Chapter 12 - Vanessa's Desperate Gambit
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While dawn broke over the Chicago skyline, painting the clouds in bruised shades of purple and orange, Vanessa Bellini was not packing her bags.
She was pacing inside her father’s penthouse overlooking Lake Michigan, screaming into her cell phone.
“What do you mean Michael is gone?” she shrieked.
“His phone went dead four hours ago, and his penthouse in River North is completely empty!”
Salvatore Bellini sat in a high-backed leather chair by the floor-to-ceiling windows, sipping black espresso.
His heavy face was drawn with exhaustion, his dark eyes shadowed with defeat.
“The hit on the Moretti estate failed, Vanessa,” Salvatore said heavily.
“Three of our best men are dead, and the other four are singing to Luca’s lieutenants.”
Vanessa threw her diamond-encrusted phone onto the glass table, shattering the screen.
“We still have the forged transfer deeds!”
“My notary stamped Teresa Moretti’s signature two days ago!”
“The state registrar opens at eight o'clock this morning!”
“Once those Lake Geneva docks are legally transferred to our holding company, Luca can’t touch them without a federal injunction!”
Salvatore looked at his daughter with weary disgust.
“Do you really think Luca Moretti cares about federal injunctions?”
“Luca operates by the law of the gun, Vanessa, just like his father did.”
“We lost.”
“No, we didn't!” Vanessa snarled, grabbing her designer coat from the couch.
“I’m going to the central registry myself.”
“I’ll file the papers before Luca even figures out where Michael put the duplicates.”
She stormed out of the penthouse, accompanied by two armed bodyguards, taking the private elevator down to the underground parking garage.
Her sleek black Mercedes was waiting in the bay.
As her driver unlocked the doors, the concrete garage suddenly echoed with the low, throaty rumble of four heavy engines.
Four black Lincoln Navigators turned the corner, blocking every exit ramp from the garage.
The headlights illuminated Vanessa, pinning her in their blinding white glare like an animal caught in a trap.
The driver’s door of the lead vehicle opened.
Luca stepped out, wearing a tailored charcoal suit, his face calm and unreadable.
From the second vehicle stepped Dante, his hands tucked into his canvas jacket.
And from the third vehicle stepped two uniformed officers from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Financial Crimes Division.
Vanessa backed away until her heels hit the bumper of her car, her designer purse slipping from her trembling fingers.
“Luca,” she stammered, her voice pitching high in panic.
“What is this?”
“You forgot something when you left my house last night, Vanessa,” Luca said, walking toward her with measured steps.
He reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a small velvet pouch.
He opened the drawstring and tipped its contents into his palm.
A vintage gold wedding ring with a solitary, elegant diamond rolled onto his fingers.
Teresa Moretti’s wedding ring.
“Marco found this in your jewelry box upstairs,” Luca said quietly.
“Alongside twenty thousand dollars in cash that had been siphoned from my mother’s medical trust fund.”
Vanessa looked desperately toward the two state investigators.
“This is a domestic dispute! He has no right to search my things!”
One of the investigators stepped forward, flashing a gold badge and a signed warrant.
“Miss Bellini, we have sworn affidavits from Dr. Mercer regarding the fraudulent guardianship petition.”
“We also have five years of forensic banking records provided by Dante Moretti.”
Vanessa’s knees gave out.
She slid down the side of her luxury car, landing in a heap of red silk on the oil-stained concrete.
“Luca, please,” she sobbed, looking up at him with ruined mascara running down her cheeks.
“I loved you!”
“I did all of this so we could be the most powerful family in the city!”
Luca looked down at her with nothing but cold pity in his eyes.
“You didn't love me, Vanessa.”
“You loved the throne.”
“And you trampled the sweetest woman in the world to try and sit on it.”
May you like
He turned his back on her as the investigators moved in with handcuffs.
“Take her away.”
