Chapter 5 - THE VIDEO FROM TWELVE YEARS AGO
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Luca stared at the memory card as though it had come from a grave.
“My father knew Vanessa's father?” he repeated.
Mrs. Moretti nodded.
Her expression was filled with a sadness I couldn't understand.
I looked between them.
“Who is Vanessa's father?”
Luca didn't answer immediately.
Then he said, “Richard Bellini. He owned a construction company before he went bankrupt.”
“Is he still alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where is he?”
Luca looked toward the ballroom.
“At dinner.”
A chill ran through me.
Richard Bellini had been sitting only a few chairs away from Vanessa when Mrs. Moretti revealed the truth about her accident.
He was an elegant silver-haired man who had barely spoken all evening.
I remembered him watching Luca carefully.
Now I wondered whether he had been watching his daughter instead.
“We need to see what's on that card,” I said.
Luca led me to the desk.
He removed a small card reader from a drawer and connected it to his laptop.
Mrs. Moretti watched anxiously from her wheelchair.
The screen filled with folders.
Financial records.
Scanned letters.
Old photographs.
And one video file labeled:
June 17, 2014.
Luca's expression changed.
“That was two days before my father died.”
He clicked the file.
The recording began inside what appeared to be a private office.
A middle-aged man sat behind a desk.
He had Luca's dark eyes and the same strong jaw.
Antonio Moretti.
Luca's father.
Across from him sat a younger Richard Bellini.
Their voices were difficult to hear at first.
Then Antonio leaned forward.
“You've stolen enough, Richard.”
Bellini laughed nervously.
“Antonio, we can work something out.”
“Not this time.”
Antonio pushed a folder across the desk.
“These properties belong to the family trust. You used fraudulent transfers to put them under your construction company.”
Bellini's smile disappeared.
“You have no idea what you're accusing me of.”
“I have bank statements, signatures, and witnesses.”
The recording crackled.
Antonio continued.
“I'm giving you forty-eight hours to return everything. Otherwise, I'm taking this to federal investigators.”
Bellini stood.
“You'll destroy both our families.”
Antonio looked at him.
“No. I'm trying to save mine.”
The video ended.
Nobody spoke.
Then Luca whispered, “My father died in a warehouse fire two days later.”
I felt my stomach twist.
“Was the fire investigated?”
“Yes. Electrical failure.”
Mrs. Moretti began shaking her head.
Her fingers moved.
Not accident.
Luca closed his eyes.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he opened another folder.
Inside were documents showing that Richard Bellini's construction company had received millions of dollars through questionable property deals connected to the Moretti family.
There were also records of an education and housing trust Antonio had created for his family and for several longtime employees.
The trust had apparently remained largely untouched for years.
Until recently.
“Someone started moving money six months ago,” Luca said.
I leaned closer.
The newest transfers led to a company called Northlake Residential Holdings.
I recognized the name immediately.
“That's the company that owns the care facility in Wisconsin.”
Luca looked at me.
“How do you know?”
“Vanessa left the facility brochure in your mother's bedroom. I saw the name.”
We stared at each other.
Mrs. Moretti had not been sent to a care facility because she needed professional attention.
At least, that wasn't the whole reason.
She had been sent there because the company receiving money from the trust was connected to the people trying to control her.
Luca opened another document.
It was a draft agreement giving a trustee broad authority over Mrs. Moretti's personal and financial affairs.
The proposed trustee was Vanessa Bellini.
And the attorney who prepared it was Silas Crane.
“Jesus,” Luca whispered.
My phone rang.
Lily.
I answered immediately.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said. “Two police officers are downstairs.”
Relief nearly brought me to my knees.
Then she lowered her voice.
“Claire, Dad wants you to know something.”
“What?”
“He recognized the photograph you sent.”
I frowned.
“What photograph?”
“The one of that man you said was Luca's attorney. The silver-haired man outside the restaurant.”
Silas Crane.
“What about him?”
Lily hesitated.
“Dad says he's seen that man before.”
My heart started pounding.
“Where?”
“At Mom's funeral.”
I went completely still.
My mother had died four years earlier after a long illness.
Silas Crane had never been part of our family.
Why would he have attended her funeral?
I switched to video.
My father's face appeared.
He signed slowly.
He spoke to your mother before she died.
I stared at the screen.
About what?
My father hesitated.
Then he signed something I had never heard before.
Your mother once worked for the Moretti family.
I looked up at Luca.
He was watching me.
“My mother worked here?” I whispered.
Mrs. Moretti suddenly reached for the phone.
When she saw my father's face, tears filled her eyes.
She signed one word.
Thomas.
My father stared at the screen.
May you like
Then covered his mouth.
And for the first time since I was a child, I saw him cry.
