Chapter 6 - The Woman Behind the Family Name
Marco refused to believe the photograph.
Then he admitted the truth.
He had never seen his father's body.
Gabriel Bellini supposedly died overseas in a vehicle accident.
The remains were considered too badly damaged for viewing.
Antonio remembered the funeral.
Closed casket.
Official paperwork.
Grief.
No questions.
They went to the address with investigators.
The apartment was empty.
But someone had been there recently.
Coffee still warm.
A chair pulled away from the table.
On the wall hung a photograph.
Marco at sixteen.
Marco stared at it for a long time.
"He was here."
No one answered.
A notebook lay on the table.
Inside were dates.
Antonio's flights.
Meetings.
Medical appointments.
Evelyn's work schedule.
Her stomach turned.
"This goes back months."
Sofia examined the notebook.
"Gabriel wouldn't hurt Antonio."
"You don't know that," Marco said.
"I do."
"How?"
Sofia looked at him.
"Because I helped him disappear."
Silence.
Antonio turned.
"What?"
Fifteen years earlier, Gabriel discovered Carlo was still moving money.
He planned to testify.
Then threats were made against Marco.
Sofia arranged Gabriel's disappearance.
A false death.
A new identity.
"Why didn't you tell me?" Marco demanded.
"Because knowing would have endangered you."
"You let me mourn him."
"I kept you alive."
Marco turned away.
Pain replaced anger.
Evelyn understood something then.
Every person in this family had justified secrecy as protection.
Every secret had created another wound.
"Is Gabriel behind this?" Antonio asked.
"No," Sofia said.
"How can you know?"
"Because three weeks ago he contacted me."
Everyone froze.
"What did he say?"
Sofia looked at Evelyn.
"He said someone had found Thomas Foster."
The circle tightened.
Gabriel hadn't returned to attack Antonio.
He had returned because the old conspiracy had started moving again.
They found him that evening.
He surrendered voluntarily.
Marco saw his father for the first time in fifteen years inside a secured police interview room.
Neither man spoke initially.
Then Gabriel said:
"I'm sorry."
Marco left.
He couldn't hear more.
Not yet.
Gabriel gave investigators everything.
Carlo had been involved in the original theft.
But Carlo wasn't behind Antonio's medical emergency.
"Then who is?" Evelyn asked.
Gabriel looked toward Antonio.
"Someone younger."
He explained that after disappearing, he had spent years tracking accounts.
The old money had eventually flowed into legitimate investments.
One person inherited control over several of them.
Carlo's daughter.
Isabella Vitelli.
Antonio's cousin.
Antonio closed his eyes.
Isabella had grown up beside him.
Birthdays.
Holidays.
Funerals.
Board meetings.
Family dinners.
"Why would she do this?"
Gabriel answered.
"Because she discovered what her father did."
"That doesn't explain attacking me."
"She didn't want to protect Carlo."
Gabriel slid a document forward.
"She wanted to destroy him."
Evelyn understood first.
"By framing him for Antonio's death."
Gabriel nodded.
If Antonio died after a staged trail of evidence pointed toward Carlo, investigators would uncover the old financial crimes.
Carlo would lose everything.
But Isabella had underestimated Evelyn.
She hadn't expected a flight attendant to notice Antonio's symptoms so quickly.
She hadn't expected him to survive.
Antonio stared at the table.
"My cousin tried to kill me to punish her father?"
Gabriel's answer was quieter.
"She convinced herself it was justice."
The room remained silent.
Then Evelyn asked the question no one else had.
"Why was my name on the warning?"
Gabriel looked at her.
"Because I sent it."
Antonio stood.
"You?"
"I knew Isabella had selected that flight."
"Why not call police?"
"I had suspicions, not proof."
"So you used Evelyn?"
Gabriel looked ashamed.
"I knew her father. I knew how observant Thomas was."
"She's not Thomas."
"No."
Gabriel met Evelyn's eyes.
"She was better."
Evelyn didn't feel complimented.
She felt manipulated.
"You put my name into this."
"I tried to warn Antonio."
"You put me in danger."
"Yes."
At least he admitted it.
Evelyn stood.
"I'm done."
Antonio followed her into the corridor.
"Evelyn."
"No."
"Listen."
"I saved your life because it was my job. Since then, I've been photographed, followed, lied to, and dragged into a twenty-eight-year family war."
"You're right."
That stopped her.
Antonio wasn't defending himself.
"I'm sorry."
Evelyn looked at him.
"You don't get to control everything."
"I know."
"Do you?"
"I'm learning."
Her phone vibrated.
Both of them looked down.
A message from Thomas.
CALL ME NOW.
Evelyn called.
Her father answered immediately.
"I found something."
"What?"
"Your mother kept a copy of the original audit."
Evelyn stopped breathing.
"Where?"
"In a box I haven't opened since she died."
"What does it show?"
Thomas's voice trembled.
"Carlo wasn't the person who ordered the evidence destroyed."
Antonio moved closer.
Evelyn put the phone on speaker.
"Who was?"
Thomas whispered:
"Sofia."
Antonio went completely still.
May you like
Then the door behind them opened.
His mother was standing there.
