Chapter 3
Julian Bellini did not look like a man who had come to apologize.
He stood outside the north gate with one hand in the pocket of a black overcoat and the other holding the hospital bracelet.
CLAIRE MASON.
My name.
My date of birth.
St. Dominic’s Private Clinic.
The plastic had yellowed with age.
But the letters were still clear.
Luca stared at the security feed.
His hidden half brother.
Same blue eyes.
Same shape of jaw.
Different mouth.
Colder.
Vanessa whispered:
“Don’t let him in.”
Luca looked at her.
“You know him.”
“Yes.”
“How well?”
Her face tightened.
“He scares me.”
“That was not my question.”
“Too well.”
Silence.
Diesel stood immediately.
The Rottweiler had been lying at my feet after Dr. Hayes finished bandaging my legs.
Now his ears lifted.
His whole body changed.
He stared toward the courtyard doors.
Then growled.
Luca noticed.
“Can he smell someone through the house?”
I looked at Diesel.
“He knows when people are near the gate.”
“How?”
“He listens.”
Vanessa muttered:
“He spies.”
I almost smiled.
Diesel did not.
Marco entered.
“Julian says he will only speak to Luca and Claire.”
Vanessa stood.
“No.”
Luca looked at her.
“You do not get to decide that.”
Her face flushed.
“He is dangerous.”
“So am I when annoyed.”
“Luca.”
He held up one hand.
“Enough.”
Then he looked at me.
“You stay here.”
I stared.
“No.”
“You are injured.”
“He has my hospital bracelet.”
“Yes.”
“That makes me involved.”
“You are already involved.”
“Then stop pretending leaving me in a room changes that.”
He looked tired.
I hated that I was adding to it.
Not enough to stay.
He exhaled.
“Fine.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“Of course.”
Luca turned.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“No. Say it.”
She looked at me.
Then him.
“You listen to her.”
He stared.
“That is not the problem here.”
“No.”
Her voice broke.
“The problem is you stopped listening to me.”
Luca’s expression hardened.
“You stopped telling the truth.”
Silence.
We went to the gate.
Marco brought two guards.
Diesel came too.
I did not need to ask.
The moment we stepped outside, he moved slightly ahead of me.
Protective.
Not aggressive.
Until Julian smiled.
Then Diesel growled.
Julian looked at him.
“So this is Diesel.”
My stomach tightened.
“You know my dog.”
Julian’s eyes moved to me.
“I know a lot about you.”
Luca stepped between us slightly.
“Why?”
Julian laughed softly.
“There he is.”
“What?”
“The hero.”
Luca’s face did not change.
“What do you want?”
Julian held up the bracelet.
“Claire’s mother kept this.”
I stared.
“How did you get it?”
“Anna gave it to my mother.”
“Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Anna thought she was going to die.”
My legs weakened.
“What?”
“Twenty-one years ago.”
The year my mother died.
Vanessa whispered:
“Julian.”
He ignored her.
“Anna Mason did not die of cancer.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“She was murdered.”
The courtyard disappeared.
Luca’s voice sharpened.
“By who?”
Julian looked at him.
“Antonio.”
Silence.
Luca went still.
“No.”
Julian smiled without humor.
“That was my reaction too.”
“My father did not murder Claire’s mother.”
“You barely knew your father.”
“I knew him enough.”
“No.”
Julian’s eyes hardened.
“You knew the version Isabella let you know.”
Vanessa stepped forward.
“Stop.”
He turned.
“Why? Afraid Luca will learn what your family did?”
“My family?”
“Our family.”
She flinched.
Julian continued.
“Robert helped Antonio hide Anna’s body.”
My stomach turned.
Luca looked at me.
I shook my head.
“I don’t believe him.”
“Good.”
Julian laughed.
“You two are adorable.”
Diesel barked.
Julian stepped back.
Marco’s hand moved toward his weapon.
“Watch it.”
Julian held up both hands.
“I’m standing still.”
Luca looked at the bracelet.
“Why bring this?”
“Because Claire is not a witness.”
“Then what?”
Julian looked at me.
“She is the reason Antonio faked his death.”
Silence.
I stared.
“That makes no sense.”
“Anna had something.”
“Medical records.”
“Yes.”
“About Antonio.”
“Yes.”
“What did they show?”
Julian’s expression changed.
For the first time, the arrogance softened.
“Antonio was dying.”
Luca stopped breathing.
“What?”
“Heart condition.”
“My father died in an accident.”
“No.”
“Cardiac failure?”
“Not exactly.”
Julian looked at the house.
“He was poisoned.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Dad said—”
Julian snapped:
“Robert lies when he breathes.”
She went silent.
Luca’s face hardened.
“Who poisoned Antonio?”
Julian looked at me.
“Anna knew.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
Julian reached inside his coat.
Security raised weapons.
He stopped.
“Envelope.”
Luca nodded once.
Julian pulled out a sealed medical report.
Old.
Brown at the edges.
Handed it to Marco first.
Marco checked it.
Then passed it to Luca.
St. Dominic’s.
Antonio Moretti.
Toxicology.
DIGOXIN ELEVATED.
Luca stared.
“Digitalis.”
Julian nodded.
“Slow poisoning.”
“Who prescribed it?”
“Nobody.”
“Who administered it?”
“Unknown.”
“So you do not know who poisoned him.”
“I know who Anna suspected.”
Luca looked at me.
Then Julian.
