Chapter 3 - WHAT ATLAS FOUND
Atlas returned before Elias did.
At 4:17 the next morning, Marco found the old dog scratching at the estate’s north gate.
Mud covered his muzzle.
Blood spotted one paw.
No Elias.
Gabriel ran toward him.
The dog nearly knocked the boy down despite his age.
Then Atlas limped toward the garden.
Same direction as the shed.
Past it.
Toward an abandoned greenhouse.
Luca followed.
So did I.
Vanessa stayed with Gabriel at first.
Then Gabriel grabbed her sleeve.
“Come.”
She looked stunned.
He repeated:
“Come.”
She came.
The greenhouse had been locked for years.
Atlas squeezed through a broken lower pane.
Marco opened the side door.
Inside, weeds grew through cracked stone.
Old planting beds.
One patch of red clay had been disturbed.
Atlas dug.
Luca stopped him gently.
Marco brought shovels.
Three feet down, metal.
Not a coffin.
A toolbox.
Heavy.
Rusted.
Inside:
A pistol wrapped in oilcloth.
A digital recorder.
A hospital bracelet.
MICHAEL MORETTI.
And a small glass vial.
Vanessa stared.
“Hospital.”
Luca’s face hardened.
Michael had died at home, according to family history.
Why a hospital bracelet?
The recorder still worked after Marco changed batteries.
Michael’s voice.
Weak.
“Elias, if you find this, Anthony came to me tonight.”
Anthony Moretti.
The supposedly dead uncle now in federal custody.
Michael continued.
“He says Victor knows about Gabriel.”
Vanessa covered her mouth.
“He wants the trust.”
Luca whispered:
“Same thing.”
Then Michael:
“I told him no.”
“He threatened Luca.”
A pause.
“I believed him.”
There it was.
Again.
Parents choosing secrecy because fear dressed itself as protection.
Michael continued.
“I made a deal.”
Luca closed his eyes.
Of course.
“What deal?” I whispered.
The recording answered.
“I will sign temporary voting authority to Anthony if he leaves Gabriel hidden.”
Vanessa stared.
“He gave Anthony control?”
Luca looked sick.
“Temporarily.”
Michael’s voice continued.
“But I changed the papers.”
“He gets nothing unless Gabriel appears in person.”
Anthony had spent eleven years searching for the boy because Michael tricked him.
Then:
“Victor sent a doctor.”
Vanessa froze.
“Dr. Hale.”
She whispered:
“I know that name.”
Her father’s private physician.
Michael continued.
“He says I need treatment.”
“I don’t believe him.”
A cough.
“If I die tonight, test the vial.”
The recording ended.
The glass vial.
Marco bagged it.
Federal lab took custody.
The pistol was registered to Anthony.
One shot fired.
But Michael had no gunshot wound.
Why bury it?
Maybe planted.
Maybe evidence from another crime.
The hospital bracelet dated the week before Michael’s death.
He had been secretly treated at a private clinic.
Diagnosis:
arrhythmia.
Medication:
digitalis.
The vial contained concentrated digoxin.
Too much can stop a heart.
Michael’s death suddenly looked less natural.
Dr. Hale.
Victor’s doctor.
Vanessa sat on the greenhouse bench.
“My father killed him.”
“We don’t know,” Luca said.
She laughed bitterly.
“You keep saying that when you want evidence.”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“Keep saying it.”
That surprised him.
Then Gabriel found something in the toolbox.
A child’s drawing.
Two men.
One dog.
One house.
Written:
DAD + UNCLE LUCA.
Nico had drawn it?
No.
Gabriel.
At age four.
Elias had sent it to Michael.
Michael kept it.
He knew the boy.
Watched from afar.
Maybe loved him.
Still kept him hidden.
Gabriel stared.
“He had this?”
“Yes,” Luca said.
“Did he know me?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t he come?”
Luca took time.
“Because he was afraid.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Grown-ups are afraid a lot.”
“Yes.”
“That makes them do stupid things.”
Vanessa laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
Good.
A phone rang in the greenhouse.
Old landline.
Impossible.
Marco stared.
The line had supposedly been disconnected.
Luca answered.
“Hello?”
Elias.
Weak.
“Did Atlas find it?”
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“Where are you?”
