Chapter 4 - The Man in the Photograph
Luca's gun remained pointed at Aldo.
Nobody breathed.
Aldo looked exhausted.
Not frightened.
That frightened me more.
“Explain,” Luca said.
Aldo slowly removed his coat.
He placed it on the floor.
Then his phone.
Then a pistol.
“I came here because Vittorio contacted me.”
“You wear the ring,” I said.
Aldo looked at his hand.
Gold.
Black stone.
“Yes.”
“You told Luca you didn't.”
Luca answered without looking away from him.
“He didn't. I said he didn't.”
I stared at Luca.
“Why?”
“Because I had never seen it.”
Aldo twisted the ring.
It came off.
Inside was a tiny storage chip.
“This belonged to Carlo.”
My father's name sounded strange in his mouth.
“How did you get it?”
“He gave it to me.”
“You knew my father?”
“For nineteen years.”
My legs felt weak.
“He worked with you?”
Aldo nodded.
Luca lowered the gun slightly.
“My father too?”
“Yes.”
Aldo looked at the photograph.
“The three of us were trying to end something.”
“What?”
“A network.”
He pointed toward the ledger.
“Officials. Businesses. Judges. Police. Men inside both families.”
I stared.
“Vittorio ran it?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Aldo looked at Luca.
“Your uncle Enzo.”
Luca's face emptied of emotion.
“You told me he was dead.”
“He was supposed to be.”
“Supposed to?”
“Your father ordered him killed after discovering he was laundering money through family companies.”
“And?”
“The car exploded.”
“So?”
“No body was recovered.”
Luca swore under his breath.
Aldo continued.
“Years later, Carlo found accounts that proved Enzo was alive.”
“Why didn't my father know?”
“He did.”
That landed hard.
“Then why didn't he tell me?”
“Because you were twenty-three and angry at the world.”
Luca stepped forward.
“You don't get to decide what my father should have told me.”
“No.”
Aldo didn't defend himself.
“We all made mistakes.”
“My sister died because of one.”
Aldo's face broke.
Only for a second.
“I know.”
Luca stared.
“What do you know?”
Aldo looked toward me.
“This isn't the place.”
Luca grabbed his collar.
“This is exactly the place.”
“Luca.”
Aldo didn't resist.
“Your sister's kidnapping wasn't random.”
Luca released him.
My stomach tightened.
“Enzo?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To force your father to destroy Carlo's ledger.”
Luca's breathing changed.
“He told me kidnappers wanted money.”
“Your father lied.”
“Why?”
“Because the truth would have sent you after Enzo.”
“I would have killed him.”
“You would have died.”
Luca walked away.
He put both hands on a stone shelf.
For the first time since I met him, he looked shaken.
I wanted to touch him.
I didn't.
Not yet.
Matteo sat nearby while a medic cleaned his injuries.
He watched everything.
I looked at Aldo.
“And my father?”
“Carlo refused to destroy the evidence.”
“So Enzo killed him.”
“Vittorio frightened him into a heart attack, yes.”
“You knew?”
“Not until afterward.”
“Did you punish Vittorio?”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because he agreed to work for us.”
I laughed.
The sound was ugly.
“You recruited the man who killed my father?”
“To get to Enzo.”
“My father was dead.”
“I know.”
“My mother spent ten years believing Vittorio was helping us.”
“I know.”
“My brother accepted his money.”
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“You don't get to keep saying that.”
Aldo looked down.
“You're right.”
I wanted to scream.
Instead, I opened the ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Transactions.
Codes.
Luca came back.
His expression had hardened again.
“What does Enzo want now?”
Aldo pointed at the ledger.
“That.”
“Why use Elena?”
“Because Carlo designed the ledger with a second encryption layer.”
“Meaning?”
“The numbers are useless without a phrase.”
I looked at the recipes.
“My father's cookbook.”
“Exactly.”
“But Vittorio took it.”
“Probably for Enzo.”
“Why arrange a marriage?”
“Because Carlo hid something else in Bellandi territory.”
Luca looked around the cellar.
“The safe.”
“No.”
Aldo turned toward the old stone wall.
“This was only the first cache.”
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Where are the others?”
“Carlo never told me.”
I remembered the page from my apartment.
BELLANDI. WEST CELLAR.
“He wrote clues in recipes.”
“Yes.”
“So Vittorio needed access to Bellandi property.”
“And he couldn't simply search?”
“Luca's security would notice.”
“So he married Isabella to Luca.”
Aldo nodded.
“But why substitute me?”
“Because Isabella found out.”
We all looked toward the stairs.
Isabella had remained at the mansion.
Safe.
Or so we thought.
Luca immediately called security.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His face changed.
“Aldo.”
Aldo picked up his phone.
Also no signal.
Luca looked toward the cellar ceiling.
“Jammer.”
Gunfire erupted outside.
We moved.
Luca's men secured the room.
Someone shouted from the stairs.
“Vehicles incoming!”
Aldo drew his gun.
“Enzo.”
Luca looked at me.
“You and Matteo stay here.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“Elena.”
“Don't use that voice.”
“What voice?”
“The voice that assumes I'm going to obey because you're taller.”
Matteo actually laughed.
Wrong time.
Luca glanced at him.
“You find this funny?”
“A little.”
I looked at Luca.
“If Enzo wants the ledger, I'm part of this.”
“You are exactly why you should stay hidden.”
“And what if there is another exit?”
He stopped.
The cellar had been built generations ago.
Smuggling routes.
Escape tunnels.
Mafia mansions didn't become legends by following building codes.
Aldo pointed to the far wall.
“There was one.”
“Was?”
“Your father sealed it.”
“Why?”
“To keep Enzo out.”
Another gunshot.
Closer.
Luca took my shoulders.
The contact surprised both of us.
His hands were warm.
Gentle.
“You don't have to prove anything by standing in gunfire.”
“I know.”
“Then stay here.”
“Will you come back?”
His eyes held mine.
“Yes.”
“You can't promise that.”
“No.”
A pause.
“But I'll try.”
For some reason, that meant more.
He released me.
Then he and Aldo went upstairs.
Matteo looked at me.
“You like him.”
“Shut up.”
“You do.”
“You were kidnapped six hours ago.”
“And yet I still have eyes.”
“Focus.”
We looked at the ledger.
Gunfire continued overhead.
A medic guarded the stairs with two men.
I turned pages.
Codes.
Initials.
Then I found my father's name.
C.C.
Next to it:
GUARDIAN TRANSFER — E.C.
My initials.
“What does that mean?” Matteo asked.
“I don't know.”
Another line.
L.B.
My heart skipped.
Luca Bellandi.
Beside both our initials was a date.
Today.
The scheduled wedding date.
My father had written today's date ten years ago.
Impossible.
I stared until the numbers blurred.
“Matteo.”
“What?”
“Dad knew the exact date.”
He leaned closer.
“No way.”
“It’s here.”
“How?”
I turned the page.
A sealed envelope had been glued inside the ledger cover.
On it:
FOR ELENA AND LUCA — OPEN TOGETHER.
My skin prickled.
Before I could touch it, the cellar lights flickered.
Then went out.
The medic cursed.
We heard stone grinding.
Not from the stairs.
Behind us.
The sealed wall.
Matteo grabbed my arm.
A narrow section of stone moved inward.
A hidden passage opened.
A flashlight appeared.
Then a man stepped through.
Older.
Tall.
Silver hair.
Gold ring with a black stone.
He looked at me and smiled.
I had never seen him before.
But Matteo whispered one name.
“Enzo.”
The man raised a gun.
May you like
And behind him, someone else emerged from the tunnel.
My mother.
