Chapter 7 - The Lie Between Them
Nora confronted Nico before sunrise.
He looked at the ultrasound and went white.
“I've never seen this.”
“Your handwriting.”
“A good imitation.”
She wanted to believe him.
But belief had become expensive.
Forensic examination eventually proved the ink was recent.
The handwriting was forged.
Isabella had tried to create one final fracture.
It almost worked.
Nora found Nico alone afterward.
“I wanted to hate you.”
“I know.”
“It was easier.”
“I know.”
“Stop saying that.”
“All right.”
She looked at him.
“Why didn't you come back when your father’s threat ended?”
“It never ended.”
“Why didn't you send one message?”
“Because I was afraid.”
That surprised her.
Nico Bellandi admitting fear seemed more intimate than a confession of love.
“Of what?”
“That if I heard your voice, I would come back regardless of the danger.”
Nora's eyes burned.
“That doesn't make what you did right.”
“No.”
“And I don't forgive you.”
“I know.”
She glared.
He almost smiled.
Then she did too.
It lasted only seconds.
But something shifted.
The federal case accelerated.
Eleanor surrendered the ledger.
Isabella was arrested.
Vittorio agreed to testify.
Dozens of shell companies were frozen.
For the first time, it seemed the nightmare might end.
Then Viviana disappeared.
Her apartment was empty.
Her phone remained on the kitchen counter.
A note waited beside it.
NORA FOR THE LEDGER.
Nico stared at it.
“Isabella is in custody.”
Luca whispered, “Then she wasn't running Meridian.”
They had arrested a queen.
Not the king.
Nora remembered Daniel’s recording.
The Bellandis are not the center.
Someone else is.
Luca accessed financial records.
One account remained active.
Its authorized signer appeared on screen.
Marco DeLuca.
Belladonna’s manager.
Nora felt sick.
Marco had sent her to Table One.
Marco had orchestrated the reunion.
Marco had pretended to be Luca’s ally.
Nico called Belladonna.
No answer.
They raced there.
The restaurant was dark.
Table One was set for three.
A candle burned.
Viviana sat tied to a chair.
Alive.
Marco stood behind her.
“I’m sorry, Nora.”
“Why?”
“Because your father nearly destroyed everything my family built.”
“Daniel?”
“No.”
Marco smiled.
“Salvatore.”
Nora understood.
Marco was Salvatore’s son.
Her half-brother.
He had inherited Meridian.
And he wanted her shares.
“Why bring Nico and me together?”
“To prove the child was his.”
Marco looked toward her belly.
“Without confirmation, killing you risked transferring the shares unpredictably. Now we know exactly where they go.”
Nico stepped forward.
Marco raised a gun.
“Don't.”
Nora looked at Viviana.
Then the fire alarm suddenly screamed.
Sprinklers exploded overhead.
Marco turned instinctively.
Viviana kicked backward.
Nico lunged.
The gun fired.
Nora screamed.
Marco hit the floor.
Nico wrestled the weapon away.
Federal agents flooded the restaurant.
Viviana ripped the tape from her mouth.
“About damn time.”
Nora looked down.
Blood.
Not from a bullet.
From between her legs.
A contraction ripped through her.
Then another.
Nico caught her.
“Nora?”
She looked at the clock.
Thirty-three weeks.
Too early.
Another contraction came.
May you like
Nora grabbed his hand.
“My water just broke.”
