Chapter 11 - Daniel’s Betrayal
Elisa aimed at Daniel and shouted, “Tell her.”
Daniel removed his gun and placed it on the ground.
A folded police report slipped from his coat.
Elias Bellandi’s name was written across the top.
Beside it was Daniel Cross’s signature.
Elena stopped moving.
Victor watched Daniel carefully.
Not fear.
Guilt.
Much worse.
“Elena,” Daniel said.
She flinched.
“Don’t.”
“I can explain.”
“No one tonight has said that before doing anything good.”
Victor almost smiled despite the situation.
Daniel looked at Elisa.
“I gave the location.”
Elena’s face emptied.
Elisa’s gun trembled.
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“You gave them the address.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Daniel’s voice cracked.
“Because I thought Bellandi would arrest him.”
Victor frowned.
“Arrest?”
Daniel looked at him.
“At the time, I still believed some of Bellandi’s police contacts would choose procedure over execution.”
Victor stared.
“That is spectacularly naïve.”
“I know.”
Elisa laughed through tears.
“You know now.”
“Yes.”
“Elías knew then.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Elena stepped closer.
“What was he doing?”
“Meeting Keller.”
“The mechanic?”
“Yes.”
“To get the recording.”
Daniel nodded.
“He asked me to keep you away.”
“Why?”
“Because Keller was afraid.”
“And you told my father.”
“I told a police captain.”
“Which one?”
Daniel said nothing.
Victor knew.
“Name.”
“Harold Vance.”
Victor swore quietly.
Vance had been Bellandi-owned for years.
Retired now.
Florida.
Untouchable only if Victor allowed geography to matter.
“Elías died because Vance told Bellandi.”
Daniel nodded.
“Yes.”
Elisa’s finger moved toward the trigger.
Elena stepped between them.
“Elisa.”
“Move.”
“No.”
“He killed Elias.”
“No.”
“He caused it.”
“Yes.”
Daniel flinched.
Elena’s eyes filled.
“But killing him won’t bring Elias back.”
Elisa’s face twisted.
“You sound like Mom.”
Elena almost broke.
“What did she say?”
Elisa lowered the gun by one inch.
“She said revenge makes dead people heavier.”
Elena covered her mouth.
For a moment the industrial yard disappeared.
They were sisters again.
Two girls.
A mother between them.
A brother still alive in memory.
Dominic groaned on the ground.
Victor looked down.
“You’re ruining a moment.”
Dominic laughed weakly.
“You still don’t know the best part.”
Victor’s patience ended.
He crouched beside him.
“Talk.”
Dominic smiled.
“Elías survived the first attack.”
Elena froze.
Daniel looked shocked.
Bellandi, who had emerged from the train with bound wrists now cut free, stopped behind them.
“What?”
Dominic looked at him.
“Your son lived three more days.”
Bellandi staggered.
“No.”
“He called me.”
Elisa lowered the gun completely.
Elena whispered, “Why?”
“He had Keller’s recording.”
Dominic coughed.
“He wanted to trade.”
“For what?” Victor asked.
“Safe passage for Elisa.”
Daniel stared.
“I moved Elisa on the second day.”
Dominic nodded.
“Elías didn’t know.”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“So he thought she still needed protection.”
“Yes.”
Bellandi looked ill.
“What happened?”
Dominic smiled at him.
“I told him I could help.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“And?”
“I met him.”
“Where?”
“Warehouse near Cicero.”
“Then?”
Dominic’s smile vanished.
“He played the recording.”
“What did Keller say?”
Dominic looked at Bellandi.
“Carlo didn’t order Margaret’s death.”
Silence.
Bellandi closed his eyes.
For the first time that night, the old man looked broken rather than dangerous.
Elena stared at her father.
He had still hunted her.
Still controlled Sofia.
Still weaponized fear.
But perhaps he had not killed Margaret.
Victor did not confuse innocence of one crime with goodness.
“Who did?” Elena asked.
Dominic said nothing.
Victor pressed the barrel against his injured leg.
Dominic inhaled sharply.
“Who?”
Dominic looked at Daniel.
Then Elisa.
Then Elena.
“Antonio Russo.”
Victor went still.
“No.”
Dominic smiled weakly.
“Keller said Antonio ordered the brake line cut.”
Victor stared.
His father.
Again.
Elena looked at him.
He saw pain in her eyes.
Not accusation.
Worse.
Concern for him.
Victor stood slowly.
“Where’s the recording?”
Dominic laughed.
“Gone.”
“Where?”
“Elías hid it.”
“Before you killed him?”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
Victor saw it.
“You killed Elias.”
Dominic looked away.
Bellandi lunged.
Matteo and Daniel grabbed him.
Bellandi roared.
“My son!”
Dominic shouted back, “He was going to expose everyone!”
Victor stepped between them.
“Where is the recording?”
Dominic breathed heavily.
“Elías said he put it where Margaret kept what mattered.”
Elena stared.
Victor turned.
“What does that mean?”
She whispered, “The piano.”
Bellandi went still.
Victor looked at him.
“What piano?”
Elena’s eyes widened.
“My mother’s piano.”
Sofia’s childhood memory.
Bellandi estate.
Music room.
Elena turned toward her father.
“Is it still there?”
Bellandi nodded slowly.
“Yes.”
Dominic started laughing.
Victor looked down.
“What?”
“You’re too late.”
“Why?”
“I sent men there an hour ago.”
Victor’s phone finally caught signal.
It exploded with missed calls.
One from Sofia.
Six minutes earlier.
Voicemail.
Victor played it.
Sofia’s frightened voice filled the night.
“Victor, I went home because I thought the letter might still be there. Someone’s inside. I heard them in the music room. I’m hiding upstairs. Please don’t call. They’ll hear—”
The message ended.
Elena looked at Victor.
Bellandi swore.
Victor was already moving.
Then another notification arrived.
Live image.
Sofia kneeling beside Margaret’s piano.
A masked man stood behind her.
On the piano bench lay a small cassette tape.
And beside it, a digital timer.
04:59.
May you like
04:58.
04:57.
