Chapter 13 - The Woman Everyone Buried
Elena turned and whispered, “Mom?”
A silver-haired woman stood in the ruined doorway.
She held Margaret Bellandi’s wedding ring in one hand.
Inside the band was a fresh scratch.
ALIVE.
No one spoke.
Not Victor.
Not Bellandi.
Not Daniel.
Not Elisa.
Elena looked as if breathing itself had become impossible.
The woman stepped into the light.
Older.
Thinner.
Scar along one side of her jaw.
But unmistakably the same face from the photographs.
Margaret.
Elisa made the first sound.
A broken sob.
Margaret’s eyes found her.
“My girls.”
Elisa crossed the room first.
Then stopped halfway.
Anger and longing fought visibly.
Margaret did not move toward her.
Good.
Victor noticed.
She waited.
Allowed Elisa the choice.
Elisa finally ran.
Margaret caught her.
Both collapsed to their knees.
Elena remained frozen.
Victor stood near her.
Still not touching.
Margaret looked over Elisa’s shoulder.
“Elena.”
Elena whispered, “You died.”
Margaret cried.
“I know.”
“You left us.”
“I know.”
“Six years.”
“I know.”
Elena crossed the room and slapped her.
Everyone froze.
Margaret accepted it.
Then Elena hugged her.
Hard.
Margaret held both daughters.
Bellandi watched from across the room.
His face had become unreadable.
Victor wondered if a man could be confronted with every consequence of his life in one night.
Apparently yes.
Margaret finally looked at Bellandi.
“Carlo.”
His lips moved.
No sound.
She stood.
Elena and Elisa beside her.
Bellandi whispered, “I buried you.”
“No.”
Margaret’s expression hardened.
“You buried someone.”
He flinched.
“Whose body?”
“A woman already dead.”
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
Victor noticed.
“You arranged it.”
Daniel nodded.
“Antonio helped.”
Bellandi laughed once.
Broken.
“Of course.”
Margaret’s eyes moved to Victor.
“You look like him.”
“I get that.”
“He would be furious you’re involved.”
“So am I.”
Margaret almost smiled.
Elena did.
Tiny.
Victor caught it.
Margaret became serious.
“Dominic knows I’m alive now.”
“How?”
“Because I came back.”
“Why now?”
She looked at Anthony.
“Because his network finally broke.”
Anthony’s smile vanished.
Margaret approached.
“Rinaldi spent six years hunting evidence because he believed it could implicate him in dozens of murders.”
Victor frowned.
“Dozens?”
“Margaret’s files included more than her own case,” Daniel said.
Margaret nodded.
“Dominic brokered killings for anyone willing to pay.”
Bellandi stared.
“My brother-in-law.”
“Your mistake.”
Bellandi’s face hardened.
Margaret continued.
“He built influence through everyone’s secrets. Judges. Police. Businessmen.”
“Russo?”
She looked at Victor.
“Your father did business with him once.”
Victor’s jaw tightened.
“Once?”
“Enough.”
Fair.
Victor did not require sainthood from the dead.
Only truth.
“Why stay hidden?”
“Because my death made Dominic careless.”
Elena stared.
“You let us believe you were dead to investigate him?”
“No.”
Margaret looked ashamed.
“I let you believe it because the first plan failed.”
“What plan?”
“To take both of you.”
Elisa’s face tightened.
Margaret continued.
“The crash happened before Daniel could reach Elena.”
“Then?”
“Antonio hid me.”
Elena shook her head.
“You could have contacted me.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you?”
Margaret cried quietly.
“Because Dominic watched everyone connected to me.”
“That’s not enough.”
“No.”
Margaret did not defend herself.
“I was afraid.”
Elena stared.
Margaret continued.
“I told myself distance kept you safe. Then months became years. Then the longer I waited, the more impossible it felt to return.”
Elisa laughed bitterly.
“Adults love turning cowardice into strategy.”
Margaret flinched.
Victor looked at Elisa with new respect.
Margaret nodded.
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That mattered.
Bellandi finally stepped forward.
“Did you love him?”
Everyone knew which him.
Antonio.
Margaret looked at Carlo.
“Yes.”
Bellandi closed his eyes.
“But not when I left you,” she added.
He opened them.
“I left because you frightened me.”
Bellandi looked away.
“You controlled every door I walked through. Every friend. Every dollar. Every decision.”
His jaw tightened.
“You were my wife.”
“I was not your prisoner.”
Silence.
The line landed on everyone differently.
Victor looked toward Elena.
She was already looking at him.
Elias’s warning returned.
Protect her from Dominic.
And protect her from you.
Victor understood now.
Men like him could confuse protection with possession easily.
A locked room could be called safety.
An order could be called love.
A cage could be furnished beautifully and still remain a cage.
Victor looked away.
Margaret turned to Daniel.
“Where is Dominic?”
“In custody.”
Anthony laughed.
“No, he isn’t.”
Everyone looked at him.
Matteo grabbed his collar.
“What?”
Anthony smiled.
“You left two men guarding him.”
Victor’s expression changed.
Matteo pulled out his phone.
Called.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
Victor swore.
Dominic had escaped.
Of course.
“What does he want now?” Elena asked.
Margaret looked at her.
“The witness list.”
“You said federal witnesses.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“People who can connect Dominic to killings.”
“How many?”
“Seven alive.”
“Where is the list?”
Margaret hesitated.
Victor noticed.
“You have it.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
“Who does?”
Margaret looked at Elena.
“No.”
Elena stepped back.
“What?”
Margaret’s face softened.
“You do.”
Elena laughed in disbelief.
“Everyone keeps telling me I have things I’ve never seen.”
“The lullaby.”
Elena frowned.
“What lullaby?”
“The one I sang.”
Elisa’s eyes widened.
Margaret nodded.
“First letters of every line.”
Daniel understood.
“A cipher.”
“Yes.”
“The names?”
“Locations.”
Victor stared.
“That is absurdly elaborate.”
Margaret almost smiled.
“I was married to Carlo Bellandi.”
Fair.
Elena closed her eyes.
Softly, she recited the lullaby.
Seven lines.
First letters:
L. A. K. E. S. I. D.
Victor frowned.
“Lakesid?”
Elisa said, “There was an eighth.”
Elena looked at her.
Elisa whispered the forgotten line.
E.
LAKESIDE.
Margaret nodded.
“Locker facility on Lakeside Avenue.”
Victor’s face hardened.
“Dominic knows?”
“No.”
Anthony laughed again.
Everyone turned.
He said, “He does now.”
Victor moved.
Too late.
Anthony bit down.
A crunch.
Daniel shouted.
Poison capsule.
Victor grabbed his jaw.
Anthony convulsed.
Foam.
Dead within seconds.
Matteo swore.
Margaret went pale.
Victor understood immediately.
Anthony had not needed to escape.
He only needed to hear the location.
Was he transmitting?
Victor searched him.
Found a tiny audio device beneath his collar.
Live.
Margaret closed her eyes.
Dominic had heard everything.
Victor looked at Elena.
She looked back.
“Lakeside,” they said together.
Then Victor’s phone rang.
Unknown number.
He answered.
Dominic’s voice.
“Thank you.”
Victor said nothing.
Dominic continued.
“I have the locker number too.”
Victor frowned.
“You don’t.”
Dominic laughed.
“Margaret does.”
Silence.
Margaret touched her coat pocket.
Empty.
Her face drained.
The key card was gone.
Then the mansion lights died.
May you like
A gunshot cracked outside.
And Margaret whispered, “He was here.”
