Chapter 12 - The Tape in Margaret’s Piano
Sofia raised both hands and whispered, “Don’t shoot.”
The masked man held the cassette above the piano.
A red light blinked beneath the bench.
Four minutes remained.
Victor entered through the rear conservatory.
Bellandi knew his own house better than anyone, but Victor trusted Bellandi’s corridors about as much as he trusted Bellandi himself.
So they split.
Bellandi and Matteo took the lower hall.
Daniel circled toward the music room.
Elena and Elisa were ordered to remain in the armored SUV.
Neither obeyed.
Victor stopped arguing.
At this point, demanding obedience from Bellandi daughters seemed less like strategy and more like a hobby with no reward.
The music room door stood open.
Sofia knelt near the piano.
Masked man behind her.
Victor saw no visible bomb.
Timer sat atop a black box.
Could be explosive.
Could be theatre.
Either way Sofia was too close.
The masked man spoke.
“Key.”
Victor held up the brass cylinder.
Dominic had dropped it after being shot.
Victor recovered it before leaving.
“What for the girl?”
“Key.”
“No.”
The man pressed his gun against Sofia’s shoulder.
Victor did not blink.
“Shoot her and you lose leverage.”
“Maybe I don’t need her.”
“You do.”
“How do you know?”
“Because she’s alive.”
Silence.
Sofia watched Victor.
Then shifted her gaze toward the piano.
Small movement.
Victor followed.
Pedal.
Her foot near it.
Why?
He looked closer.
Thin wire ran from the timer beneath the bench toward the piano pedal.
Trigger?
Release?
Daniel appeared reflected in the window behind the masked man.
Victor kept talking.
“Who sent you?”
The man laughed.
Victor recognized the laugh.
His stomach tightened.
“Take off the mask.”
“No.”
“You already spoke.”
The man’s posture changed.
Victor knew him.
Not well.
Enough.
“Anthony.”
The masked man froze.
Elena’s voice came from the doorway.
“The guard who steals Matteo’s cigarettes.”
Victor almost turned.
Almost.
“Elena, leave.”
“No.”
The masked man ripped off the mask.
Anthony.
Russo security for three years.
Young.
Quiet.
Forgettable.
Apparently not enough.
Victor’s expression hardened.
“Hart wasn’t the traitor.”
Anthony smiled.
“Hart was one.”
“Was?”
“He fed Antonio information.”
“Not Bellandi.”
“No.”
Anthony pointed the gun toward Elena.
Victor’s weapon rose instantly.
Anthony laughed.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The reason Bellandi lost.”
Victor stared.
“You.”
Anthony nodded toward Elena.
“He underestimated what you’d do for her.”
Elena went still.
Victor did not answer.
Anthony looked at the brass key.
“Put it down.”
“No.”
“Timer says three minutes.”
“What happens at zero?”
“Try me.”
Victor looked at Sofia.
She looked again toward the pedal.
Then toward the cassette.
The tape mattered more than the timer.
Anthony wanted the recording destroyed.
That meant the timer might be connected to fire.
Incendiary.
Burn the piano and tape.
Maybe kill Sofia too.
“Who paid you?” Victor asked.
Anthony smiled.
“Rinaldi.”
“Dominic’s in custody.”
“He isn’t the only one paying.”
Bellandi entered from the opposite doorway.
Anthony spun.
Victor fired.
Anthony’s weapon flew from his hand.
Sofia dove.
Daniel rushed from behind.
Anthony slammed into him.
They fell.
The timer hit 01:42.
Victor ran to Sofia.
“Wire?”
She pointed.
“Pedal.”
He examined.
Pressure release.
Someone had tied it so Sofia’s knee position kept the pedal depressed.
If she moved earlier, trigger.
Now she had moved.
Yet timer continued.
Secondary delay.
Elena reached the piano.
Victor shouted, “Don’t touch anything.”
She stopped.
Elisa appeared behind her.
Bellandi stared at both daughters.
A man accustomed to controlling everything now unable to control a single hallway.
Victor almost appreciated the irony.
Matteo tackled Anthony as he tried to rise.
Daniel pinned his arm.
Victor examined the black box.
Simple circuit.
He was not bomb squad.
But he knew enough not to cut random wires.
“Evacuate.”
Sofia shook her head.
“The tape.”
“We leave it.”
