Chapter 9 - The Man From NaplesSalvatore Bellandi looked nothing like the monster Maya had imagined.
That was what made him worse.
He was perhaps sixty-five.
Tall.
Slim.
Perfectly dressed.
His silver hair was brushed neatly back, and a dark wool coat fell cleanly over a charcoal suit.
No visible weapon.
No scarred face.
No theatrical cruelty.
He looked like the kind of man who donated wings to hospitals and had buildings named after him.
Four men stood behind him.
That was enough.
Carlo raised his gun.
Bellandi smiled.
“Carlo Moretti.”
Carlo’s finger tightened on the trigger.
“You still favor the right shoulder.”
Dominic moved slightly in front of Maya.
“Salvatore.”
Bellandi looked pleased.
“Dominic.”
His eyes moved between them.
“How nostalgic.”
Dominic’s voice remained cold.
“You attacked my house.”
“You protected stolen property.”
“Maya is not property.”
Bellandi’s smile deepened.
“Interesting choice of words.”
Maya stepped sideways so she could see him.
Dominic tried to block her again.
She pushed his arm away.
Bellandi laughed softly.
“There she is.”
“What do you want?”
Maya asked.
Bellandi studied her.
“You sound exactly like Elena.”
“You knew my mother?”
“Better than most.”
“What did she steal from you?”
Dominic glanced toward Maya.
Bellandi noticed.
“Oh.”
His expression became amused.
“He has not explained everything.”
“He explained enough.”
“No one ever explains enough when the truth embarrasses them.”
Dominic’s voice sharpened.
“Careful.”
Bellandi ignored him.
“Maya, your mother did not steal a ledger.”
Maya frowned.
“She created it.”
Silence.
Bellandi took one step forward.
Carlo raised the gun higher.
Bellandi stopped.
“Elena was brilliant.”
He continued.
“Brilliant people are often underestimated when they are poor.”
“Or female.”
“Or frightened.”
“She built the financial architecture that allowed half of Naples to hide money in New York.”
Maya stared.
“That is impossible.”
“Why?”
“Because you remember her washing dishes?”
Bellandi smiled sadly.
“Children rarely know their parents.”
Maya hated how deeply the sentence landed.
Bellandi continued.
“Elena could memorize account structures after seeing them once.”
“She understood corporations.”
“Trusts.”
“Ports.”
“Judges.”
“She knew where every dollar moved.”
“And then she became afraid.”
“Of you?”
“Of what we were becoming.”
Dominic scoffed.
“You were already murderers.”
Bellandi looked at him.
“And the Russo family sold flowers?”
Dominic said nothing.
Bellandi turned back to Maya.
“Your mother made copies.”
“Names.”
“Transactions.”
“Proof.”
“She called it insurance.”
“The black book.”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
Bellandi laughed.
“If I knew, would we be standing in Queens at two-thirty in the morning?”
Maya gripped the brass key in her hand.
Bellandi’s eyes dropped.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But Dominic noticed.
So did Maya.
The key mattered.
Maya closed her fist.
Bellandi smiled again.
“Give me the key.”
“No.”
Dominic almost turned toward her.
Bellandi seemed delighted.
“Elena.”
His voice became softer.
“You truly are her daughter.”
Maya took another step forward.
“Tell me why Matteo wanted it.”
“Because Matteo was weak.”
“He discovered Elena’s insurance policy.”
“He thought he could trade it for power.”
“When she refused, he became violent.”
Maya’s throat tightened.
“So he hurt her because of you.”
“No.”
Bellandi’s tone changed.
“He hurt her because he was a coward.”
“For once, Dominic and I will agree.”
Dominic’s eyes stayed on the men behind Bellandi.
Maya continued.
“Did you kill him?”
Bellandi’s expression went still.
“No.”
“Where is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I stopped searching years ago.”
“Why?”
“Because your mother convinced me he was no longer useful.”
Maya thought of the night they escaped.
Matteo bleeding from the temple.
Her mother packing.
Maybe Elena had known exactly what would happen next.
Bellandi looked toward the photograph in Maya’s hand.
“The church is Santa Lucia delle Ombre.”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Stop.”
Bellandi ignored him.
“It closed fourteen years ago.”
“The bell tower collapsed during restoration.”
Maya looked at the writing.
When the bells stop, look beneath.
“What is beneath it?”
Bellandi smiled.
“That is why you need me.”
Dominic laughed coldly.
“No.”
“You think you can walk into Naples and dig beneath an abandoned church?”
Bellandi asked.
“You have influence in New York, Dominic.”
“Naples is different.”
“I have influence wherever money exists.”
“Then perhaps you inherited Antonio’s arrogance too.”
Dominic took one slow step forward.
Bellandi’s men shifted.
Carlo did not.
Maya suddenly realized they were seconds from gunfire.
“Stop.”
Nobody listened.
Maya shouted.
“Stop!”
Dominic looked at her.
So did Bellandi.
“I’m not standing here while both of you decide my family’s future.”
She pointed toward Bellandi.
“You attacked Dominic’s house while my sick sister was inside.”
Bellandi’s smile disappeared slightly.
“And you.”
She turned toward Dominic.
“You have been manipulating my life since the moment you met me.”
Dominic looked offended.
“Manipulating?”
“You bought my apartment building.”
“You call that subtle?”
Bellandi laughed.
Dominic shot him a look.
Maya continued.
“Neither of you gets the key.”
Bellandi’s face hardened.
“That would be unwise.”
“So was insulting Dominic Russo in Neapolitan.”
“I’m developing a pattern.”
Bellandi studied her.
“You think Dominic can protect you.”
“No.”
Maya’s answer surprised both men.
“I think I can protect myself better if men stop lying to me.”
