Chapter 6 - THE MORETTI PATRIARCH
Vittorio Moretti had been dead for eleven months.
That made Isabella’s accusation worse.
Dead men could not be questioned.
They could only leave ghosts.
Silana replayed the video three times.
Isabella had no proof beyond conversations she overheard and a financial ledger she believed Vittorio had hidden.
But the possibility poisoned every memory Silana possessed.
His father had taught him how to drive.
How to throw a punch.
How to hide fear.
He had also stood at Isabella’s funeral and held Silana upright while two white coffins disappeared into the earth.
Bella sat across the library while Leo slept against her shoulder.
“Why would your father want your wife killed?”
Silana stared at the frozen image of Isabella.
“He opposed our marriage.”
“Why?”
“She wanted me out.”
“Out of the family business?”
“Yes.”
Bella looked around the mansion.
“And were you going to leave?”
Silana took a long time answering.
“I had promised her I would.”
That explained everything.
To a patriarch who valued the Moretti empire above human life, Isabella had been a threat.
And Matteo?
Collateral damage.
Silana rubbed his face.
“I spent three years hunting Castellano.”
“While the order may have come from your own father.”
“Yes.”
Bella heard self-hatred in the word.
She leaned forward.
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“To the dead, perhaps it is.”
Leo stirred.
His tiny hand reached outward and caught Silana’s finger.
Silana looked down.
The grip was barely strong enough to hold him.
It did anyway.
Dominic entered twenty minutes later.
“We found the ledger.”
Silana stood.
“Where?”
“Your father’s old wine vault.”
Inside a false wall were two account books and a cassette recorder.
Vittorio had documented everything.
Bribes.
Payments.
Political favors.
And one transaction labeled OCTOBER 14 — C.M./CASTELLANO — FAMILY CORRECTION.
The date of Isabella’s bombing.
Silana stared at the words.
Family correction.
That was what his father had called the murder of his wife and infant son.
Bella watched something inside Silana die.
Then Dominic found another notation.
D.M. DISCOVERED RECORDS. REMOVE BEFORE CHILD BORN.
Bella’s blood froze.
“David.”
Silana looked at her.
Vittorio had known David discovered the evidence.
And he had ordered him killed before Leo was born.
“David wasn’t abandoning me,” Bella whispered.
“He was running.”
Silana nodded.
The realization hurt worse than Bella expected.
David had betrayed her trust.
But perhaps he had also saved her life.
The phone on the desk rang.
Unknown number.
Bella knew immediately.
Silana answered on speaker.
David said, “You found the ledger.”
“How do you know?”
“Because Carlo just offered Castellano six million dollars to retrieve it.”
Silana’s eyes narrowed.
“Carlo is in my custody.”
“Then Carlo has a second phone.”
Dominic hurried downstairs.
Thirty seconds later he called.
Carlo was gone.
A guard had been found unconscious near the service exit.
Bella stood.
“How?”
Silana’s expression darkened.
“The inside man.”
Suddenly, the estate no longer felt secure.
David said, “Friday midnight is still our best opportunity.”
Bella looked at the clock.
Friday was tonight.
Silana immediately said, “No.”
David ignored him.
“Bella, come to the apartment.”
“No,” Silana repeated.
David’s voice hardened.
“Carlo believes she has access to the ledger.”
“She doesn’t.”
“He doesn’t know that.”
Bella understood.
“If I go, Carlo comes.”
Silana turned toward her.
“You are not going.”
“Yes, I am.”
“No.”
“You don’t own me.”
The room went silent.
Dominic looked fascinated by the fact that Bella Jenkins had just spoken those words to Silana Moretti and survived.
Silana stepped closer.
“I am trying to keep you alive.”
“And I’m trying to make sure Leo doesn’t spend his childhood hiding.”
“That is not your decision alone.”
Bella stared.
“Excuse me?”
Silana realized what he had said.
He looked toward Leo.
“I mean—”
“He is my son.”
“I know.”
“Then don’t speak as if—”
“I watched my son leave this house once and never come home!”
His voice cracked through the room.
Bella stopped.
Silana immediately lowered it.
“I cannot watch that happen again.”
There it was.
Not control.
Fear.
Bella softened.
“Leo is not Matteo.”
Silana closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“And I’m not Isabella.”
“I know that too.”
“Then trust me enough to make a choice.”
He looked at her for a long time.
Finally:
“You wear a wire.”
Bella nodded.
“Dominic’s team surrounds the building.”
“Fine.”
“You do exactly what I tell you.”
“No.”
His eyebrow rose.
“I’ll do exactly what keeps Leo safe.”
For the first time that night, Silana almost smiled.
“Annoying woman.”
“Terrifying man.”
They agreed.
Leo remained at the estate with Beatatrice and six guards.
Before Bella left, she kissed him until he protested.
Silana stood beside the nursery door.
Bella handed Leo to him.
“You’re staying with him.”
Silana blinked.
“I am?”
“Yes.”
“I have men—”
“I trust the men.”
She looked into his eyes.
“I trust you more.”
The statement visibly struck him.
Silana accepted Leo.
“Come back.”
Bella’s throat tightened.
“I intend to.”
At 11:58 p.m., Bella entered the abandoned apartment where she had once lived with David.
Dust covered everything.
Their old couch remained against the wall.
A crack ran through the kitchen ceiling.
Bella remembered standing there pregnant while David cooked terrible pasta.
“David?”
Nothing.
She stepped farther inside.
The wire beneath her blouse felt suddenly enormous.
“David?”
A shadow moved.
Bella spun.
David emerged from the bedroom.
He looked exactly like the surveillance photograph.
Tired.
Bearded.
Alive.
Bella slapped him.
The sound echoed through the apartment.
David did not defend himself.
“I deserved that.”
“You deserve worse.”
“I know.”
Tears filled his eyes.
“Is Leo okay?”
“He is wonderful.”
David nodded, crying silently.
“I watched from a distance sometimes.”
Bella’s anger returned.
“You watched?”
“To make sure you were alive.”
“You watched me struggle?”
“I couldn’t risk contact.”
“You could have sent money.”
“Any money connected to me would have exposed you.”
Bella hated the logic.
David reached inside his coat.
“I have the final piece.”
He removed a small encrypted drive.
“Vittorio didn’t act alone.”
Bella looked at it.
“Carlo?”
“No.”
“Who?”
A floorboard creaked behind them.
David’s face changed.
“Get down!”
He shoved Bella behind the couch.
The apartment door exploded inward.
Carlo entered with two men.
A pistol in his hand.
David raised his own weapon.
Carlo smiled.
“There’s the happy family.”
Bella’s heart hammered.
Carlo looked directly at her.
“You should’ve stayed a maid.”
Then his eyes dropped to the wire visible beneath her collar.
His smile disappeared.
“You brought Moretti.”
Bella stopped breathing.
Carlo grabbed her before David could move.
The pistol pressed against her side.
“Tell Silana to come upstairs alone.”
May you like
He leaned close.
“Or Leo grows up without his mother.”
