Chapter 2 - The Woman Above the Library

The library was closed.

One light glowed above the second-floor windows.

Luca stood outside for almost a minute.

Ruth waited beside him.

So did I.

Emily Carter.

Maid.

Still carrying the engagement dinner coat Serena had forgotten.

Luca held the old book under one arm.

The Count of Monte Cristo.

His mother’s handwriting inside.

Last month.

He looked at Ruth.

“She knows I’m coming?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“She asked me not to promise anything.”

Luca almost laughed.

“That seems popular tonight.”

Ruth unlocked the side door.

The stairs creaked.

At the top was a narrow hallway.

One apartment.

One door.

Luca knocked.

Nothing.

He knocked again.

Then a woman’s voice.

“Ruth?”

Luca closed his eyes.

He knew the voice.

Not from memory.

From old home videos.

From dreams he stopped admitting he had.

Ruth answered:

“No.”

The door opened.

Elena Bellini stood there.

Fifty-nine.

Dark hair streaked with silver.

Thin.

Elegant.

Terrified.

She stared at Luca.

The book slipped slightly in his hand.

Elena whispered:

“My son.”

Luca did not move.

She covered her mouth.

For nineteen years, he had imagined this moment.

Anger.

Questions.

Maybe an embrace.

What happened instead was silence.

Elena looked at Ruth.

“You brought him.”

Ruth answered:

“He brought himself.”

Luca finally spoke.

“You wrote in the book.”

“Yes.”

“Last month.”

“Yes.”

“You knew where I lived.”

“Yes.”

“You knew I was getting married.”

“Yes.”

“You knew Dad died.”

“Yes.”

His face hardened.

“And you stayed here.”

Elena lowered her eyes.

“Yes.”

Luca laughed once.

No humor.

“Good start.”

She stepped aside.

“Come in.”

The apartment was small.

Books everywhere.

A kettle on the stove.

One framed photograph on the table.

Luca at fourteen.

The year Elena vanished.

He stared at it.

“Where did you get that?”

“I took it.”

“When?”

“The morning I left.”

Silence.

Luca looked at her.

“You planned to disappear.”

“Yes.”

“Then the purse at the station.”

“Placed there.”

“By you?”

“No.”

“Who?”

Elena’s face changed.

“Your father.”

Luca stopped.

Ruth closed the door.

Elena continued.

“Your father helped me disappear.”

Luca stared.

“He told me you abandoned us.”

“I know.”

“He told police you were unstable.”

“I know.”

“He told me you probably left the country with someone else.”

Elena’s eyes filled.

“I know.”

Luca stepped closer.

“Why?”

“Because I had records that could destroy him.”

“Victor said Dad was involved.”

“He was.”

“How deeply?”

Elena looked toward the table.

“Deeper than Victor admitted.”

Luca sat down.

“Tell me.”

She opened a drawer.

Inside were old photocopies.

Transfers.

Shell companies.

Cash ledgers.

Names.

Antonio Bellini.

Luca’s father.

Victor Voss.

Three judges.

Two port officials.

One senator.

Luca stared.

“My father moved all this money?”

“Yes.”

“For who?”

“At first, for his own businesses.”

“And later?”

“For people who paid him to hide theirs.”

Luca’s jaw tightened.

“So you were going to expose him.”

“Yes.”

“And Victor.”

“Yes.”

“Why didn’t you?”

Elena sat across from him.

“Because Antonio found the copies.”

Luca looked at her.

“What did he do?”

“He told me if I went to police, he would take you.”

Ruth whispered:

“He had already spoken to a judge.”

Elena nodded.

“A judge on his payroll.”

Luca’s voice dropped.

“He would have won custody.”

“Yes.”

“Then what?”

“I agreed to leave.”

“Just like that?”

“No.”

Elena looked at him.

“I made a deal.”

“With Dad.”

“Yes.”

“What deal?”

“I disappear.”

“He lets you stay with your grandmother whenever he traveled.”

“He stops using your name in the companies.”

“And?”

“He gives me time to move the evidence somewhere safe.”

Luca frowned.

“Why would he agree?”

“Because he believed I would eventually destroy it.”

“Did you?”

“No.”

Elena opened another drawer.

A brass key.

She placed it on the table.

Luca stared.

“What is that?”

“A private archive box.”

“Where?”

“Old university library.”

Ruth nodded.

“Basement collection.”

Luca looked at her.

“You helped.”

“Yes.”

“For nineteen years.”

“Yes.”

He looked back at Elena.

“Then why didn’t Dad find you?”

“He did.”

Silence.

“When?”

“Six years after I left.”

Luca stared.

“What happened?”

“He came to this city.”

“To kill you?”

Elena shook her head.

“No.”

“To bring me home.”

Luca looked confused.

“What?”

Elena’s eyes filled.

“He wanted out.”

“Out of what?”

“The network.”

Luca stared at the financial records.

“He regretted it?”

“Yes.”

“Did you believe him?”

“Eventually.”

“And you still didn’t come back.”

Elena looked toward the photograph of fourteen-year-old Luca.

“Because by then Victor had taken over most of Antonio’s hidden accounts.”

Luca’s face changed.

“Victor.”

“Yes.”

“Dad was afraid of him.”

“Yes.”

“And you?”

“Yes.”

Luca stood.

“So everyone was afraid.”

Nobody answered.

He picked up the brass key.

“What is in the archive box?”

Elena looked at him.

“The first proof your father ever gave me against Victor.”

Luca stared.

“When?”

“Five years before Antonio died.”

“And Victor doesn’t know?”

“He knows something exists.”

Luca looked at Ruth.

“That is why he wanted the book destroyed.”

Ruth nodded.

“The key was supposed to be hidden inside the cover.”

Luca looked at the book.

“It wasn’t.”

Elena smiled faintly.

“No.”

“Where was it?”

“In my pocket.”

He almost smiled.

Almost.

Then footsteps sounded on the stairs.

Ruth went still.

Luca turned.

Elena whispered:

“I didn’t invite anyone else.”

A knock.

Three times.

Then Serena’s voice.

“Luca.”

He closed his eyes.

Elena looked at him.

“She came.”

“Yes.”

“Do you want me to open the door?”

Luca looked at the brass key.

Then the old book.

Then his mother.

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“No.”

He walked to the door himself.