Chapter 7 - What Victor Bellini Hid in Sarah’s Box

Lakeshore Bank opened at nine.

We arrived at eight fifty-five.

Luca.

Vanessa.

Marco.

And me.

Sophie stayed home with Maria.

Luca had insisted.

“She has heard enough adult lies for one week.”

Vanessa didn’t argue.

Victor was not invited.

That was the first thing that frightened him.

The second was when the bank manager recognized the key.

“Box 418.”

He looked at Vanessa.

“Mrs. Bellini?”

“Ms.”

She glanced at Luca.

“Just Vanessa Hale on the account.”

The manager checked his screen.

Then frowned.

“There are two authorized names.”

Luca looked at her.

“Two?”

Vanessa went still.

The manager turned the screen slightly.

“Vanessa Bellini and Victor Bellini.”

Marco swore quietly.

Vanessa stared.

“I didn’t add him.”

The manager’s expression changed.

“I’ll need to verify the paperwork.”

Ten minutes later, he returned with a copied signature card.

Vanessa looked at it.

“That’s not my signature.”

Luca’s eyes sharpened.

The manager stopped speaking.

Marco took a photograph.

Then the box arrived.

Vanessa inserted the key.

Her hand trembled.

Inside were Sarah’s things.

The ring.

The letters.

Two photographs.

A gold necklace.

Sophie’s hospital bracelet from the day she was born.

Luca touched that last item like it could break.

Then he noticed the envelope beneath everything.

It was not Vanessa’s handwriting.

Victor Bellini.

Luca opened it.

Inside were account statements.

Payments.

Regular.

Large.

From a Bellini holding company.

To Michael Keane.

Luca’s former accountant.

For six years.

Vanessa stared at the pages.

“I didn’t know.”

Luca believed her.

I could see it.

Not because he trusted her again.

Because her shock was too immediate to perform.

Marco looked at the dates.

“These started before you met Vanessa.”

Luca flipped through the pages.

“What was Keane being paid for?”

Another document answered.

Household access.

Calendar access.

Security rotation.

Private safe maintenance.

My stomach dropped.

Vanessa covered her mouth.

“My father knew your house schedule?”

Luca’s face hardened.

“For years.”

Marco looked at him.

“This is bigger than the wedding.”

Luca nodded.

Then he found one final envelope.

The front read:

SARAH MORETTI.

My heart stopped.

Luca opened it carefully.

Inside was a letter.

Not from Sarah.

About her.

A private investigator’s report.

Five years old.

The month before Sarah died.

Vanessa stepped backward.

Luca read silently.

Then sat down.

I had never seen him do that before.

“What?” I asked.

He looked at me.

“Victor had Sarah followed.”

Nobody spoke.

Marco took the report.

“Why?”

Luca pointed to the last page.

There was a photograph.

Sarah leaving a restaurant.

Beside her stood Michael Keane.

The accountant.

Vanessa whispered, “She knew him?”

Luca’s voice was low.

“She was investigating something.”

He turned another page.

Sarah had written notes in the margin.

Transfers.

Fake vendors.

Shell companies.

Names I didn’t recognize.

One I did.

Bellini Holdings.

Vanessa stared at her father’s company name.

“No.”

Luca looked at her.

“Your father and my accountant were stealing from me.”

Marco shook his head.

“Not just you.”

He pointed to another entry.

“These accounts belonged to your father before you took control.”

Luca leaned back.

Sarah had discovered it.

Before she died.

The room became unbearably quiet.

Vanessa whispered:

“How did Sarah die?”

Luca’s eyes went to her.

“Car accident.”

“Was it investigated?”

“Yes.”

“By who?”

He answered without looking away from the report.

“My father’s old attorney handled everything.”

Marco’s phone rang.

He stepped aside.

When he returned, his expression was different.

“Keane called back.”

Luca stood.

“What did he say?”

“He wants immunity.”

Vanessa laughed once.

It sounded broken.

“From what?”

Marco looked at Luca.

“He says Victor ordered him to change the security logs the night Sarah died.”

Nobody moved.

Then Luca asked:

“Did he say Victor killed her?”

“No.”

“Then what did he say?”

Marco swallowed.

“He said Sarah came to the house that night with proof.”

Luca’s hand tightened around the report.

“And?”

“Victor was already here.”

Vanessa whispered, “My father knew Sarah?”

Marco nodded.

“Apparently very well.”

Luca closed the box.

Then looked at Vanessa.

She looked terrified.

Not for herself.

For what she was beginning to understand about the man who had raised her.

Luca picked up Sarah’s ring.

He held it for a moment.

Then placed it in his pocket.

“We go home.”

Marco frowned.

“You don’t want to meet Keane?”

“Yes.”

“When?”

Luca looked at the photograph of Sarah standing beside the accountant.

“After I ask my daughter one question.”

“What question?”

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He closed the bank box.

“Whether her mother ever told her she was afraid of Victor Bellini.”