Chapter 10 - THE TRAP SPRUNG
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The heavy doors swung open.
Dr. Harris walked into the council chamber, flanked by two armed federal marshals in plain clothes.
Beside them was a trembling, pale man in an expensive gray suit: Dr. Jonathan Vance, the psychiatrist Vanessa had hired.
Marco Bellini’s smug smile vanished so quickly it looked as if his face had been slapped.
“What is the meaning of this?” Marco stammered, his fingers twitching on the table.
Luca stood up, towering over the room with terrifying majesty.
“Dr. Vance,” Luca commanded.
“Tell the Commission about the five hundred thousand dollars transferred to your Cayman account on Tuesday.”
Dr. Vance looked like he was about to faint.
He pulled a damp handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead frantically.
“I... I was hired by Vanessa Bellini,” Vance stammered, his voice echoing in the silent chamber.
“She paid me half a million dollars to forge a diagnosis of advanced dementia for Antonio Moretti.”
The council bosses stared at Vance in stunned disbelief.
“Did you examine Antonio Moretti?” Don Falcone demanded, his raspy voice turning deadly sharp.
“No, sir!” Vance cried out in terror.
“I never met the man until yesterday afternoon!”
“I signed the paperwork before I even walked into the house!”
“Vanessa dictated every symptom to me!”
Marco Bellini leaped out of his chair, drawing a snub-nosed revolver from his inner jacket pocket.
“He’s lying! Luca bought him off!” Marco screamed.
Before Marco could level the weapon, Luca moved with blinding speed.
Luca grabbed Marco’s wrist, twisting it violently until the bone snapped with a sickening crack.
The revolver clattered harmlessly onto the ebony table.
Marco shrieked in agony, dropping to his knees while clutching his broken wrist.
Luca picked up the revolver, dropped the magazine onto the table, and racked the slide to eject the chambered round.
“There is one more piece of evidence,” Luca said, turning to look at me.
“Emma, play the recording.”
My hands were rock-steady as I picked up the digital tablet resting before me.
I tapped the screen, and the room was filled with the crystal-clear audio recovered from Vanessa’s laptop.
Marco Bellini’s unmistakable voice filled the chamber from seventeen years ago:
“Make sure she has bruises on her arms when you leave her at the South Side warehouse.”
“Antonio will pay whatever I ask if he thinks I pulled his precious Caterina out of hell.”
The recording ended.
The council chamber became as cold as a morgue.
Don Falcone stood up slowly, looking down at Marco Bellini with pure hatred.
“You kidnapped Caterina Moretti?” Falcone whispered, his voice trembling with ancient rage.
“You violated the sacred code of the families for land?”
Marco looked around the room, realizing that not a single soul at that table would lift a finger to save him.
“She was just a woman!” Marco spat through his teeth, blood dripping from his lip.
“Antonio was weak!”
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“And you, Luca, are going to die with him!”
Suddenly, the heavy windows behind the council table exploded into a million shards of glass.
