Chapter 6 - DONNA LUCIA'S LAST SECRETAdriano did not shout.
That frightened everyone more.
He looked at Tomas.
"Lock the hospital."
Bella caught his wrist.
"No."
His eyes snapped toward her.
"Paolo has my mother."
"We don't know that."
"We heard his voice."
"We heard him near her."
The distinction forced him to think.
Bella continued.
"If you lock down the building visibly, he panics."
Adriano breathed once.
Then nodded.
"Tomas. Quietly."
Security reviewed the cameras.
Lucia had entered alone at 6:52.
At 6:54, Paolo entered wearing a maintenance jacket.
At 6:56, both entered an elevator.
The elevator stopped at the ninth floor.
Lucia stepped out.
Alone.
Paolo did not.
"Where did he go?" Adriano asked.
The technician checked.
"Basement."
Adriano stared.
A diversion.
His phone rang.
Lucia.
"Adriano?"
"Mama."
"I'm fine."
He gripped the phone.
"Where are you?"
"Ninth floor chapel."
"Stay there."
"No."
His jaw clenched.
Bella almost smiled despite herself.
Lucia continued.
"Paolo approached me in the elevator. He asked for Vittorio's drive."
"What did you say?"
"I told him I didn't have it."
"And he believed you?"
"I told him Bella had already given it to the FBI."
Everyone went still.
"You what?"
"I lied."
Lucia sounded almost offended by the question.
"I was married to your father for forty-six years. You think I don't know how?"
Bella covered a laugh.
Then Lucia's voice changed.
"Adriano, he was frightened."
"Good."
"No. Listen. Paolo isn't frightened of you."
Adriano's expression sharpened.
"Then who?"
"He said Carlo kept insurance."
Bianca went pale.
"My father?"
Lucia continued.
"Paolo said if anything happened to him, Carlo's records would destroy someone else."
"Who?"
"He wouldn't say."
Bianca sat down.
For the first time, she looked afraid.
"I know where."
Everyone turned.
"My father had a cabin in the Catskills. After he died, I sold the property, but there was a storage room beneath the foundation that wasn't on the plans."
Tomas asked, "Why didn't you tell us?"
"Because I was seventeen when I saw it last."
Adriano looked at her.
"We're going."
Bella spoke immediately.
"No."
Adriano turned.
She raised an eyebrow.
"You are not leaving this hospital to walk into a dead criminal's hidden room while Paolo is still loose."
"I can handle—"
He stopped himself.
Bella waited.
A strange expression crossed his face.
Then he nodded.
"You're right."
Bianca stared at him.
"What?"
Adriano ignored her.
"Tomas sends a team. Police accompany them."
Bella's mouth twitched.
Progress.
Three hours later, investigators entered the cabin.
They found no money.
No weapons.
Only boxes.
Hundreds of pages.
Photographs.
Ledgers.
And a sealed letter addressed to Bianca.
She opened it at the hospital.
My daughter,
If you are reading this, then I failed you twice. First by making you useful to men who should have protected you. Second by teaching you that usefulness was the same as love.
Bianca stopped.
Her eyes filled.
Bella quietly looked away.
Carlo's confession explained everything.
Paolo had designed the financial network. Carlo had participated. Vittorio discovered it. Marco helped gather evidence.
Then Carlo became afraid.
He wanted out.
Paolo refused.
Vittorio's death had not been natural.
His hotel medication had been switched.
The room became silent.
Adriano stared at the letter.
"My father was murdered."
Tomas nodded grimly.
"And Paolo has been beside you ever since."
The betrayal landed deeper than rage.
Paolo had stood beside Adriano at Vittorio's funeral.
Had poured whiskey when Adriano blamed himself.
Had told him his father's last unanswered call would haunt any son.
He had fed the guilt he created.
Bella saw the realization.
"Adriano."
He walked toward the window.
For several minutes, nobody followed.
Finally Bella did.
She couldn't stand long, so she settled into a chair near him.
"It wasn't your unanswered call."
His back remained toward her.
"I spent nine years thinking—"
"I know."
"I hated myself."
"I know."
His shoulders moved.
Bella had seen Adriano wounded.
She had seen him furious.
She had never seen him cry.
He did now.
Silently.
One tear.
Then another.
He covered his face.
Bella did not tell him to stop.
Eventually he knelt beside her chair and rested his forehead against her hand.
She touched his hair.
Not because everything was fixed.
Because pain did not have to earn tenderness.
Across the room, Bianca quietly left.
Marco arrived shortly afterward.
He looked at his brother.
Neither spoke.
Then Adriano crossed the room and embraced him.
Marco froze.
Adriano whispered something Bella barely heard.
"I should have trusted you."
Marco's arms closed around him.
"You were always terrible at that."
Adriano laughed once through the grief.
Later that afternoon, prosecutors and federal investigators received copies of Vittorio's files.
Paolo's accounts were frozen.
His properties were watched.
His photograph reached airports and border crossings.
At 7:18 p.m., a nurse entered Bella's room carrying flowers.
"No card."
Adriano looked at them.
White lilies.
Bella's expression changed.
"Take them out."
The nurse stopped.
"Why?"
Bella pointed.
Inside the arrangement was a tiny black object.
A camera.
Tomas removed it.
On the underside was a handwritten message.
Adriano read it.
YOUR FATHER BEGGED TOO.
Every trace of grief vanished from his face.
The Don returned.
But this time, before issuing an order, Adriano looked at Bella.
She understood the question.
"End this legally," she said. "Not with another funeral."
Adriano held her gaze.
Then nodded.
But across town, Paolo Neri was already preparing something far more dangerous than escape.
May you like
He was preparing to make Adriano choose.
Again.
