Chapter 7 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The psychiatric transport team believed they were taking me to Saint Aurelia Medical Center.
They were not.
Luca had discovered that the court order allowed an authorized representative from the foundation to choose the receiving facility.
So Marco created one.
Apparently, when you have enough lawyers, money and criminal contacts, paperwork becomes a weapon.
The ambulance carrying me was real.
The driver worked for Luca.
The nurse worked for Salvatore.
The police escort believed everything was legitimate.
I wore a tracking device beneath my blouse and another inside my shoe.
Luca hated the plan.
Which was ironic because it had been his idea.
“I changed my mind.”
We stood inside the estate foyer.
“You can’t.”
“I can.”
“Thirty minutes ago, you said this was the only way to force Saint Aurelia to expose whoever is behind the order.”
“That was thirty minutes ago.”
“What changed?”
His eyes went to me.
Nothing else.
Just me.
“Oh.”
“Mara—”
“You’re worried.”
“Yes.”
The honesty caught me off guard.
“I thought mafia bosses were supposed to pretend emotions are weakness.”
“My father believed that.”
“And you?”
“I watched what that belief did to him.”
He glanced toward Nico.
“I have no interest in becoming my father.”
I softened.
“Then trust me.”
“That is exactly the problem.”
“What?”
“I do.”
For one dangerous second, the entire world went quiet again.
The way it had when he entered Bellagio.
Except now I wasn’t afraid of him.
Not in the same way.
Bianca appeared carrying Nico.
“Before you two turn this into a complicated romantic tragedy, we have police waiting.”
I nearly choked.
“There is no romance.”
“Obviously.”
Luca glared at her.
She smiled.
Nico reached for me.
I took him.
His little hand found my necklace.
“Hey, troublemaker.”
I kissed his forehead.
“If this goes badly, tell your father I was right about everything.”
Luca’s voice was dry.
“He will be eight months old. I doubt the message will be accurate.”
I handed Nico back.
Then I climbed into the ambulance.
The plan was simple.
We would allow Saint Aurelia’s representatives to redirect my transport.
Marco’s team would follow.
The route would reveal the hidden facility.
Simple plans in my life had a poor survival rate.
Forty minutes outside the city, the ambulance exited the highway.
My nurse, Elena Torres, looked at me.
“That wasn’t the route.”
“I know.”
She touched her earpiece.
“Marco?”
No response.
My stomach tightened.
The driver tried his radio.
Static.
Then a black SUV appeared behind us.
Another pulled in front.
“Elena.”
“I see them.”
The ambulance slowed.
“Don’t stop!” I shouted.
A third SUV blocked the road.
Our driver swerved.
The ambulance jumped the shoulder.
I slammed against the restraint.
Gunshots struck the rear doors.
Elena pulled a pistol from beneath her medical bag.
Of course she did.
“Stay down.”
“You’re a nurse.”
“Weekends.”
“Are all Luca’s employees insane?”
“Mostly.”
The ambulance accelerated through a field.
Another shot blew out a rear tire.
We spun.
Metal screamed.
The world turned sideways.
Then stopped.
I tasted blood.
“Mara?”
“I’m okay.”
Elena wasn’t.
Her head had struck the wall.
She was conscious but dazed.
The rear doors opened.
Masked men dragged me out.
I kicked one in the face.
Another grabbed my hair.
“Careful!” someone shouted. “She’s worth more alive.”
Worth.
I remembered my father’s letter.
You are not a debt.
I fought harder.
They injected something into my arm.
The field blurred.
The last thing I saw was the dragon necklace at my throat.
Then darkness.
I woke in a white room.
No windows.
No shoes.
No necklace.
My head pounded.
A woman sat across from the bed.
She wore an ivory suit.
Her hair was silver.
Her posture elegant.
She looked perhaps seventy.
She smiled.
I knew her before she spoke.
Not because I had seen her.
Because I had seen her face divided between my mother and Alessia.
“Hello, Mara.”
My grandmother.
Isabella Bellandi.
The dead woman.
I sat up.
“You’re supposed to be dead.”
She smiled.
“So are half the people you’ve met this week.”
Apparently sarcasm ran in the family.
“You ordered the guardianship.”
“Yes.”
“You kidnapped me.”
“Technically, the court placed you under care.”
“You shot at an ambulance.”
Her smile disappeared.
“Not my order.”
“You expect me to believe you?”
