Chương 11 - THE LAWYER WHO KNEW TOO MUCH
Charles Wexler had known where I lived.
My identification numbers.
My bank information.
My signature.
The contents of Nico's estate plan.
Everything.
Nico went frighteningly quiet.
“Call him.”
Arthur did.
Disconnected.
His office empty.
Home empty.
Private plane departed Teterboro twenty minutes earlier.
Destination filed as Bermuda.
Federal agents intercepted the plane before departure.
Wexler immediately requested immunity.
Apparently loyalty disappeared quickly when handcuffs appeared.
He talked for six hours.
Marco had been paying him for years.
Not simply for information.
For documents.
Corporate transfers.
Trust amendments.
Fake authorizations.
One involved me.
Three months earlier, Wexler prepared a marriage agreement.
I stared at Nico.
“We weren't married.”
“No.”
The document was designed to look as if Nico and I had secretly married in a civil ceremony.
My signature was forged.
Nico's too.
Why?
If I became Nico's legal wife, certain Bellandi trusts could merge with my potential Rizzi inheritance under a complex corporate structure.
Marco could then challenge both estates after eliminating us.
We weren't lovers to him.
We were paperwork.
The thought made me physically ill.
Then Wexler revealed the planned assassination.
A car bomb.
Nico's regular route to a Manhattan hotel.
The night after I left.
Valentina had been right.
My disappearance changed everything.
Nico canceled the trip.
Marco lost his opportunity.
Wexler also knew where Valentina was.
A church-owned apartment in Brooklyn.
We went immediately.
This time, Valentina opened the door herself.
Nico stopped breathing.
His sister looked older.
Thinner.
But alive.
They stared at each other for several seconds.
Then she slapped him.
Hard.
“You told Elena I was in Milan?”
Nico blinked.
That was her first sentence.
I actually laughed.
Then Valentina threw her arms around him.
Nico held her as if letting go might make her disappear again.
Watching them hurt.
In a good way.
Then Valentina came to me.
“I'm sorry.”
“For what?”
“I used you.”
She looked ashamed.
“The necklace. I put you in danger without explaining.”
“Apparently that's the Bellandi family love language.”
Nico muttered, “Fair.”
Valentina gave us everything.
Records.
Calls.
Locations.
Marco's buyers.
Enough for federal agents to begin coordinated arrests.
But Salvatore remained missing.
Marco too.
Two dangerous men.
One final alliance.
Then Valentina said something none of us expected.
“They aren't allies anymore.”
“What happened?” Nico asked.
“Salvatore discovered Marco planned to kill Elena after she signed away her rights.”
My stomach tightened.
“My biological father objected?”
Valentina nodded.
“In the most Salvatore way possible.”
He kidnapped Marco's daughter.
Nico stared.
“Marco has a daughter?”
Nobody knew.
Valentina placed a photograph on the table.
A twenty-six-year-old woman.
Dark hair.
Green eyes.
I recognized her immediately.
She worked at the flower shop three blocks from our penthouse.
I had spoken to her dozens of times.
Her name was Sophie.
May you like
She wasn't simply Marco's daughter.
She was my friend.
