Chapter 4
Angelo Bellini entered the house at 1:34 in the morning like he owned it.
He did not.
But men like him had a way of walking through other people’s doors as if ownership were a technicality.
He wore a dark navy suit with no tie, a wool coat over one arm, and the expression of a man arriving ten minutes late to a meeting he expected everyone else to wait for.
Marco searched him at the front entrance.
Angelo smiled through the entire thing.
“Thorough,” he said.
“Necessary,” Marco replied.
Luca stood at the bottom of the staircase.
I was behind him, one hand gripping the banister because my leg still hurt too much to stand without support.
Luca had told me to remain upstairs.
I had ignored him.
He had looked at me once.
Then said nothing.
Maybe he was learning that orders worked better on employees who weren’t terrified for his daughter.
Angelo’s eyes moved over me.
Slowly.
My bruised face.
The cut on my chin.
The black maid uniform.
The way I favored my right leg.
His mouth curved.
“So this is Mia.”
Luca moved slightly in front of me.
“Why are you here?”
Angelo looked back at him.
“Because my daughter was arrested.”
“She earned it.”
“Perhaps.”
The word surprised me.
Luca seemed surprised too.
Angelo removed his gloves.
“I’m not here to defend Vanessa.”
“Then why bring a picture of Sophie?”
Angelo’s smile disappeared.
“To make sure you understood which subject mattered most.”
Luca’s voice dropped.
“Careful.”
“I am being careful.”
“Not enough.”
Angelo glanced toward the security men lining the foyer.
“May we speak somewhere private?”
“No.”
“Luca.”
“You brought my daughter’s photograph to my gate after your daughter was caught with her passport and forged travel authorization. You don’t get private.”
Angelo considered that.
Then nodded once.
“Fair.”
That made me more nervous than anger would have.
He looked at me again.
“You should sit down, Miss Carter.”
“I’m fine.”
“People keep saying that tonight.”
My stomach tightened.
He knew too much.
Luca noticed.
“How do you know anything about Mia?”
Angelo’s gaze moved back to him.
“That’s the question, isn’t it?”
“Answer it.”
Angelo reached into his coat.
Marco immediately stepped forward.
Angelo stopped.
“Inside pocket. Envelope.”
Marco removed it himself.
No weapon.
Only documents.
He handed them to Luca.
Luca opened the envelope.
His expression changed almost instantly.
“What is this?”
“Copies.”
“Of?”
“Payments made from one of my companies.”
Luca flipped through pages.
I saw names.
Paul Rennick.
The former security contractor.
A law firm.
A private investigator.
Then Vanessa.
Large amounts.
Repeated monthly.
“You funded this,” Luca said.
“No.”
“These are your companies.”
“Yes.”
“Your money.”
“Technically.”
“Do not play games with me.”
Angelo’s expression hardened.
“I am not.”
He pointed to one line.
“Look at the authorizations.”
Luca did.
Then his brow furrowed.
“V.B.”
“Vanessa had executive authority over Bellini Hospitality’s discretionary security budget.”
“You expect me to believe you didn’t know she was spending hundreds of thousands of dollars?”
“I knew she was spending.”
“On spying on my family?”
“No.”
“On threatening Mia?”
“No.”
“On forging my signature?”
“No.”
Angelo’s jaw tightened.
“I knew she was preparing for your marriage.”
“There was no marriage.”
“There was supposed to be.”
Luca stared at him.
Angelo exhaled.
“My daughter has wanted this family since the first month she met you.”
“She wanted my assets.”
“She wanted both.”
“That makes it better?”
“No.”
Again, that answer.
Too calm.
Too willing.
I watched Angelo closely.
He wasn’t protecting Vanessa.
He was containing something.
I could feel it.
“So why are you here?” I asked.
Luca looked at me.
Angelo smiled faintly.
“Because you are smarter than my daughter thought.”
“I’m a maid.”
“That is a job, not an IQ score.”
I didn’t know whether to be insulted or complimented.
Luca clearly chose insulted.
“Talk to me, not her.”
Angelo’s eyes flicked toward him.
“Interesting.”
“What?”
“How fast that happened.”
Silence.
Heat climbed into my face.
Luca stepped closer.
“Finish your reason for being here.”
Angelo’s expression became serious.
“Vanessa is not the only person who had access to those files.”
Nobody moved.
Marco spoke first.
“Who else?”
Angelo looked at him.
“A man named Daniel Cross.”
Luca’s face changed.
I noticed immediately.
“You know him,” I said.
Luca didn’t answer.
Angelo did.
“He used to work for Luca.”
Marco swore under his breath.
“Cross disappeared eighteen months ago.”
“Not disappeared,” Angelo said.
“Changed employers.”
Luca’s voice went flat.
“Yours?”
“Briefly.”
“You hired a man I fired for stealing confidential files?”
“I hired a consultant who claimed he had been wrongly accused.”
“You knew exactly why I fired him.”
“I knew your version.”
Luca took one step toward Angelo.
Marco moved slightly, not to stop him, but to be ready.
Angelo didn’t flinch.
“Where is Cross?” Luca asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Wrong answer.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Why does his name matter now?”
