at her.
“You knew.”
“I suspected after the crash.”
“And you stayed silent.”
Marcella began crying.
“I was terrified.”
Nico looked back at Corrado.
“What did you do?”
Corrado finally spoke.
“Elena refused to tell me where she had hidden the ledger.”
“So?”
“I made sure her car wouldn't reach the police.”
Vivia lifted her head.
Nico immediately covered her ear.
But she had already heard.
Her small face changed.
“You broke Mommy's car?”
Corrado looked at her.
For the first time, he appeared uncomfortable.
Nico handed Vivia to Rafe.
“Take her out.”
Sofia raised one hand.
Her guards blocked the doors.
“No one leaves.”
Nico looked toward Vivia.
Rafe crouched beside her.
“Cover your ears.”
Vivia obeyed.
Nico turned back toward Corrado.
“What happened that night?”
Corrado's voice stayed cold.
“I paid a mechanic to weaken the brake line.”
Nico stopped breathing.
“I expected her to panic.”
“Pull over.”
“Call you.”
“She didn't.”
“The line failed on the mountain descent.”
Nico's eyes burned.
“And you let me identify her body while pretending to comfort me.”
Corrado looked away.
Nico crossed the distance between them.
He struck Corrado once.
Corrado fell against a chair.
The guards raised weapons.
Sofia shouted.
“Enough.”
Nico ignored them.
He grabbed Corrado's collar.
“Elena was alive after the crash, wasn't she?”
Corrado froze.
Nico saw it.
“Wasn't she?”
Corrado remained silent.
Sofia closed her eyes.
Nico shook him.
“WASN'T SHE?”
Corrado finally answered.
“Yes.”
Nico's face emptied.
“How long?”
“Six minutes.”
“Did she speak?”
“Yes.”
Nico's voice cracked.
“What did she say?”
Corrado looked toward Vivia.
Nico followed his gaze.
His daughter still had her ears covered.
Corrado whispered.
“She said Vivia had already found the ledger.”
Nico turned toward his daughter.
Vivia lowered one hand.
“I didn't.”
Everyone stared at her.
Vivia looked at the old dress.
“Mommy told him the wrong thing.”
Sofia's eyes narrowed.
Vivia continued.
“She told me bad people would ask about a red book.”
“She said I should always say I had it.”
Nico's heart broke and swelled at the same time.
Elena had used a lie to protect the real evidence.
Sofia suddenly looked alarmed.
“Then where is the ledger?”
Vivia looked toward Nico.
“I know.”
Nico stared.
Vivia pointed at the torn wedding dress.
“Mommy said everyone would look inside the dress.”
May you like
Then she touched one of the pearl buttons.
“But nobody looks inside the buttons.”
