Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF MY FATHER'S REFUSAL
My father had been threatened because of me.
That was the possibility I carried into the next week.
Lucia traced the clinic.
It had closed twelve years earlier.
Its archived records were incomplete.
But one surviving appointment log showed my father meeting a private physician the night before his death.
The physician's fee had been paid by Bellini Holdings.
Authorized by Carlo.
I sat in Lucia's office staring at the signature.
“My uncle arranged the appointment.”
“Yes.”
“What treatment?”
“The record doesn't say.”
Then she opened another file.
“However, your father requested an independent blood test the following morning.”
My heart pounded.
“Why?”
“He wrote that he believed he'd been exposed to something.”
I went cold.
The blood sample disappeared after his death.
But one lab technician had kept handwritten notes.
Lucia found him living in Florence.
He remembered the case because my father's sample showed an unusual sedative compound inconsistent with his known prescriptions.
Not enough to establish what caused his death.
But enough to make the old story of a simple heart attack questionable.
I called Alessandro that evening.
It was the first time I'd called him voluntarily in forty-nine days.
He answered immediately.
“Serena?”
His voice still did something dangerous to my heart.
“I need to ask you about Vittorio Moretti.”
A pause.
“What about him?”
“Did he ever work with Carlo?”
“Yes.”
“How closely?”
“Closer than I realized.”
I told him what Bianca said.
He went silent.
Then:
“Serena, my father investigated Vittorio years ago.”
My stomach tightened.
“Why?”
“Smuggling. Money laundering. Political bribery.”
“And Carlo?”
“My father suspected someone inside Bellini Maritime was helping him.”
I closed my eyes.
“Did you know?”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“If I had known your father was in danger—”
“Don't.”
He stopped.
“We're not rewriting history tonight.”
“All right.”
I appreciated that.
Then Alessandro told me something else.
His father died three years after mine.
Assassinated outside a restaurant.
The murder was blamed on a rival family.
But one detail had always bothered Alessandro.
His father's final phone call had been to Carlo Bellini.
I stopped breathing.
“What did they discuss?”
“I never knew.”
Then he said:
“But I have the recording.”
My heart pounded.
“Why?”
“My father recorded most sensitive calls.”
The next day, Lucia obtained a lawful copy through Alessandro's attorney.
The recording lasted forty-three seconds.
Alessandro's father spoke first.
Carlo, Paolo Bellini was right. Vittorio is moving money through your ports.
My uncle answered:
Paolo should've stayed quiet.
My hands began shaking.
Then Alessandro's father said:
If anything happens to Serena, I will destroy you.
A pause.
Carlo laughed.
May you like
You still don't understand.
Serena is the reason Paolo is already dead.
