Chapter 3 - The Man Who Had Saved Him
The attack lasted four minutes.
When it ended, three attackers were dead.
Two escaped.
No one in Enzo's household was seriously injured.
Except for one thing.
Elena was missing.
Enzo found the note.
ONE OF THEM IS YOUR FAMILY.
He read it again.
Then again.
Marco was beside him.
“You heard from security?”
“They're searching the grounds.”
“Where is Elena?”
“I don't know.”
Enzo turned to him.
“You had her.”
Marco's eyes hardened.
“I lost her in the rear corridor.”
“You were supposed to protect her.”
“I know.”
Enzo's voice remained calm.
“Then why did you let her disappear?”
Marco stared.
“You think I took her?”
“I think someone got past you.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
Marco stepped closer.
“If you think I betrayed you, say it.”
Enzo said nothing.
Marco's expression became cold.
“I've spent eleven years proving where my loyalty lies.”
“I know.”
“Then don't insult me by pretending you don't.”
Enzo looked at him.
“I am trying to find a woman who matters to me.”
Marco exhaled.
“Then stop looking for betrayal long enough to notice who is actually hurting her.”
They found Elena thirty minutes later in an underground service tunnel beneath the property.
She was conscious.
Shaken.
Her wrists were tied.
Enzo cut the restraints himself.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did you see who took you?”
“Someone wearing a mask.”
“Did they speak?”
“Yes.”
“What did they say?”
Elena looked at Marco.
“Your name.”
Marco went still.
“What?”
“They said, ‘Tell Enzo Marco remembers.’”
Enzo stared at him.
“Remembers what?”
Marco looked genuinely confused.
“I don't know.”
Elena whispered, “They also said Gabriel.”
Marco's face drained of color.
“Your father.”
He nodded.
“Yes.”
Later that night, Marco finally told Enzo the truth.
Gabriel Bellini had not simply been Marco's stepfather.
He had been one of the architects behind a security network that worked for several criminal organizations.
He handled protection.
Surveillance.
Debt collection.
And sometimes disappearances.
Marco's mother had married him when Marco was fourteen.
“He taught me everything I know,” Marco said.
Enzo's voice was quiet.
“That isn't something to be proud of.”
“No.”
“Why did you stay?”
“Because he threatened my mother.”
Enzo said nothing.
“By twenty, I wanted out.”
“And?”
“He died.”
“How?”
“Someone shot him.”
“Who?”
“I never found out.”
Enzo looked at Elena.
Her mother's name was in Gabriel's records.
Lucia Russo had been investigating a financial network.
Antonio Russo had been involved in Bellini Logistics.
Gabriel Bellini had been a security operative.
Enzo's father had been at the center.
Too many connections.
Too much blood.
Elena sat across from them.
“I think my mother discovered something.”
“What?”
“She had a secret account.”
Enzo frowned.
“How do you know?”
“I found a statement after she died.”
“What kind of account?”
“Trust.”
“For whom?”
Elena hesitated.
“For me.”
Enzo leaned forward.
“How much?”
“Forty million dollars.”
Silence.
Marco stared.
“That wasn't possible.”
“It existed.”
“Where?”
“Luxembourg.”
Enzo stood.
“This changes everything.”
“Why?”
“Because my father opened a trust in a similar structure.”
Elena stared.
“For whom?”
“We don't know.”
He called his attorney.
An hour later, they had the answer.
The trust belonged to two beneficiaries.
One was Enzo Moretti.
The other was Elena Russo.
Elena felt dizzy.
“Why would my mother and your father leave us the same trust?”
“I don't know.”
Marco looked at the documents.
“The trust was created before either of you were old enough to know each other.”
Elena whispered, “Then this wasn't an accident.”
Enzo met her eyes.
“No.”
The two trusts were connected by a third account.
A company called Bellmont Holdings.
The ownership records had been erased.
But one old document remained.
The original incorporation statement.
The listed director was:
Gabriel Bellini.
Marco sat down.
“No.”
Enzo looked at him.
“You knew nothing?”
“No.”
Elena touched the page.
“Why would Gabriel hold money belonging to our families?”
Before anyone could answer, the lawyer's phone rang.
He listened.
Then looked at Enzo.
“The account was accessed this morning.”
“By whom?”
“Your authorization code.”
Enzo frowned.
“I was not in the account.”
“Someone used your biometric profile.”
The lawyer's voice dropped.
“They had your fingerprints.”
Enzo stared at his own hands.
Then Elena said quietly:
“Someone close enough to touch you.”
No one spoke.
Marco looked at Enzo.
Enzo looked at Marco.
The accusation neither wanted had returned.
This time, there was no obvious suspect.
That made it worse.
The next morning, Elena received a message from an unknown number.
A photograph.
Her mother.
Holding a newborn baby.
The face of the baby had been circled.
On the back:
YOU WERE NOT THE CHILD THEY HID.
Elena stared at the picture.
“Enzo.”
He took it.
His blood turned cold.
The baby wasn't Elena.
It was a boy.
And behind Lucia stood Arthur Moretti.
Enzo's father.
Beside him was Gabriel Bellini.
The three men were smiling.
Elena whispered, “Who is that child?”
Enzo looked at the timestamp printed on the back.
The date was one week before Elena was born.
May you like
Then he saw the message underneath.
YOU HAVE BEEN PROTECTING THE WRONG SECRET.