“St. Bartholomew’s.”
A church on the South Side.
“Stay there.”
“No.”
“Elias.”
“I need Victor.”
Vanessa stood.
“What?”
Elias heard her.
“Miss Bellini.”
“My father is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
Her face went white.
“He came back last night.”
“Why?”
“For Gabriel.”
Of course.
Luca asked:
“Where are you?”
“Church basement.”
“Why?”
“Because Victor agreed to meet.”
Vanessa shouted:
“No!”
Elias laughed weakly.
“You sound like your mother.”
Vanessa froze.
“What?”
“Later.”
“Elias.”
He hung up.
We drove.
Federal agents too.
At St. Bartholomew’s, the basement door was open.
Elias sat at a folding table.
Atlas at his feet.
Across from him:
Victor Bellini.
Alive.
Thinner.
Older.
But unmistakable.
Vanessa stopped in the doorway.
Her father looked at her.
For a moment, all the arrogance left his face.
“Vanessa.”
She did not move.
“You’re dead.”
“Officially.”
“Why?”
“Protection.”
She laughed.
“From who?”
He looked at Luca.
“His father.”
Luca’s face hardened.
Victor continued.
“Michael learned I ordered Nico watched.”
“Watched?”
“Not killed.”
Elias said:
“Lie.”
Victor ignored him.
“Michael threatened to expose Bellini judges.”
“So you killed him.”
“No.”
“Dr. Hale.”
Victor’s eyes changed.
There.
Recognition.
Vanessa saw it.
“You sent him.”
Victor looked at her.
“I sent Hale to keep Michael alive.”
“With digoxin?”
“He was treating arrhythmia.”
“Concentrated vial.”
Victor stopped.
Elias leaned forward.
“Hale worked for Anthony too.”
Everything shifted.
Anthony.
Luca’s uncle.
He had motive for the trust.
Access to Michael.
His gun buried with the vial.
Could Anthony have arranged the overdose and planted Bellini evidence?
Victor said:
“Michael called me that night.”
Luca stared.
“What did he say?”
“That Anthony had threatened Gabriel.”
“Then?”
“He asked me to move Vanessa.”
She went still.
“What?”
“You were at Lake Forest.”
“I remember.”
“Michael thought Anthony would take you to force the trust.”
Victor had hidden his daughter.
Not out of love only.
Again, leverage.
Vanessa whispered:
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because you loved Michael.”
“I loved Nico.”
Victor looked away.
There.
He had never forgiven her.
Victor continued.
“Michael died before I could get to him.”
Luca asked:
“Who was there?”
Victor looked at Elias.
“Elias.”
Elias stared.
“No.”
“You arrived after Hale.”
“Yes.”
“And before Anthony.”
“No.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“You still don’t know.”
Elias stood too fast.
Nearly fell.
“Know what?”
Victor said:
“Michael was alive when Anthony left.”
Silence.
“Then who killed him?” Luca asked.
Victor looked at Elias.
“You did.”
Elias went white.
Atlas whined.
“No.”
Victor continued.
“You gave him the final dose.”
Elias shook his head violently.
“No.”
“You thought it was heart medicine.”
“No.”
“Hale left the syringe labeled.”
“No.”
“You injected him because Michael asked you to.”
Elias sat.
His face collapsed.
Memory.
“I gave him medicine.”
Victor nodded.
“The syringe was switched.”
Elias whispered:
“I killed him.”
“No,” Luca said immediately.
Elias looked at him.
“I put it in his arm.”
“You didn’t know.”
“I should have.”
Vanessa whispered:
“Who switched it?”
Victor looked toward the church stairs.
“Anthony.”
A voice behind us answered:
“Still blaming me, Victor?”
Anthony Moretti stood at the top of the stairs.
He was supposed to be in federal custody.
Marco drew his weapon.
Agents shouted.
Anthony smiled.
Then held up a phone.
Onscreen:
Gabriel.
Bound to a chair.
My blood froze.
“He keeps getting easier to find,” Anthony said.
Vanessa screamed:
“No!”
Anthony looked at Luca.
“Bring me the trust documents.”
Then at Victor.
“And maybe I tell you which one of you actually killed Michael.”
The feed cut.
May you like
Gabriel was gone again.
And this time Anthony had him.