Bellandi stared for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“Elena said similar things.”
He reached inside his coat.
Carlo aimed.
Dominic’s gun appeared instantly.
Bellandi slowly removed a business card.
He placed it on the ground.
“Twenty-four hours.”
“For what?”
“To decide whether you want answers.”
“After that?”
Bellandi looked toward the storage-facility entrance.
“Matteo will make the decision for you.”
Maya’s heart stopped.
“What?”
Bellandi looked back.
“I lied about one thing.”
His voice became almost kind.
“I know exactly where he is.”
Maya took a step.
Bellandi’s men immediately moved.
“Where?”
“He came back to Naples six months ago.”
Maya could hear her own heartbeat.
“Why?”
“To find the ledger.”
Bellandi glanced toward the key.
“And now he knows Elena’s daughters are alive.”
Maya’s blood went cold.
“Sophie.”
Bellandi’s expression changed.
“Unlike me, Matteo has no sentimental attachment to your mother.”
Dominic raised his weapon.
“If he goes near Sophie—”
Bellandi interrupted.
“He already tried.”
Silence.
Maya stared.
“What do you mean?”
“The attack on your house was not mine.”
Dominic went still.
Bellandi continued.
“My men were watching.”
“We saw Matteo’s people breach your northern wall.”
“You killed them.”
“Efficiently.”
Maya looked toward Dominic.
He looked back at Bellandi.
“You expect me to believe you watched armed men attack my property and did nothing?”
“I wanted to see whether you could keep Maya alive.”
Dominic’s eyes became murderous.
Bellandi smiled faintly.
“You passed.”
“You painted her name at the docks.”
“Yes.”
“So the docks were you.”
“Yes.”
“The house was Matteo.”
“Yes.”
Maya felt sick.
Two enemies.
Different motives.
One key.
Bellandi stepped backward.
“Twenty-four hours.”
Then he looked directly at Maya.
“Ask Dominic what happened the night Antonio Russo died.”
Dominic’s face changed.
Again.
Another secret.
Maya saw it immediately.
Bellandi smiled.
“Interesting, isn’t it?”
“He always looks away before the important part.”
Then Salvatore Bellandi turned and walked into the darkness.
His men followed.
Dominic did not shoot.
Neither did Carlo.
Engines started.
Headlights disappeared.
The storage facility became silent.
Maya slowly turned toward Dominic.
“What happened the night your father died?”
Dominic put away his gun.
“Not here.”
Maya laughed in disbelief.
“Again?”
“Maya.”
“Every time someone asks you a difficult question, suddenly the location is wrong.”
“We have no idea whether Bellandi left surveillance behind.”
“Then answer in the car.”
Dominic looked toward Carlo.
“Search the unit.”
“Take everything connected to Elena.”
Carlo nodded.
Maya followed Dominic outside.
The ride back was silent for ten minutes.
Then Maya spoke.
“Talk.”
Dominic stared through the windshield.
“My father did not die of natural causes.”
“I assumed that.”
“He was poisoned.”
Maya waited.
“By who?”
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Your mother.”
The words struck harder than the slap she had given him.
Maya stared.
“No.”
Dominic looked at her.
“Elena killed Antonio Russo.”
“No.”
“My father was dying for eighteen hours.”
“No.”
“He knew exactly who poisoned him.”
“Stop.”
“And he ordered everyone around him not to retaliate.”
Maya shook her head.
“My mother wouldn’t kill someone who helped her.”
“That is why I never understood it.”
“You are lying.”
“I wish I were.”
“Why would she do it?”
“I don’t know.”
Maya opened her mouth.
Then stopped.
A memory surfaced.
Her mother sitting alone at the kitchen table years ago.
A newspaper photograph of Antonio Russo.
Elena crying.
Not quietly.
Deeply.
Maya had been fourteen.
She had asked what was wrong.
Her mother folded the newspaper.
Said an old friend died.
Maya had forgotten.
Until now.
“If she killed him…”
Her voice shook.
“Why was she grieving?”
Dominic looked at her.
“That is what I have spent twelve years trying to understand.”
Maya turned toward the window.
Streetlights moved across the glass.
After several minutes, Dominic spoke.
“I did not know you were Elena’s daughter when I insulted you.”
She looked back.
“That is your concern?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because you think everything I have done is about the ledger.”
Maya said nothing.
“It isn’t.”
Dominic’s voice became quiet.
“I did not pay Sophie’s bills because of your mother.”
“I did not buy your building because of Bellandi.”
“I did not bring you to the casino because of a key.”
He turned slightly toward her.
“I did those things because from the moment you turned around in that restaurant and told me my wallet couldn’t buy your dignity, I could not stop thinking about you.”
Maya’s heartbeat changed.
“That sounds dangerously close to a confession.”
“It is.”
“You have terrible timing.”
“I know.”
She looked away.
The car suddenly braked.
Carlo cursed.
A truck had stopped sideways across the road.
Dominic immediately reached for Maya.
“Down.”
Gunfire shattered the rear window.
Maya dropped.
Carlo accelerated backward.
Another vehicle slammed into them from behind.
Metal screamed.
Airbags deployed.
The SUV spun.
Maya’s shoulder hit the door.
Dominic covered her with his body.
More gunshots.
Carlo shouted.
“They boxed us!”
Dominic pulled Maya toward the floor.
“Stay down.”
The side window exploded.
Cold air rushed inside.
Then a voice came through the smoke.
A voice Maya had not heard in twelve years.
Older.
Rougher.
But unmistakable.
“Maya.”
Her entire body froze.
Dominic looked at her.
Outside, the man laughed.
“My little girl grew up.”
May you like
Maya stopped breathing.
Matteo Vieri had found them.
