Chapter 5 - The Warehouse in the Photograph

The warehouse had been abandoned for nineteen years.

That was what city records said.

City records were wrong.

Fresh tire marks crossed the wet concrete outside.

A security light burned over a side entrance.

Luca looked at Matteo.

“Two men outside. Nobody fires unless they have to.”

Emma turned toward him.

“I’m coming.”

“No.”

“It is my name in that building.”

“It is also my father’s investigation.”

“Then we both have reasons.”

Luca studied her.

Five years earlier, that look might have started an argument.

Tonight there was no time.

“Stay beside me.”

Emma almost smiled.

Lily had said the same thing to him in the mansion.

The brass key opened the side door.

Of course it did.

Inside, the air smelled of dust, river water and machine oil.

The office from the photograph still existed behind a row of rusted partitions.

Emma recognized the window.

The angle.

The brick wall.

The place where her mother had once stood with her.

Luca unlocked the office.

Files covered one desk.

Not old files.

Current ones.

Moretti schedules.

Bank transfers.

Copies of Lily’s trust.

Photographs of Emma leaving her apartment.

Photographs of Lily outside school.

Luca became very still.

Matteo saw them.

“Boss.”

“I see them.”

Emma touched one picture.

Lily holding her stuffed rabbit.

Taken three weeks earlier.

“This was never only about the trust.”

“No.”

A voice came from behind them.

“It was about leverage.”

Belini stood in the doorway.

No red gown now.

The crimson coat from the mansion wrapped tightly around her.

Her face looked different without the ballroom.

Smaller.

Tired.

Afraid.

Matteo raised his weapon.

Luca lifted one hand.

“Where is Vittorio?”

Belini laughed once.

“You finally believe he is alive.”

“I asked where.”

“If I tell you, he kills Enzo.”

Luca glanced toward Matteo.

“Enzo is alive.”

“For now.”

Emma stepped forward.

“You locked me in a room.”

Belini looked at her.

“Yes.”

“You hit Lily.”

Regret flickered.

Too late to matter.

“Yes.”

“You tried to make me sign away something you knew belonged to me.”

Belini’s eyes lowered.

“Yes.”

Luca’s voice was colder.

“Stop making confession sound like courage.”

She flinched.

“I am not asking for forgiveness.”

“What are you asking for?”

“A trade.”

Matteo moved closer.

Belini ignored him.

“Let Enzo disappear. Give my father the original Reed partnership agreement. I tell you where he is.”

Emma stared at her.

“You think we should trust you?”

“No.”

Belini looked directly at Emma.

“But you should believe I am afraid of him.”

That was the first honest thing Emma had heard from her.

Luca asked, “Did Vittorio kill Daniel Reed?”

Belini swallowed.

“Yes.”

“Claire?”

“Yes.”

“Alessandro?”

Her silence answered first.

Luca took one step toward her.

“Belini.”

“I didn’t do it.”

“That was not the question.”

“My father ordered the switch.”

The warehouse seemed to lose sound.

Emma looked at Luca.

He did not move.

“Who switched the medication?”

Belini’s mouth trembled.

“A nurse he paid through Enzo’s accounts.”

Matteo’s expression darkened.

Luca asked, “And you knew?”

“After.”

“You still stayed beside me.”

“I was told if I left, you would be next.”

Luca almost smiled.

Not kindly.

“So you protected me by marrying me.”

“I protected you by keeping him satisfied.”

Emma shook her head.

“You protected yourself.”

Belini looked at her.

“Yes.”

At least she did not lie.

A slow clap came from the darkness beyond the office.

Once.

Twice.

Three times.

Matteo turned.

An elderly man stepped into the light.

Silver hair.

Black overcoat.

Cane in one hand.

The same face as the photograph, aged by twenty-five years.

Vittorio Bellini smiled at his daughter.

“You were always disappointing under pressure.”

Belini went pale.

Luca did not.

He simply moved between Vittorio and Emma.

Vittorio noticed.

Then his eyes settled on her.

For the first time, the old man’s smile disappeared.

“Claire’s child.”

Emma held his gaze.

“My name is Emma.”

Vittorio looked at the brass key in Luca’s hand.

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“No,” he said quietly.

“Your name is the reason all of this had to happen.”