Chapter 8 - THE DEAD MAN
Vittorio Bellucci walked slowly into the light.
He was seventy-six.
Older.
Thinner.
But unmistakable.
Carmine stared at him.
“I watched them bury you.”
Vittorio smiled.
“You watched them bury a closed casket.”
Carmine’s mind raced.
Seven years earlier, Vittorio had supposedly died in a private plane crash over Lake Michigan.
Only fragments of the aircraft had been recovered.
The family held a funeral.
Matteo had inherited his father’s businesses.
Carmine had comforted him.
Now the truth stood twenty feet away.
“You staged your death.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To disappear.”
“You could have disappeared without a funeral.”
Vittorio smiled.
“Not if I wanted everyone to stop looking.”
Carmine looked toward Leo.
“Let him go.”
Vittorio ignored him.
“Do you have the letter?”
Carmine removed Sofia’s envelope.
Helena stepped forward.
Vittorio raised one hand.
“Not yet.”
Helena stopped.
Carmine studied them.
“You killed Sofia.”
Vittorio sighed.
“Sofia was intelligent.”
“That became inconvenient.”
Carmine felt rage rise.
He forced it down.
Leo needed him calm.
Vittorio continued.
“She discovered money moving through the foundation.”
“She thought Matteo was stealing from you.”
“He was.”
“But Matteo was only moving what I told him to move.”
Carmine stared at his uncle.
“For what?”
Vittorio smiled.
“To rebuild what your father stole from me.”
“My father gave you half the family businesses.”
“Half?”
Vittorio laughed bitterly.
“He gave me scraps.”
“He gave you millions.”
“He gave you control.”
Carmine understood.
This had never been about survival.
It was resentment.
A decades-old family wound had poisoned everything.
Vittorio pointed toward Sofia’s letter.
“She found one set of transfers.”
“If she had looked deeper, she would have found accounts in Switzerland, Panama, Cyprus, and three shell companies in Nevada.”
Carmine’s expression remained hard.
“So you sabotaged the boat.”
Helena looked away.
Vittorio did not.
“Yes.”
Carmine inhaled slowly.
“And Leo?”
“Unexpected.”
Vittorio shrugged.
“The child surviving complicated things.”
Carmine’s hands curled.
Vittorio smiled.
“That anger is why you lose.”
Carmine forced his hands open again.
“No.”
“That anger is why you think I lose.”
For the first time, Vittorio’s smile faded slightly.
Carmine looked toward Helena.
“You married me because he told you to.”
Helena did not answer.
Vittorio answered for her.
“She was useful.”
“Beautiful.”
“Patient.”
“And desperate enough to cooperate.”
Helena’s eyes flashed.
“You promised me forty million.”
Vittorio looked amused.
Carmine noticed the tension.
Helena was not loyal.
She was trapped.
That could be used.
Carmine looked at her.
“How much have you received?”
“Quiet.”
Vittorio warned.
Carmine kept his eyes on Helena.
“How much?”
Helena’s jaw tightened.
“Six.”
Carmine almost smiled.
Vittorio’s expression darkened.
“Helena.”
Carmine continued.
“Six million for two years of lying.”
“For abusing a child.”
“For risking prison.”
“And you still think he plans to give you thirty-four more?”
Helena looked toward Vittorio.
“Stop talking.”
Vittorio ordered.
Carmine saw doubt enter Helena’s face.
Good.
He needed seconds.
Below the warehouse, Marco and two men were moving through the old tunnel.
Carmine had hidden a transmitter inside Sofia’s envelope.
Every word was being recorded.
Vittorio did not know.
Carmine stepped forward.
Vittorio raised his weapon.
“Stay there.”
Carmine stopped.
“What happens after I give you the letter?”
“You take your son.”
“And Helena?”
Vittorio smiled.
“She comes with me.”
Helena looked surprised.
“Where?”
Vittorio ignored her.
Carmine saw it.
Helena saw it too.
Vittorio never intended to leave her alive.
Carmine slowly held out the envelope.
“Release Leo.”
Vittorio nodded toward Helena.
She untied the chair.
Leo stood unsteadily.
“Daddy.”
Carmine crouched.
“Come to me.”
Leo took one step.
Then another.
Vittorio watched the envelope.
Leo suddenly stumbled.
Helena caught him.
Carmine’s heart stopped.
Then a gunshot exploded from the upper catwalk.
Everyone froze.
Vittorio looked upward.
A man collapsed behind the railing.
Marco’s voice echoed through the warehouse.
May you like
“Carmine!”
Chaos erupted.
