Chapter 4 - The Man Watching From Across the Park
The security team identified the blue sedan within an hour.
Registered to a shell company.
That company belonged to Bellini’s cousin.
By evening, Anthony Bellini sat across from me.
Same walnut table.
Same chandelier.
No purple crayon this time.
“You wanted to see me?”
“Yes.”
He smiled.
“How was preschool?”
There it was.
I leaned back.
“Wonderful.”
Bellini's smile weakened.
“Didn't picture you as the finger-painting type.”
“Neither did I.”
I slid Miguel’s photograph across the table.
Bellini stopped smiling.
“Know him?”
“Should I?”
“Wrong answer.”
Bellini looked at Marco.
Marco stood behind me.
Maria and Sophia were upstairs with Rosa.
“Miguel Alvarez,” I said.
Bellini shrugged.
“Driver.”
“He discovered missing money.”
“No idea what you're talking about.”
“Seven hundred thousand dollars moved through three Queens accounts.”
Bellini’s eyes shifted.
Tiny movement.
Enough.
Marco noticed too.
I continued.
“Miguel found it.”
Bellini laughed.
“And you're accusing me because some dead chauffeur played accountant?”
“No.”
I placed another photograph down.
The blue sedan.
Then another.
The man from the park.
Bellini’s nephew.
His face changed.
“You threatened a child.”
“I didn't.”
“Someone did.”
“Then find them.”
“I have.”
Bellini looked at Marco.
“Careful.”
Marco stepped forward.
“Why?”
Bellini smiled.
“Because you think you're protecting the widow.”
Maria’s voice came from the doorway.
“Protecting me from what?”
Everyone turned.
She stood there alone.
I was furious.
“You were told to stay upstairs.”
“I’m tired of people deciding what I’m allowed to know.”
Bellini looked at her.
Then smiled.
“Miguel had the same problem.”
Maria went still.
“You knew my husband.”
Bellini said nothing.
She walked closer.
“What did he find?”
“Maria,” Marco warned.
“No.”
She looked directly at Bellini.
“My daughter waited at a window for six hours because her father promised to come home.”
Bellini’s smile disappeared.
“So tell me what he died for.”
Bellini looked at me.
“You really want the truth?”
“Yes.”
“Miguel found money disappearing.”
“I know.”
“He thought I was stealing it.”
“Were you?”
Bellini laughed.
“No.”
That surprised me.
“Then who?”
He looked at Marco.
The room changed.
Marco didn't move.
Maria stared at him.
“No.”
Bellini smiled.
“Ask your loyal lieutenant.”
My hand tightened.
“Marco?”
Marco slowly reached inside his jacket.
Maria stepped back.
He removed an envelope.
Placed it on the table.
“I was going to tell you tonight.”
I opened it.
Bank records.
Transfers.
Names.
But Marco’s name wasn't there.
Another was.
I looked up.
Bellini had been distracting me.
Marco said quietly, “Boss.”
I understood one second too late.
Bellini lunged for the door.
My guards caught him in the hallway.
No gunfire.
No chaos.
Just a short struggle and Bellini pinned against the wall.
I walked toward him.
“Who?”
He laughed.
“You still don't understand.”
Marco opened the bank records.
His finger landed on one name.
Carlo Moretti.
My uncle.
The man who had helped raise me.
The man who had introduced Marco to me ten years ago.
Maria whispered, “Why would your uncle kill Miguel?”
Marco answered.
“Because Miguel discovered Carlo was moving money out of the organization.”
Bellini shouted from the hallway.
“And when Miguel threatened to tell Dominic, Carlo panicked!”
I stared at him.
“You worked for Carlo?”
Bellini said nothing.
That was enough.
Marco looked at me.
“There's more.”
“What?”
“Miguel left something behind.”
Maria froze.
“What?”
“A key.”
Marco reached into his pocket.
“I've been trying to find what it opens for eight months.”
Maria stared at him.
“You never told me.”
“I didn't want Carlo knowing you had it.”
“You had it?”
“No.”
May you like
Marco looked toward the staircase.
“Sophia does.”
