Chapter 3 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Clara read the message again.
SHE ISN'T DEAD.
Matteo pressed the phone facedown against the blanket.
"Leave."
Julian stared at him.
"Matteo—"
"Everyone."
Marianne moved first.
Clara followed.
But Matteo said her name.
"Not you."
Julian's expression revealed exactly how strange he found that request.
Clara did too.
The door closed.
Matteo looked exhausted.
"Elena Bellandi died nine years ago."
Clara sat.
"How?"
"Car accident."
"You saw her body?"
A long pause.
"No."
That answer changed everything.
"I was recovering from surgery in Switzerland. Elena flew back to Milan after an argument with my father."
"What argument?"
"About me."
Matteo stared at the ceiling.
"She believed Vittorio was using my illness to push me out of the company."
"Was she right?"
"Yes."
"Then what happened?"
"Her car went through a barrier outside Como."
"And they never recovered her?"
"They recovered a body."
"But you didn't identify it."
"My father did."
Clara felt something settle heavily in her stomach.
"Matteo."
"I know."
"Do you?"
His eyes met hers.
"For nine years, I have."
The sentence carried more guilt than anger.
"Why would your father lie?"
"Control."
"That's a large lie for control."
"You haven't met him long enough."
Clara almost reminded him she had met Vittorio for less than ten minutes and already believed him capable of terrible things.
Instead she asked, "Did Elena know about your condition?"
"Everything."
"Your medication?"
"Everything."
"Your bracelet?"
"She bought it."
Clara looked down at the steel band.
"That bracelet?"
Matteo nodded.
The object suddenly felt different.
Not merely medical equipment.
A relic.
A message from a woman who might still be alive.
Julian returned despite Matteo's order.
"We traced the number."
"And?"
"Disposable."
"Of course."
"But the image metadata was stripped badly."
Matteo sat higher.
"Meaning?"
"There was a fragment."
Julian handed him a tablet.
"Lake Como."
Matteo stared.
Clara watched the transformation.
The sick man disappeared.
The CEO returned.
"Get the plane ready."
"No."
Matteo looked at Julian.
"No?"
"You are in a hospital."
"I can leave."
"You can barely stand."
"Then I'll sit on the plane."
Clara said, "That's ridiculous."
Both men turned.
She folded her arms.
"You nearly died."
Matteo raised an eyebrow.
"Do you always speak to customers like this?"
"Only the ones who try to fly internationally after collapsing."
Julian laughed once.
Matteo didn't.
Then Dr. Reeves entered and ended the debate.
"No travel."
Matteo objected.
The doctor ignored him.
"At least forty-eight hours."
"I don't have forty-eight hours."
"You won't have anything if your condition destabilizes again."
That ended it.
Not because Matteo agreed.
Because Clara saw fear flash across his face.
He didn't want to die before learning whether Elena was alive.
By morning, the story had become international news.
Bellandi International shares dropped twelve percent before recovering slightly.
Financial commentators questioned succession.
Reporters gathered outside the hospital.
Vittorio filed his incapacity petition.
And Clara discovered her own photograph on television.
THE MYSTERY WAITRESS WHO SAVED MATTEO BELLANDI.
Her phone exploded.
Friends.
Coworkers.
Reporters.
People she hadn't spoken to since high school.
Then her manager called.
"Clara, don't come in."
"Tonight?"
"Until this settles."
"Am I fired?"
"No."
"Then what?"
"We've got reporters outside."
"So?"
"So customers are complaining."
"About me saving someone's life?"
"About the circus."
Clara hung up.
Matteo watched from the bed.
"Problem?"
"I apparently can't go to work."
"I'll compensate you."
"No."
"Clara."
"No."
"You lost income because of me."
"I lost a shift because reporters are idiots."
"Same result."
"I don't want your money."
Something like surprise crossed his face.
"Everyone wants my money."
"That sounds exhausting."
"It is."
Julian entered carrying coffee.
"Good news. We've identified who leaked the restaurant photo."
Matteo straightened.
"Who?"
"A junior employee named Tyler Reed."
Clara frowned.
"I know Tyler."
"You do?"
"Busser. Twenty-three. Quiet kid."
"He received twenty thousand dollars yesterday."
"From whom?"
"Shell company."
Matteo looked at Julian.
"Vittorio?"