“Who?”
“Isabella.”
No one moved.
Luca’s mother.
The woman who raised him.
Vanessa whispered:
“That’s insane.”
Julian looked at her.
“Is it?”
“Yes.”
“Isabella had access to his medication.”
“So did half the household.”
“She had motive.”
“What motive?”
Julian’s eyes moved to Luca.
“She discovered Celeste.”
Silence.
My stomach tightened.
Antonio’s affair.
Julian.
Luca’s half brother.
Isabella knew.
Julian continued.
“Antonio planned to acknowledge me.”
Luca looked at him.
“When?”
“After my eighteenth birthday.”
“How old were you when he died?”
“Seventeen.”
A year before.
Julian smiled bitterly.
“Convenient.”
Luca looked away.
I could see him resisting it.
The idea that Isabella poisoned his father because of a hidden son.
The idea that his family story had been built from murder.
I understood the resistance.
I had learned in one night that my mother worked for them and might have been murdered.
Truth was starting to feel like violence.
I looked at Julian.
“What does my hospital bracelet have to do with any of this?”
His eyes returned to me.
“Anna took you to St. Dominic’s the night Antonio disappeared.”
“I remember a hospital.”
“I know.”
“How?”
“You talked about it later.”
“With who?”
“My mother.”
I stared.
“Celeste knew me?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“You were seventeen.”
My throat tightened.
The memory.
Rain.
Hospital corridor.
Antonio in bed.
A woman with dark hair speaking to my mother.
Maybe Celeste.
“What happened?”
Julian leaned against the gate.
“Antonio learned somebody had been poisoning him. Anna ran the toxicology. She told him.”
“Then?”
“He accused Isabella.”
Luca’s face tightened.
“Did Isabella admit it?”
“No.”
“Then stop saying she did it.”
Julian looked at him.
“Fine.”
He lifted his hands.
“I’m saying Antonio believed she did.”
“Then why fake his death?”
“To flush out whoever was trying to kill him.”
Vanessa stared.
“So the funeral was staged.”
“Yes.”
“Who knew?”
Julian counted.
“Robert. Celeste. Anna. One doctor.”
“Isabella?”
“No.”
Luca’s face changed.
“My mother buried him believing he was dead.”
“Yes.”
His jaw tightened.
“She died believing it.”
Julian said nothing.
That silence was crueler than words.
I asked:
“Why was my mother murdered?”
Julian looked at the bracelet.
“Because she kept the original toxicology.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who killed her?”
“I don’t know.”
“You just said Antonio.”
“I said that is what Robert told me.”
I stared.
“You don’t believe him.”
“No.”
Luca looked at Julian.
“Then why repeat it?”
“Because Robert wanted me to.”
Silence.
Luca’s eyes narrowed.
“So this is a setup.”
“Partly.”
Vanessa closed her eyes.
Julian continued:
“Robert told me if I brought Claire the bracelet and blamed Antonio, she would turn on Luca.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because he wants Luca isolated.”
“Why?”
“So Luca signs after the wedding without anyone questioning.”
Luca laughed once.
“There will not be a wedding.”
Julian looked at Vanessa.
Her face broke.
“I know.”
For the first time, Julian looked sorry for her.
Only for a second.
Then he turned back.
“I didn’t come for Robert.”
“Why did you come?”
“To warn you.”
“About what?”
He looked past us.
Toward the house.
“The phone.”
“What about it?”
“Robert buried it on purpose.”
Vanessa stared.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“He told me to destroy it.”
“He wanted you to think that.”
“Why?”
“Because Claire was supposed to find it.”
I stopped breathing.
Luca’s face hardened.
“Why Claire?”
Julian looked at me.
“Because Diesel always walks her through the fountain courtyard.”
Silence.
I stared at the dog.
He looked up at me.
Julian continued:
“Robert knew the dog would dig.”
Vanessa went white.
“No.”
“He planned the entire thing.”
“The trellis?”
“No.”
Julian looked at her.
“That part was you.”
Her face collapsed.
But he continued:
“The phone was bait.”
“For what?”
“To expose Antonio.”
“No.”
Julian shook his head.
“To expose Luca’s account.”
Luca frowned.
“What account?”
Julian smiled without humor.
“The one in Claire Mason’s name.”
Nobody moved.
I laughed nervously.
“I don’t have an account.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“St. Laurent Private Bank.”
Luca’s face changed.
He knew the name.
“What?”
I asked.
“It’s one of the banks my father used.”
Julian nodded.
“Claire has an account there.”
“How much?”
I did not want the answer.
Julian gave it anyway.
“Twenty-seven million.”
My knees almost failed.
Luca caught my elbow.
I stared at Julian.
“That is impossible.”
“No.”
“Why would Antonio put money in my name?”
“He didn’t.”
“Then who?”
Julian looked toward the house.
“Your mother.”
Silence.
“Anna Mason stole twenty-seven million from the reserve before she died.”
I stopped breathing.
“And Robert has spent twenty-one years trying to get it back.”
Diesel suddenly turned away from Julian.
His head snapped toward the hedge beside the gate.
Growl.
Low.
Deep.
Marco raised one hand.
Security spread out.
A branch moved.
Then a man stepped from the darkness.
Older.
Gray hair.
Thin face.
Vanessa whispered:
“Dad.”
Robert Bellini looked at Julian.
Then at me.
And smiled.
May you like
“Excellent.”
He had been listening to everything.