“No. Belief is overrated.”
She poured tea.
“Would you like some?”
“I’d like a door.”
“There is one behind you.”
I looked.
No handle.
“Funny.”
“I’ve been told.”
She studied me.
“My God, you look like Celia.”
“She’s alive.”
“I know.”
“Did you kill Alessia?”
“No.”
“Gabriel worked for you.”
“Once.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“Gabriel worked for everyone. That was his talent.”
“Who cut her brakes?”
Isabella’s expression tightened.
“I spent eleven months trying to answer that.”
“You’re lying.”
“I taught your mother better manners.”
“You abandoned her for twenty-five years.”
“And yet somehow she survived.”
I stood.
“Why am I here?”
“Because you are the only person both families hesitate to kill.”
My skin chilled.
“What do you want?”
“Peace.”
I laughed.
“People keep attempting murder around your version of peace.”
She leaned forward.
“Your father was supposed to end the war.”
“By dying?”
“No. By marrying Celia.”
I froze.
“They were already in love.”
“Yes. But their marriage would have united Bellandi and Conti blood.”
“You wanted it.”
“I arranged their meeting.”
The room became colder.
“You manipulated them.”
“No. Attraction did that without help.”
For some reason, that answer sounded almost human.
“Then why did Vittorio kill him?”
“Because Gabriel convinced him Daniel was stealing information.”
“Why didn’t you stop it?”
Pain crossed her face.
“I tried.”
“You faked your death.”
“Later.”
“Why?”
“Because once Daniel died, I realized Gabriel wasn’t alone.”
“The three traitors.”
She nodded.
“Security. Money. Information.”
“You were money.”
Isabella smiled sadly.
“That is what Celia believed.”
“You weren’t?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“My brother.”
“What brother?”
“Vittorio never told his children about him.”
I stared.
“Name.”
“Augusto Bellandi.”
Luca had mentioned no Augusto.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Isabella looked toward the wall.
“Closer than anyone realizes.”
A door opened.
A man entered.
My breath stopped.
I knew him.
Everyone in the city knew him.
District Attorney Adrian Vale.
The man who had spent ten years publicly promising to destroy organized crime.
He smiled.
“Hello, Mara.”
Isabella stood abruptly.
“What are you doing here?”
Everything in her voice changed.
Fear.
Vale ignored her.
He placed my necklace on the table.
“You dropped this.”
“You attacked the ambulance.”
“Yes.”
Isabella stepped forward.
“We had an agreement.”
Vale laughed.
“You still think we’re partners.”
Her face paled.
He looked at me.
“Isabella truly believed she was building peace. Sweet, isn’t it?”
“Who are you?”
His smile widened.
“Augusto Bellandi’s son.”
The third generation of a family nobody knew existed.
“Gabriel controlled security,” he said. “My father controlled money.”
“And you?”
“Information.”
The district attorney.
Of course.
He had access to police, investigations, witnesses, sealed files.
Every secret.
“You killed Alessia.”
His smile disappeared.
“She became inconvenient.”
Isabella lunged toward him.
A gunshot exploded.
She collapsed.
I screamed.
Vale lowered his pistol.
Blood spread across Isabella’s ivory suit.
He looked at me calmly.
“Now, Mara.”
He took out his phone.
“Call Luca.”
I stared at him.
“No.”
“Then your grandmother dies.”
“She might already be dead.”
“Not yet.”
Isabella gasped weakly.
Vale dialed.
Luca answered on the first ring.
“Mara?”
Hearing his voice nearly broke me.
Vale put the phone on speaker.
“She’s alive.”
Luca’s voice became terrifying.
“Adrian.”
Vale smiled.
“So you finally figured it out.”
“What do you want?”
“Mara for the boy.”
I froze.
Luca did too.
“What?”
Vale’s eyes stayed on mine.
“Nico Bellandi.”
“No.”
“Then Mara dies.”
Luca’s answer came without hesitation.
“If you touch her, there is nowhere on this planet you will be safe.”
Vale laughed.
“Still emotional.”
Then Luca said something quieter.
Something meant only for me.
“Mara, look for the light.”
Vale frowned.
I did.
Above the door—
a tiny green flash.
My second tracker.
The one Marco had hidden inside a button.
Still transmitting.
Vale had not found it.
Luca knew exactly where I was.
May you like
And judging by the distant explosion that shook the walls—
he was already coming.