"Possibly."
Clara shook her head.
"Tyler wouldn't know about the bracelet."
"No," Julian said. "But whoever paid him might."
They arranged for Tyler to be questioned.
He disappeared before anyone reached him.
His apartment was empty.
His phone disconnected.
That afternoon, Matteo received another message.
This time there was text.
ASK YOUR FATHER WHO WAS BURIED IN ELENA'S GRAVE.
Matteo immediately called Vittorio.
His father answered on the second ring.
"Feeling better?"
"Who is buried beside my mother?"
Silence.
"Matteo—"
"Who?"
"You are ill."
"Answer me."
"Grief is making you irrational."
"Elena's grave. Who is in it?"
Vittorio hung up.
That was answer enough.
Matteo swung his legs from the bed.
Clara stood.
"Where are you going?"
"To find him."
"You heard the doctor."
"I heard my father."
"You can confront him tomorrow."
"I waited nine years."
"And waiting nine years and one day is better than dying in an elevator."
Matteo looked furious.
Then suddenly dizzy.
His hand caught the bedrail.
Clara moved toward him.
He hated needing the help.
She could see it.
But he allowed her to guide him back.
"Stop treating weakness like humiliation," she said.
His jaw tightened.
"You don't know what weakness costs in my family."
"No. But I know what pretending you're invincible can cost."
He looked at her.
She didn't need to mention her father.
Matteo understood.
He sat.
"Why are you still here?"
Clara considered the question.
"I don't know."
"That's not true."
She looked at his bracelet.
"Because nine years ago somebody convinced you that a woman you loved was dead."
"And?"
"And last night somebody used your medical condition against you."
She leaned closer.
"I think those things are connected."
Matteo studied her for a long time.
"So do I."
That evening, Marianne arrived carrying documents recovered from old corporate archives.
Insurance records.
Hospital bills.
Travel manifests.
One item stood out.
Nine years earlier, two days after Elena's supposed death, Bellandi Holdings had authorized a recurring annual payment to a private medical foundation in Switzerland.
The beneficiary name was encrypted.
Julian broke the encryption through an outside forensic accountant.
The initials appeared.
E.B.
Elena Bellandi.
Matteo stared at them.
"She's alive."
"Maybe," Marianne said carefully.
"No."
He looked at the dates.
Payments every year.
Nine years.
"She's alive."
Clara felt hope rise.
Then Marianne placed another document on the table.
"There's more."
The payments stopped six months ago.
"What happened six months ago?" Clara asked.
Matteo went pale.
"Bellandi Medical announced the acquisition."
"The one you were signing last night?"
"Yes."
Julian looked at him.
"What does Elena have to do with that company?"
Matteo slowly lifted his eyes.
"Nothing."
Then he reconsidered.
"Unless she does."
They examined the acquisition target.
A medical diagnostics company called Novagen Therapeutics.
Four hundred million dollars.
Specialized research.
Rare cardiovascular and metabolic disorders.
Including Matteo's.
Clara felt goosebumps.
"This wasn't just a business acquisition."
Matteo shook his head.
"I didn't know."
"Someone did."
Julian opened the ownership records.
Most investors were ordinary funds.
One was hidden behind several holding companies.
Marianne traced it.
Then stopped.
"What?"
She turned the laptop.
A trust controlled eight percent of Novagen.
The trust's legal beneficiary was listed under an alias.
But attached to an old incorporation document was a signature.
Elena Bellandi.
Matteo touched the screen.
"She's been connected to the company the entire time."
A nurse entered.
"Mr. Bellandi?"
"Yes?"
"There's someone downstairs asking to see you."
"No visitors."
"She said you'd make an exception."
Matteo's face changed.
"She?"
The nurse handed him a small envelope.
No return address.
Inside was a silver pendant.
Matteo stopped breathing.
Clara watched his hand tremble.
"What is it?"
He opened the pendant.
Inside was a photograph of Matteo and Elena on their wedding day.
On the opposite side, scratched into the silver, were four words.
I TRIED TO COME HOME.
Matteo stood despite every warning.
"Where is she?"
The nurse looked toward the door.
"She's coming up now."
The elevator bell sounded outside.
Matteo stared at the hallway.
May you like
The doors began to open.
And a woman stepped out wearing Elena Bellandi's pendant around her neck.
