Chapter 5 - THE BURNT COAT
The air in the study felt like ice.
"What are you talking about?" Luca asked, stepping toward the elderly woman. "I watched the house burn. They found Antonio's coat in the ashes."
Mrs. Carter shook her head slowly. "They found a burnt coat, Luca. But it wasn't Antonio's."
She walked painfully into the room, refusing the guard's offer of help. She looked directly at Vanessa.
"Thirty years ago, your father, Victor Bellini, was a desperate man," Mrs. Carter said. "He owed a massive debt to the Chicago syndicate. He needed money, and he needed a way to erase his own tracks. So, he targeted the wealthiest family he knew: The Morettis."
"This is insane," Vanessa hissed, but she was shaking.
"Victor robbed your house," Mrs. Carter told Luca. "He took the silver locket, the cash, everything. But the syndicate wanted blood. They wanted Victor dead. So Victor came up with a plan to fake his own son's death to appease them."
I felt my stomach drop. "His own son?"
Mrs. Carter nodded. "Vanessa had an older brother. A violent, cruel boy named Vincent. Victor Bellini set the Moretti house on fire, dragged your brother Antonio out, and left his own son, Vincent, in the flames wearing Antonio's coat."
Luca staggered back, hitting the edge of the desk. "My brother... Antonio... he's alive?"
"Victor took Antonio as collateral," Mrs. Carter said. "He raised him in secret, twisting his mind, turning him into a weapon. The Bellini family's entire empire is built on the money they stole from your father, and the muscle of the boy they stole from your mother."
"How do you know this?" Luca demanded, his voice breaking.
"Because ten years ago, a young man came into my cafeteria," Mrs. Carter said, tears shining in her eyes. "He was badly beaten. He had run away from the Bellini compound. He recognized me from when he was a little boy. He told me everything. He gave me this."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a heavy, gold pocket watch.
Luca gasped. "My father's watch."
"He asked me to hold it for him until he was strong enough to come back and destroy Victor Bellini," Mrs. Carter said.
"Where is he?" Luca asked, grabbing her shoulders gently. "Where is Antonio?"
Mrs. Carter looked at Vanessa. "You know where he is, don't you, Valerie?"
Vanessa flinched at her real name. The aristocratic facade was completely gone. She was just Valerie. The poor girl with holes in her shoes who had lived a life built on blood and lies.
"He's in Switzerland," Vanessa whispered, crying real tears now. "Antonio is the one guarding the boy. He's guarding Leo."
Luca let go of Mrs. Carter. He looked at me, then at the guards.
"Lock her in the basement," Luca ordered, pointing at Vanessa. "If she speaks, gag her. Emma, pack a bag. You're coming with me."
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"Me, sir?" I asked, shocked.
"You found the drawing. You found the rosary. You protected Mrs. Carter," Luca said, his dark eyes burning with a fierce, absolute resolve. "I need someone I can trust. We are going to Switzerland. And we are bringing my son and my brother home."