“No.”
Bellandi shouted, “Sofia!”
She looked at him.
“You used me tonight.”
Bellandi froze.
“You offered me to Victor like property.”
His face tightened.
Sofia pointed at the cassette.
“That tape tells us who killed Margaret. I’m not leaving it.”
Victor admired her.
Hated the timing.
Elena moved.
Fast.
She grabbed the cassette.
Victor cursed.
“Elena!”
She ran.
Everyone followed.
Timer hit 00:31.
They cleared the music room.
00:18.
Down corridor.
00:10.
Victor grabbed Elena around the waist and pulled her behind a stone arch.
Explosion.
Not huge.
Enough.
Glass shattered.
Smoke rolled.
Fire ignited in the music room.
Victor shielded Elena.
Debris hit his back.
Then silence except alarms.
Elena looked up at him.
“You okay?”
“You stole evidence from a live bomb.”
“You would have.”
“I’m allowed.”
“Why?”
“I’m the idiot in charge.”
Despite everything, she laughed.
Victor stared at her.
Smoke.
Fire alarms.
Her face inches away.
He realized his arm was still around her waist.
Slowly, he released her.
The moment held.
Then Elisa coughed loudly.
Elena stepped back.
Victor almost smiled.
They moved outside.
Fire suppression activated.
The tape survived.
Barely.
Old cassette.
Damaged edge.
Daniel found a player in Bellandi’s study.
Of course Bellandi owned antique equipment.
Everyone gathered.
Even Anthony.
Bound.
Bleeding.
Bellandi stood apart from his daughters.
Victor inserted the cassette.
Static.
Then a man’s voice.
Frank Keller.
“I’m recording because if anything happens to me, Dominic Rinaldi did it.”
Everyone froze.
Dominic.
Not Antonio.
Victor felt something unclench.
Keller continued.
“Rinaldi paid me to cut Margaret Bellandi’s brake line. He said Carlo ordered it. That was a lie.”
Bellandi closed his eyes.
“He wanted war between Bellandi and Russo because Margaret was transferring evidence to Antonio.”
Victor looked at Elena.
Keller continued.
“Antonio found out after the crash. He threatened me. He wanted Rinaldi exposed but refused to release Margaret’s records because they implicated his organization too.”
Honest.
Ugly.
But not murderer.
“Elias Bellandi found me. I told him everything. If he’s dead, Dominic did it.”
The tape clicked.
Then another voice.
Elias.
Elena gasped.
“Ellie, if you ever hear this…”
Her hands shook.
Victor stepped beside her.
Not touching.
Close.
Elias continued.
“I’m sorry I sent you away. I thought I could fix this. I couldn’t.”
Elena cried silently.
“Elisa is alive. Daniel will protect her. Don’t come back for me.”
Elisa covered her face.
“I put everything Margaret collected into a trust. The phrase is the thing she told us every night.”
Elena and Elisa looked at each other.
Together, they whispered:
“Home is where no one owns you.”
Victor felt the words cut through the room.
Elias’s recording continued.
“If Father ever finds this, tell him Mom was leaving because she was afraid of him, not because she didn’t love him.”
Bellandi bowed his head.
“And if Victor Russo finds this…”
Victor stiffened.
Everyone looked at him.
“He needs to know Antonio planned to give Elena and Elisa the money because he believed the Russo family owed them.”
Victor stared at the cassette player.
Then Elias said one last thing.
“Victor, if Elena is anywhere near you, protect her from Dominic. And protect her from you.”
The tape stopped.
Silence.
Elena looked at Victor.
He did not know what Elias meant.
Then Anthony began laughing.
Matteo hit him.
“Shut up.”
Anthony spat blood.
“You still don’t understand.”
Victor looked at him.
“Understand what?”
“Dominic never wanted the money.”
“Then what?”
Anthony smiled.
“He wanted the list.”
“What list?”
“The names Margaret hid separately.”
Daniel went pale.
Victor noticed.
“What names?”
Daniel stared at the burned cassette.
“Federal witnesses.”
Elena frowned.
“Why would my mother have federal witnesses?”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“Because one of them is still alive.”
Bellandi looked at him.
“Who?”
Daniel swallowed.
“Margaret.”
Nobody moved.
May you like
Then the front door opened behind them.
A woman’s voice said Elena’s name.
