Chapter 9 - THE GRANDFATHER WHO BUILT THE LIE
Evelyn couldn't breathe.
Adrien Belandi's father had died eleven years earlier.
Vittorio Belandi.
A ruthless man whose business empire had become a legend in the city's criminal underworld.
And now the documents suggested he might have been her grandfather.
“That doesn't make sense,” she whispered.
Detective Hayes remained cautious.
“These records have been altered. We shouldn't assume the relationships are accurate without verification.”
But Adrien had already recognized something.
“The necklace.”
He pointed toward the photograph.
“My father gave one like that to a woman who worked at the foundation.”
Evelyn turned toward him.
“Who?”
“I don't know her name. I was a teenager.”
Hayes examined the old foundation documents.
Hours passed.
By morning, investigators had identified several witnesses and secured access to additional records.
A former foundation administrator confirmed that Vittorio had maintained a secret relationship with a woman named Margaret Marlowe.
Margaret was Daniel Marlowe's mother.
Evelyn's grandmother.
The documents indicated that Vittorio might have been Daniel's biological father.
Which meant Evelyn and Adrien could share a grandfather.
They weren't strangers.
They were family.
Evelyn sank into a chair.
“All these years…”
Adrien looked stunned.
Then something softened in his expression.
“My children may have found their cousin.”
Evelyn looked toward the triplets.
Lily was drawing quietly beside her brothers.
She glanced up and smiled.
For the first time, Evelyn felt that the strange connection she'd experienced with the children might be more than coincidence.
But she also understood that family relationships couldn't be proven by old photographs alone.
Detective Hayes arranged independent testing through the proper legal channels.
Meanwhile, investigators uncovered something more urgent.
Vittorio's foundation had been used to divert money into shell companies.
Those companies were later controlled by Matteo and Victor.
And one account was still active.
An account receiving large transfers every month.
The recipient was listed as:
St. Catherine's Rehabilitation Institute.
Adrien frowned.
“I've never heard of it.”
Hayes opened the address.
It was located forty miles outside the city.
The same distance from which Celeste's latest photograph had apparently been sent.
Evelyn leaned forward.
“Could she be there?”
“Possibly.”
Then Hayes examined another payment.
The final transfer had been authorized that morning.
Attached was a short instruction.
Terminate patient care before midnight.
Adrien went completely still.
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Because the name attached to the patient record was:
CELESTE BELANDI.
