Chương 9 - THE MAN WHO CLEANED UP THE DEAD
Dennis agreed to meet Arthur at an abandoned marina.
Nico knew.
Of course he knew.
Arthur told him immediately.
That mattered.
They went without me.
I hated it.
I also understood why.
Dennis Rizzi had spent thirty years turning murders into accidents.
He was afraid now.
Men like him rarely became afraid unless something worse was coming.
Arthur wore a wire.
Federal agents waited nearby.
Dennis arrived alone.
He looked seventy and exhausted.
“You have the tape?” he asked.
Arthur didn't answer.
Dennis laughed.
“Camille always was smarter than Salvatore.”
“What happened to her?”
Dennis looked toward the water.
“My brother gave the order.”
“And you?”
“I staged the scene.”
Arthur's jaw tightened.
“Isabella Bellandi?”
“I switched the toxicology.”
“Your own brother killed her?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She had Camille's evidence.”
Arthur asked about Gabriel.
Dennis's expression changed.
“My brother killed him too.”
“Why?”
“Because Gabriel wanted out.”
Arthur's breath caught.
The story Alessandro told had been incomplete.
Gabriel did warn Salvatore about the assassination attempt.
But afterward, he regretted it.
He tried to help Isabella's family collect evidence.
Salvatore found out.
Killed him.
Then invented a heroic death that kept Arthur loyal to the Bellandis instead of asking questions.
“Where's Valentina?” Arthur asked.
Dennis hesitated.
“Salvatore doesn't have her.”
That changed everything.
“What?”
“She escaped four months ago.”
Arthur went still.
“Then who's sending the videos?”
“Valentina.”
“Why?”
Dennis looked directly at him.
“Because she's working against Salvatore from inside his organization.”
Valentina hadn't been Salvatore's prisoner for months.
She had chosen to remain hidden.
Why?
Because someone inside the Bellandi family was still feeding Salvatore information.
Someone other than Alessandro.
Someone close to Nico.
Dennis leaned closer.
“Salvatore knows everything Nico does within hours.”
“Who?”
“I don't know the name.”
“Then what do you know?”
Dennis pulled a folded photograph from his coat.
Security image from the Bellandi tower.
A man entering Nico's private elevator.
Only the back of his head visible.
Dennis pointed at the timestamp.
“The night Elena disappeared.”
Arthur studied it.
The man entered at 12:11 a.m.
Twenty-four minutes before Nico said he'd forget me.
Meaning Salvatore's spy had been inside the penthouse during the conversation.
Arthur called Nico immediately.
Nobody answered.
Again.
Nothing.
At the Westchester house, I was sitting with Alessandro when the security system shut down.
Lights flickered.
Then emergency power activated.
Alessandro stood.
“Stay here.”
I heard glass break downstairs.
Two guards shouted.
A struggle.
Then silence.
I grabbed the fireplace poker.
Three years around Nico had apparently ruined normal emergency instincts.
The library door opened.
A man stepped inside.
I recognized him instantly.
Marco Bellandi.
Nico's uncle.
He smiled at me.
“Elena.”
My blood went cold.
Marco had eaten Thanksgiving dinner beside me.
Bought me birthday gifts.
Called me family.
He closed the door.
“You really should have stayed gone.”
Then I saw blood on his sleeve.
“Nico?”
Marco smiled wider.
“Alive.”
May you like
“For now.”
And finally I understood who had been feeding Salvatore every Bellandi secret.
