Chapter 3 - THE LAWYER’S SAFE
The dining room erupted into chaos.
Guests began whispering frantically, some standing up, trying to distance themselves from the explosive family secret unfolding before them.
Luca held up a single hand, and the room instantly fell silent again.
He stared at Isabella, then at Vanessa, and finally at me.
“Vincent’s son?” Luca repeated, his voice dangerously low. “You mean Anthony? You had a child with Anthony Bellini?”
Isabella nodded, wiping tears from her cheeks.
“We were in love, Luca. But our fathers hated each other. When Dad found out I was pregnant with a Bellini, he went insane. And when Vincent found out, he realized he could use the baby as leverage to steal the Moretti shipping lines.”
Vanessa scoffed from across the table, though her hands were shaking.
“My brother Anthony has been dead for twenty-five years, Isabella. He died in a car crash in Rome. He didn’t even know this girl existed.”
“He knew she was pregnant,” Isabella shot back. “He was coming back to New Orleans to take us away. But his car was run off the road before he made it to the airport.”
Isabella looked at Vanessa with pure hatred.
“Your father killed his own son to stop him from claiming my baby, Vanessa. Just like he locked me away to keep the secret.”
I felt the blood drain from my face.
My entire life, my mother—the woman who raised me, the nurse who took me from that hospital—told me my father was a soldier who died overseas.
She had lied to protect me.
Because if Vincent Bellini knew I had survived, he would have killed me too.
“Natalie,” Teresa said softly from her wheelchair, reaching out a trembling hand toward me.
I took a step back, overwhelmed.
I wasn't a housemaid. I wasn't just Natalie Reed.
I was the granddaughter of two warring mafia empires.
Luca turned to Marco, his security chief.
“Clear the room,” Luca ordered coldly. “Get everyone out except Vanessa, Isabella, and Natalie.”
Within two minutes, the guests were escorted out by armed guards, the heavy dining doors closing behind them.
Luca grabbed a chair, flipped it around, and sat straddling it, resting his arms on the backrest.
He stared at Vanessa.
“You knew Anthony had a child,” Luca said. “That’s why you recognized the locket. That’s why you treated Natalie like garbage since the day you got here. You knew exactly who she was.”
Vanessa refused to look at him. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest.
“I didn’t know for sure,” Vanessa muttered defensively. “My father told me the nurse ran away with the baby. He searched for years but couldn’t find them. When I saw the locket on her neck tonight... I panicked.”
“Because if she’s Anthony’s legitimate daughter,” Luca reasoned, “she inherits the Bellini estate. Not you.”
Vanessa’s silence was a confession.
Luca stood up, his jaw set in a hard line.
“Where are the original hospital records, Vanessa? The ones your father forged.”
Vanessa laughed bitterly.
“You think my father is stupid? He keeps all his blackmail material in his private vault at the Bellini estate. It’s biometric. Only his fingerprint opens it.”
“Then we’re going to pay your father a visit,” Luca said.
He turned to his sister.
“Bella, stay here with Mom. Marco will guard the door.”
“I’m coming with you,” I said suddenly, surprising myself.
Luca looked at me, his expression softening slightly.
“Natalie, it’s too dangerous. Vincent Bellini is a ruthless man.”
“He’s my grandfather,” I said, my voice shaking but resolute. “He ruined my mother’s life. He locked my real mother in an asylum. He killed my father. I’m not hiding behind a servant’s uniform anymore.”
Isabella walked over to me.
She didn't try to hug me—she knew I was still reeling—but she gently touched my cheek.
“Be careful,” Isabella whispered. “He has eyes everywhere.”
Thirty minutes later, we were in Luca’s armored SUV, speeding toward the Bellini estate on the other side of the city.
Vanessa sat in the back seat between two massive bodyguards, glaring out the window.
The Bellini estate was a sprawling, modern fortress surrounded by high concrete walls and iron gates.
As we pulled up to the security checkpoint, Vanessa rolled down her window.
“Open the gate, Paul,” she snapped at the guard.
The heavy iron gates swung open.
Luca parked directly in front of the massive glass-and-steel mansion.
We walked inside, the silence of the massive house echoing around us.
“He’s in his study,” Vanessa said quietly, pointing toward a set of heavy wooden doors down the hall.
Luca pushed the doors open without knocking.
Vincent Bellini sat behind a massive mahogany desk.
He was a frail, elderly man hooked up to an oxygen tank, but his eyes were sharp and predatory as they fixed on us.
He looked at Luca, then at Vanessa, and finally, his gaze settled on me.
A cruel smile stretched across his thin lips.
“So,” Vincent rasped, his voice rattling in his chest. “The little lost bird finally flew home.”
“It’s over, Vincent,” Luca said firmly, stepping between me and the old man. “Isabella is free. We know you faked her death. We know you killed Anthony to stop him from taking the baby.”
Vincent didn’t flinch.
He leaned back in his leather chair, adjusting his oxygen tube.
“You know nothing, boy,” Vincent wheezed. “You think you’ve uncovered a great tragedy? You think this girl is an innocent victim?”
“She is Anthony’s daughter,” Luca snapped. “And she’s taking what belongs to her.”
Vincent began to laugh, a dry, hacking sound that echoed in the silent study.
He looked directly at me.
“Your mother—the nurse—did she ever tell you how she managed to sneak you out of a hospital heavily guarded by my men?” Vincent asked, his eyes gleaming with malice.
I gripped the gold locket around my neck.
“She hid me,” I said defensively. “She protected me.”
“She didn’t hide you,” Vincent mocked. “She bought you.”
I froze. “What?”
Vincent reached into the drawer of his desk and pulled out a heavy, leather-bound ledger. He threw it onto the desk.
“Read it yourself,” Vincent rasped. “Page forty-two. An entry from twenty-eight years ago.”
Luca picked up the ledger, flipping to the page.
His face darkened as he read the handwritten notes.
“What does it say?” I asked, my voice trembling.
May you like
Luca looked up at me, his eyes filled with sorrow.
“It’s a payment log,” Luca said softly. “Vincent paid the nurse two hundred thousand dollars to take you far away and never return. She didn’t rescue you, Natalie. She accepted a bribe to kidnap you.”