Angelo’s gaze shifted toward the staircase.
Toward Sophie’s room.
“Because two weeks ago, Cross contacted Vanessa.”
Luca’s face went still.
“How do you know?”
“Because he contacted me first.”
“What did he want?”
“Money.”
“For what?”
“Information.”
“What information?”
Angelo paused.
That pause told me it was bad.
“Your estate plan.”
Luca’s fingers tightened around the envelope.
“Why?”
“He said there was a vulnerability.”
“What vulnerability?”
“Sophie.”
The word made my stomach turn.
Luca’s face became dangerous.
“Explain.”
“Cross knew that under your existing trust, control transfers through a temporary guardian structure if you die before Sophie turns eighteen.”
“I changed that provision.”
“Not yet.”
Luca froze.
Angelo continued.
“You instructed your attorney to prepare changes. They were never executed.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because Cross had a copy of the draft.”
Marco cursed again.
Luca looked at him.
“Who had access?”
“Your lawyer. Two paralegals. Me. You.”
“And Vanessa,” Angelo said.
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“I never gave it to her.”
“No. Cross did.”
The foyer seemed to lose air.
I looked at Angelo.
“What was the plan?”
He studied me.
“I don’t know the full plan.”
“You know enough to come here at two in the morning.”
His mouth tightened.
“Yes.”
“Then say what you know.”
Angelo looked at Luca.
“Cross believed Vanessa could become Sophie’s legal guardian if she married you and secured the proper estate amendment. If you then became incapacitated—”
“Stop.”
Luca’s voice was quiet.
Angelo stopped.
Nobody needed the rest.
But I did.
Because half-spoken threats were how people like Vanessa lived inside other people’s fear.
I forced the words out.
“If Luca became incapacitated, Vanessa would control Sophie’s trust.”
Angelo nodded.
“And the company votes attached to it.”
Luca looked at him.
“So this was about Moretti Holdings.”
“Partly.”
“What else?”
Angelo didn’t answer.
I watched his face.
Then I understood.
“Sophie herself.”
His eyes moved to me.
I felt cold.
“Why?”
Angelo looked away for the first time.
“Because Sophie inherited something from her mother.”
Luca’s entire body went rigid.
“No.”
Angelo looked at him.
“She did.”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I do.”
“What did Sophie inherit?” I asked.
Luca said, “Nothing that matters.”
Angelo said, “Forty-one percent of Arden Biotech.”
I stared at them both.
I knew the name.
Everyone had heard of Arden.
Medical technology.
Patents.
Billions.
Luca looked furious.
“She doesn’t control it.”
“No,” Angelo said. “You do. Until she turns twenty-five.”
I felt suddenly dizzy.
This wasn’t just a rich family fight.
Sophie was a child sitting upstairs with stuffed animals and a DVD collection while adults calculated percentages around her future.
Angelo continued.
“Cross discovered the trust structure. Vanessa discovered Cross.”
“And you?” Luca asked.
“I discovered both too late.”
“How convenient.”
“Yes.”
“You expect sympathy?”
“No.”
“Then what do you want?”
Angelo looked toward the front windows.
“I want you to understand that Vanessa being in custody does not end this.”
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He looked at the screen.
His face changed.
“What?” Luca asked.
Marco answered the call.
Listened.
Then looked at us.
“Vanessa never made it to county processing.”
Luca stared.
“What?”
“The transport vehicle was hit at an intersection.”
My heart slammed.
“Hit by what?”
“A stolen SUV.”
“Is she hurt?”
Marco’s expression was grim.
“She’s gone.”
Silence.
“Gone?” Luca repeated.
“Two officers injured. Driver unconscious. Vanessa was removed from the vehicle before backup arrived.”
Angelo closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
Then Luca turned on him.
“You knew.”
“No.”
“You came here to keep me occupied.”
“No.”
“You brought the photograph.”
“To warn you.”
“About what?”
Angelo looked at Sophie’s staircase.
Then back at Luca.
“About Cross.”
As if summoned by the name, every light in the mansion went out.
Darkness swallowed the foyer.
Sophie screamed upstairs.
Luca ran before anyone else moved.
So did I.
My injured leg nearly folded beneath me, but I grabbed the rail and pulled myself forward.
Emergency lights flickered red along the floor.
Marco shouted into his radio.
“Lock all exterior doors! Move!”
Luca reached the second floor first.
Sophie’s bedroom door stood open.
The hall was empty.
Her bed was empty.
The window was closed.
Then we heard crying.
From the closet.
Luca tore the door open.
Sophie was curled behind a row of dresses, shaking.
He dropped to his knees.
“Baby.”
She launched herself into him.
“I heard someone.”
Luca held her tightly.
“Where?”
“In my room.”
Everyone froze.
Marco raised his weapon.
“What did you hear?”
Sophie buried her face against Luca’s shoulder.
“A man.”
“What did he say?”
Her voice came out tiny.
“He said Mia’s name.”
My blood went cold.
Luca looked at me.
Then Sophie whispered the rest.
“He said she was supposed to be downstairs.”
May you like
And from somewhere below us—
a door slammed.
