Chapter 5 - THE WOMAN WHO NEVER STOPPED LOOKING
“Laura took my mother?”
Matteo looked from Daniel to the photograph.
Daniel shook his head.
“She didn't take her. Mrs. Bellini asked Laura to help her leave.”
“Why didn't you tell me immediately?”
“Because I promised her I wouldn't give her location to anyone connected with Richard.”
Matteo's anger softened into something more painful.
His own mother had been afraid that he might unknowingly lead Richard to her.
“Does she think I'm working with him?”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“She said you trusted Richard with everything.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
That was true.
He had trusted Richard with investments, political connections, and introductions to people who could protect his family's interests.
He had even trusted Richard's daughter enough to ask her to marry him.
“Where did they go?”
“I don't know the address.”
Matteo studied his face.
Daniel wasn't lying.
Or if he was, he was doing it for someone he believed needed protection.
Matteo chose not to pressure him.
“Would you contact my mother and tell her I want to speak?”
Daniel hesitated.
“I can pass along a message through Laura's former colleague.”
“Thank you.”
The words felt strange.
He was thanking his own brother for helping him find their mother.
But Daniel still wasn't ready to accept who he might be.
Matteo understood that demanding recognition would only make things worse.
Back at the mansion, Camille was waiting in his office.
She wore an ivory silk blouse and pearl earrings.
On his desk sat two cups of coffee.
A familiar gesture.
Before that morning, Matteo would have found it thoughtful.
Now it felt rehearsed.
“Darling, where have you been?”
“Looking for my mother.”
Camille's smile disappeared.
“She's receiving specialized care.”
“Where?”
“Matteo—”
“Tell me where she is.”
Camille folded her arms.
“I arranged her transfer because she needed a quieter environment.”
“Without asking me?”
“Your mother was becoming difficult.”
Matteo stared at her.
“Difficult?”
“She kept accusing my father of terrible things.”
“Did that make her difficult, or did it make your family uncomfortable?”
Camille looked hurt.
“You're treating me like a criminal.”
“Then explain why you wanted my mother to sign a statement saying Anthony was dead.”
Her face lost its color.
“Who told you that?”
“Is it true?”
Camille walked to the window.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she turned.
“My father told me your mother was being exploited.”
“By whom?”
“A woman named Laura Mitchell.”
Matteo felt the familiar sting of another half-truth.
“Did he tell you who Laura was?”
“He said she'd once worked here.”
“Anything else?”
Camille hesitated.
Matteo waited.
Finally, she whispered, “He said Anthony was her son.”
“Then you knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you never told me.”
Camille's eyes filled.
“My father said Anthony died years ago. He said Laura couldn't accept it and had spent years harassing your mother.”
“So you believed him?”
“He's my father!”
“And I'm the man you agreed to marry.”
She looked away.
Matteo continued.
“You threatened Sophie. You humiliated Evelyn. You transferred my mother without my permission.”
“I was trying to keep our families from destroying each other.”
“By helping yours silence mine?”
Camille began crying.
Not dramatically.
Quietly, with the expression of someone realizing that the excuses she'd repeated for years no longer sounded convincing.
“My father helped me when nobody else would,” she said.
“What does that mean?”
“When I was twenty-three, I made a terrible business mistake. I invested money that wasn't mine. I thought I could replace it before anyone noticed.”
Matteo frowned.
“How much?”
“Almost four million dollars.”
He stared at her.
“My father covered it,” she continued. “He said I owed him loyalty.”
“Camille, that was thirteen years ago.”
“I know.”
“And you're still paying him?”
She nodded.
Matteo suddenly understood why she followed Richard's instructions even when they made her visibly uncomfortable.
Richard had turned his daughter's shame into a leash.
It didn't excuse what she'd done.
But it explained why she feared him.
“Who lost the money?” Matteo asked.
Camille hesitated.
“A charitable investment fund.”
“Whose?”
She swallowed.
“The Bellini Family Children's Foundation.”
Matteo went still.
His father had established that foundation after Anthony disappeared.
For fifteen years, it had funded programs for vulnerable children.
Camille had taken money intended for them.
“You stole from my father's foundation?”
“I borrowed it. I intended to repay everything.”
“Did you?”
“My father replaced the money.”
“With what?”
She said nothing.
Matteo understood there was another secret.
Before he could press further, Sophie appeared at the office entrance.
“Mr. Bellini, Evelyn asked me to bring you something.”
Camille immediately stiffened.
“Why is that woman still here?”
Matteo looked at her.
“Because this is her home for as long as she wants it to be.”
Sophie entered.
She carried a faded brown coat.
“Evelyn said Laura left this behind.”
Matteo took it.
The fabric was worn thin around the cuffs.
Inside the lining, someone had carefully stitched a small pocket.
Sophie pointed toward it.
“I noticed the stitching didn't match.”
Matteo opened the pocket.
Inside were three folded pieces of paper.
The first was a train ticket dated November 19, fifteen years earlier.
Philadelphia to Pittsburgh.
The second was a receipt from a children's clinic.
The third was a handwritten list of names.
Matteo recognized several.
Former business associates of his father.
A retired judge.
Two senior police officials.
And Richard Whitmore.
Each name had a date beside it.
Sophie leaned forward.
“What are those dates?”
Matteo studied them.
“Payments.”
Camille looked alarmed.
“Don't read that.”
Matteo turned toward her.
“Why?”
She swallowed.
“Because my father said those records were destroyed.”
The room became silent.
Matteo unfolded the last paper.
It contained a list of transfers from the Bellini Family Children's Foundation.
Every payment had been authorized under an old financial arrangement.
At the bottom was a signature.
Lorenzo Bellini.
His father.
Matteo stared at it.
For years, he'd believed Richard had manipulated his family.
Now he was looking at evidence that his father had participated in something terrible.
But Sophie noticed something else.
“Mr. Bellini, look at the dates.”
The first payment had been made before Anthony disappeared.
The final payment was dated just six months earlier.
Matteo frowned.
His father had been dead for nine years.
Someone had continued using the same arrangement.
Then he noticed the last recipient.
Daniel Mercer.
Beside Daniel's name was an amount.
$250,000.
Camille covered her mouth.
Matteo looked at her.
“Why was Richard paying Daniel a quarter of a million dollars?”
Camille whispered, “Because Daniel was supposed to disappear again.”
Matteo's expression hardened.
“What does that mean?”
Camille began shaking.
“My father told me there was one final payment.”
“For what?”
May you like
She looked toward the coat in his hands.
“For Daniel to sign away his identity—and never come back to this family.”
