Chapter 8 - THE LAST BELLANDI SECRET
The private medical facility sat beside a lake two hours north of Chicago.
No Bellandi name appeared on the property.
Officially, Vittorio Bellandi had never been there.
Officially, Vittorio Bellandi had been dead for nearly two decades.
Luca was beginning to hate the word officially.
They arrived shortly before sunrise.
The front gate hung open.
A security guard lay unconscious but breathing beside the booth.
Inside the main building, staff had been locked in offices.
Daniel had arrived first.
So had Celeste.
Rachel found blood near the elevator.
Thomas recognized Celeste’s bracelet lying beside it.
“She fought.”
Luca looked at him.
“You care?”
Thomas’s face remained unreadable.
“She’s not the person I thought she was.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
“No.”
Rachel understood more than Thomas said.
Celeste had betrayed people.
Manipulated Rachel.
Lied to Luca.
Helped abduct Margaret.
But Daniel had also raised her as a tool.
Perhaps Thomas recognized himself in her.
They found Vittorio on the third floor.
The old man sat in a wheelchair beside a window.
Thin.
Nearly bald.
A blanket over his knees.
Daniel stood behind him.
Celeste stood near the wall.
A pistol pressed against her ribs.
Her face was bruised.
When she saw Luca, shame passed through her expression.
Daniel smiled.
“Family reunion.”
Luca entered first.
Rachel beside him.
Thomas followed.
Alessandro came last.
Vittorio lifted his head.
His eyes wandered.
Then stopped on Luca.
His expression brightened.
“Gabriel.”
Luca froze.
Thomas looked toward him.
Vittorio reached out.
“You came back.”
Luca said, “I’m Luca.”
The old man frowned.
“No.”
Daniel laughed.
“Even now he knows what he created.”
Rachel looked toward Celeste.
Celeste silently mouthed:
I’M SORRY.
Rachel didn’t know whether she meant Margaret.
The lies.
The engagement.
Everything.
Daniel demanded the archive access code.
Rachel refused.
He pressed the gun harder against Celeste.
Rachel looked at her.
Celeste shook her head.
“Don’t.”
Daniel struck her.
Luca moved.
Daniel aimed the gun at him.
“Another step.”
Luca stopped.
Thomas stepped forward instead.
“Take me.”
Daniel looked at his son.
Something cold entered his face.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“You think I want you?”
Thomas absorbed that.
Daniel smiled.
“You were valuable when Vittorio controlled you. Then you became sentimental.”
Thomas laughed softly.
“Interesting word from the man pointing a gun at his daughter.”
Celeste closed her eyes.
Daniel’s face hardened.
Rachel finally saw the center of him.
He did not love Thomas.
He did not love Celeste.
He loved possession.
Children.
Money.
Secrets.
Everything was a tool.
“You lose either way,” Rachel said.
Daniel looked at her.
“The archive copied itself.”
“I know.”
“It will reach federal investigators.”
“Eventually.”
“You can’t stop it.”
“I don’t need to.”
He gestured toward Vittorio.
“I need his final authorization.”
Alessandro frowned.
“For what?”
Daniel smiled.
“To transfer the last trust.”
Thomas shook his head.
“He’s incompetent.”
“Legally? Not yet.”
A physician entered from a side room.
Terrified.
Daniel had forced him to sign competency documents.
Rachel understood.
Daniel planned to use Vittorio’s signature and Rachel’s access credentials together.
Then disappear with everything before the archive destroyed him.
Luca looked at Celeste.
“You knew?”
She shook her head.
“I thought he was making you sign over the Chicago holdings.”
“Why did you help him at all?”
Celeste’s eyes filled.
“Because he told me Thomas would kill my mother.”
Thomas stared.
Celeste looked toward him.
“He lied about everything.”
Daniel sighed.
“Children become exhausting when they discover nuance.”
Then Vittorio spoke.
“Evelyn.”
Everyone turned.
The old man was staring at Rachel.
Not confusion now.
Recognition.
Rachel stepped closer.
“I’m Rachel.”
He blinked.
“Second girl.”
Her pulse quickened.
“What?”
Vittorio smiled weakly.
“Evelyn’s second girl.”
Rachel frowned.
“I was her only daughter.”
Vittorio shook his head.
“No.”
Alessandro whispered, “Father.”
Vittorio stared through the years.
“Daniel switched them.”
Rachel’s stomach dropped.
“Switched who?”
Daniel’s face changed.
For the first time, genuine fear.
Vittorio pointed toward Celeste.
“Girls.”
Rachel looked at Celeste.
Celeste looked back.
Neither understood.
Vittorio mumbled.
“One born. One adopted. Daniel switched the papers.”
Evelyn, standing behind Rachel, gasped.
“No.”
Daniel raised the gun.
“Enough.”
Thomas moved fast.
Gunfire exploded.
Luca tackled Daniel.
Celeste screamed.
Rachel pulled Vittorio’s wheelchair backward.
Thomas hit the floor.
Blood spread across his chest.
Daniel and Luca crashed into a table.
The pistol skidded away.
Alessandro grabbed it.
“Stop!”
Daniel froze.
Luca’s fist was twisted in Daniel’s collar.
Alessandro aimed the gun.
But not at Daniel.
At Vittorio.
Everyone stared.
Luca whispered:
“Dad?”
Alessandro’s hand shook.
“Move away.”
Rachel stepped in front of Vittorio.
“What are you doing?”
Alessandro’s face was devastated.
“You don’t understand.”
“Then explain.”
“He cannot be allowed to remember.”
Luca slowly stood.
“What did he remember?”
Alessandro looked at him.
And Rachel saw the truth before he said it.
Something Alessandro had hidden even from Evelyn.
Something worse.
“Rachel and Celeste were born in the same hospital,” Alessandro whispered.
Celeste stopped crying.
Daniel closed his eyes.
Alessandro continued.
“Daniel’s wife gave birth that night.”
Rachel stared at Celeste.
“No.”
Vittorio began laughing weakly.
“Wrong daughters.”
Rachel’s blood turned cold.
Daniel Vaughn had not merely manipulated two women.
He had switched two babies.
Rachel whispered:
“Which one of us is Evelyn’s daughter?”
Vittorio pointed.
Not at Rachel.
May you like
At Celeste.
And the entire room fell silent.
