Chapter 13 - The Father Who Was Supposed to Be DeadNobody spoke for several seconds.
The sniper had disappeared.
Silas was bleeding from the shoulder.
Carmine stared at him.
“My father is alive.”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Silas shook his head.
“He won't stay alive if you go looking for him.”
“That isn't your decision.”
“It soon will be.”
Nell stepped forward.
“Where is Emmett?”
Silas looked at her.
“Safe.”
“You've known where he was all these years?”
“Yes.”
“You let me believe he was brain-damaged.”
“He was.”
“But you said he survived.”
“He did.”
Carmine's voice was ice.
“Explain everything.”
Silas finally did.
Three decades earlier, Adrian Bell had built the Bellweather network using charitable foundations and shipping companies.
Carmine's father, Lorenzo Orsini, discovered the network.
Emmett Fontaine discovered the financial records.
Thomas Vale found evidence linking judges to the payments.
Marianne Orsini identified Bell as the architect.
They planned to expose him.
But someone betrayed them.
Silas.
Or so everyone believed.
In reality, Silas staged the deaths of several witnesses and created false records to make Bell think he had destroyed the evidence.
The plan almost worked.
Then Lorenzo realized Bell had discovered Carmine's existence as the future heir.
Bell ordered his elimination.
Lorenzo faked his death.
Marianne disappeared.
Emmett moved the ledger.
Thomas Vale kept investigating.
And three years ago, Bell finally found the bakery.
“The fire was meant to destroy the last copy.”
Silas said.
“Why did Eleanor survive?”
“Because Emmett locked her in the flour room.”
Nell remembered.
A door.
Her father screaming.
Smoke.
Then darkness.
“I thought he left me.”
“He came back for you.”
Nell began crying.
“He was caught before he could reach you.”
“By whom?”
“Daniel.”
“My uncle.”
“Yes.”
“And Victor?”
“Victor tried to save him.”
“What happened?”
Silas looked away.
“Daniel shot Victor.”
Silence.
Nell's hands trembled.
“Then who saved me?”
Silas looked at Carmine.
“Your father.”
Carmine stared.
“Lorenzo was there?”
“He pulled Eleanor out.”
Nell's breath stopped.
“Why didn't he take me with him?”
“Because Bell's men had arrived.”
Silas reached into his coat.
He handed Nell a photograph.
It showed a younger Carmine standing beside an old man.
Carmine recognized himself.
He was twenty-one.
The older man was his father.
Alive.
Behind them was an old farmhouse.
Carmine's childhood home.
He had no memory of the place.
Silas whispered:
“You were there.”
Carmine looked confused.
“How?”
“They erased parts of the records.”
“Not my memory.”
Silas shook his head.
“Your father gave you a sedative.”
Carmine stared.
“Why?”
“Because you saw him.”
Nell stepped closer.
“And Bell?”
“Bell believed Lorenzo had died.”
Silas looked at Carmine.
“He was wrong.”
Then a car pulled up outside.
Carmine's men surrounded it.
The rear door opened.
An old man stepped out.
White hair.
Walking stick.
Thin face.
Scar across his jaw.
Carmine stopped breathing.
His father.
Lorenzo Orsini.
Alive.
Thirty years of ghosts walked through that doorway.
Carmine did not move.
Lorenzo looked at him.
“My son.”
Carmine's voice broke.
“You let me think you were dead.”
“I had to.”
“For thirty years.”
“I know.”
“You watched me become the man you feared.”
Lorenzo lowered his head.
“That was my greatest mistake.”
Nell looked at him.
“And my father?”
Lorenzo met her eyes.
“Alive.”
He handed her an address.
“Go there.”
She stared.
“Why?”
“Because Bell has found him.”
Carmine looked at his father.
“And Adrian Bell?”
Lorenzo's face hardened.
“He knows everything.”
“How long until he moves?”
Lorenzo checked his watch.
“Tonight.”
A phone rang.
Benny answered.
His expression changed.
He handed it to Carmine.
A video had been sent.
Palmira appeared on screen.
Bound to a chair.
Behind her stood Judge Adrian Bell.
Bell smiled into the camera.
“Bring me the ledger.”
He paused.
“And bring me your father.”
The screen went black.
May you like
Lorenzo whispered:
“It's beginning.”
