Chapter 9 - THE NIGHT HIS FATHER DIED TWICE
Roman Bellandi had buried his father eleven years earlier.
Yet Sofia claimed he had been murdered thirteen years ago.
At first, Roman thought she was confused.
Then she described the man Norah had seen through the basement window.
Tall.
Silver-haired.
A distinctive gold ring.
A scar along his right hand.
His father.
Giovanni Bellandi.
Norah sat motionless.
A memory surfaced.
Three days before the fire, Daniel Miller had told her to bring Lily downstairs.
She'd heard voices behind the locked basement door.
Men arguing about money.
A woman crying.
Then a gunshot.
Norah had rushed to the hallway.
Through a narrow window, she'd seen a man collapse.
She remembered his ring.
She remembered the blood.
And she remembered Detective Mercer grabbing her before she could run.
“He told me it was a movie being filmed,” Norah whispered.
Roman's expression hardened.
“My father came home that night. I remember having dinner with him.”
Sofia nodded.
“He did. Because the man who was shot wasn't your father.”
Everyone stared at her.
Sofia took a slow breath.
“He was your father's brother.”
Roman froze.
“Uncle Matteo?”
The Bellandis rarely spoke of Matteo.
He had supposedly disappeared during a business dispute long before Roman inherited the family operations.
Sofia explained that the Carusos had confused her at the time by referring to both brothers as Giovanni.
Matteo had been secretly investigating Vincent Caruso's financial dealings.
He had discovered stolen money, falsified property transfers, and a scheme involving Sofia's disappearance.
“He came to get me,” Sofia whispered.
“He found out where they were keeping me.”
Roman lowered his head.
Uncle Matteo hadn't abandoned the family.
He had died trying to bring Sofia home.
Norah pressed a hand against her scar.
“The fire was to destroy evidence.”
“And eliminate you,” Roman said.
Sofia nodded.
“But I heard Eleanor arguing with Mercer afterward. She said Norah knew too much.”
Roman looked toward the federal investigator standing outside the room.
They finally had a credible lead into a murder conspiracy.
Then Norah asked the question that changed everything.
“If your uncle discovered their scheme thirteen years ago, why did your father tell everyone he disappeared much earlier?”
Sofia looked away.
Roman understood the answer before she spoke.
May you like
Because Giovanni Bellandi had known where his daughter was being held.
And for reasons no one yet understood, he had chosen not to bring her home.
