Chapter 3 - The Family That Buried Its Dead TwiceDante had one living relative who knew the old Belucchi history better than anyone.
His mother.
Lucia Belucchi lived in a separate estate three miles away and had not set foot in his house since Enzo's funeral.
She called every Sunday.
She criticized his suits.
She complained about his coffee.
She asked whether he was sleeping.
She never asked about business.
She had never once asked about Sophia.
Until Dante walked through her front door with Lily.
Lucia was standing by the piano when she saw the child.
Her face drained.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
Dante noticed.
"You know her."
Lucia didn't answer.
Lily looked at her.
"Grandma."
Dante stared.
Lucia closed her eyes.
"Oh, God."
That single sentence told him everything.
He stepped forward.
"You've met Lily before?"
Lucia opened her eyes.
"No."
"Then why did she call you Grandma?"
Lucia looked at Dante.
"Because her mother taught her to."
Dante felt anger rise.
"What does that mean?"
Lucia turned toward the piano.
"Sit."
"No."
"Dante."
"Tell me who the man in the video was."
Lucia didn't move.
"Your uncle."
"Name."
She swallowed.
"Matteo."
Dante had heard the name only once.
As a child.
He had asked his father why one of the family portraits had an empty frame.
Enzo had said, "Some men deserve to disappear."
That was all.
Dante had never asked again.
Now the answer was sitting ten feet away.
"Matteo Belucchi died in 1996."
Lucia shook her head.
"No."
Dante felt the room tilt.
"He disappeared in 1996."
"Then why did Father tell everyone he was dead?"
"Because he was supposed to be."
That answer was worse.
Dante took out the photograph from his jacket.
Lucia saw it.
Her mouth tightened.
"Where did you get that?"
"The box."
Her eyes closed.
"The box was never supposed to exist."
"Apparently it does."
Lucia walked toward the piano and touched its polished edge.
"Your father and Matteo built everything together."
"Everything?"
"The warehouses. The accounts. The shipping routes."
"And then?"
"Matteo wanted out."
Dante laughed once.
It held no humor.
"People don't leave our family."
"No."
"They disappear."
Lucia did not deny it.
"What did Matteo know?"
"Too much."
"And Sophia?"
Lucia's eyes lifted.
"She was your father's daughter."
Dante stopped.
"What?"
Lucia shook her head.
"Not by blood."
His anger vanished.
"What are you saying?"
"Enzo adopted her."
"When?"
"Before you knew him as your father."
Dante stared.
He thought of Sophia.
Her quiet smile.
Her habit of tapping pencils against her teeth.
The way she sometimes looked at old portraits too long.
He had always assumed it was curiosity.
Now he wasn't sure.
"Why did Sophia work here?"
Lucia whispered.
"Because your father ordered her to."
"For what?"
"To watch you."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"Watch me for who?"
Lucia's eyes moved toward Lily.
The child was sitting near the window, hugging the music box.
Lucia spoke carefully.
"Not him."
"The opposite?"
She nodded.
"She was protecting you."
Dante looked at the child.
"For nine years?"
"Longer."
"From Matteo?"
Lucia's silence answered.
Dante stepped closer.
"What happened to Sophia's husband?"
Lucia said nothing.
"Mother."
"Your father killed him."
Dante went still.
"Why?"
"Because he found the ledger."
"What ledger?"
"The one your father thought had been destroyed."
Dante looked at the music box.
"Is that why Sophia disappeared?"
Lucia nodded.
"She found the remaining pages."
"Where?"
Lucia looked at the box.
"Inside."
Dante picked it up.
"What's on the memory card?"
"I don't know."
"You knew about this."
"No."
"You knew about the box."
"I knew what it meant."
Dante's patience broke.
"What does it mean?"
Lucia looked at him with a kind of exhaustion he had never seen in her face.
"It means your father was not the man you think he was."
Dante almost smiled.
"Everyone keeps telling me that."
"No."
Lucia reached into a drawer and removed a sealed envelope.
She handed it to him.
"Your father left this for you."
Dante stared at it.
"My father died nine years ago."
"I know."
"Why didn't you give me this?"
"Because until today, I thought the person searching for it was dead."
Dante tore it open.
Inside was one page.
Four lines.
Dante,
The Belucchi empire was built on a theft.
Matteo came back for what was stolen.
The person you trust most is the person who buried the evidence.
Dante read it twice.
Then the room went dark.
The lights died.
Somewhere outside, a car engine roared.
Nico shouted through the house.
"Down!"
Gunfire cracked from the driveway.
Lily screamed.
Dante grabbed her and dropped behind the piano as bullets struck the windows.
Lucia crawled toward them.
Nico fired from the hallway.
Three shots.
Then silence.
Dante looked through the broken window.
A black SUV was speeding away.
And on its rear windshield, written in white paint, were six words.
BRING ME THE GIRL OR LOSE EVERYTHING.
Dante looked at Lily.
She was clutching the music box.
The hidden latch had popped open again.
Something new had appeared inside.
A tiny folded piece of paper.
Dante unfolded it.
May you like
It contained one sentence.
She is not Sophia's daughter.
Related Stories
