Chapter 6 - THE ENVELOPE IN THE PARISH OFFICE
At six o’clock, Saint Agnes smelled like candle wax, old wood, and coffee.
Sister Catherine opened the side door before Luca knocked.
She was seventy-six, thin, silver-haired, and wearing a navy cardigan over a plain gray dress. She looked at Luca first.
Then Anthony.
Then Sarah.
Her eyes stopped on the bruises above Sarah’s collar.
“So that is what fear looks like when it loses patience.”
Sarah did not know what to say.
Sister Catherine stepped aside.
“Come in.”
The parish office had not changed much in thirty years.
Metal filing cabinets.
A wooden crucifix.
A chipped mug filled with pens.
On the desk sat a yellow envelope tied with string.
Anthony stopped when he saw his father’s handwriting.
FOR LUCA’S BEST MAN — IF IT IS MY SON.
His throat moved.
“I’ve never seen this.”
“No,” Sister Catherine said. “Your father made me promise.”
Luca stood beside him.
“You don’t have to open it here.”
Anthony looked at him.
“You waited twenty-two years for me to tell you I was sleeping with your fiancée. I think we’re past protecting my comfort.”
The words landed hard.
Luca did not answer.
Anthony untied the string.
Inside were three pages and a small photograph.
The photograph showed Antonio Moretti, Enzo Marino, Marco Moretti, and Vittorio Bellini standing outside a restaurant in 2005.
All four men were smiling.
On the back, Enzo had written:
BEFORE WE KNEW WHO WAS STEALING.
Anthony opened the first page.
His father’s writing slanted sharply across the paper.
Tony,
If Luca chooses you to stand beside him when he marries, then I was right about one thing. Whatever happened to me, our sons stayed brothers.
Anthony stopped reading.
His eyes filled.
Luca looked away.
Sister Catherine quietly placed a box of tissues near Anthony without speaking.
He continued.
If the woman Luca marries is a Bellini, do not panic. Do not accuse her because of her name. Judge what she does.
Sarah glanced at Vanessa’s absence as if the empty space could answer.
Anthony read on.
But if a Bellini asks for A-17, asks about the Continuity Trust, or tells you that I betrayed Antonio, then understand this: Vittorio is still trying to control the story.
Anthony lowered the page.
“He knew.”
Sister Catherine nodded.
“He knew enough to be afraid.”
The second page described the transfers.
Enzo admitted moving money through Marino Holdings.
He wrote that Marco had threatened to expose Anthony’s mother for tax fraud if Enzo refused.
Anthony stared.
“My mother?”
Sister Catherine shook her head.
“She had made mistakes on a family business return. Nothing close to what Marco claimed.”
Enzo had cooperated long enough to collect proof.
Then he told Antonio.
Together they planned to go to federal investigators.
Before they could, Antonio died.
Two weeks later, Marco publicly blamed Enzo for the missing money.
Enzo lost clients.
Friends stopped calling.
Anthony remembered all of it.
He had been twenty-five.
Old enough to watch his father shrink.
Too young to understand why.
The third page was shorter.
If Antonio dies before me, I will hide the records where Marco cannot erase them.
If I die first, I will leave A-17.
If both of us are gone, the church keeps one final witness.
Anthony looked up.
“Sister Catherine?”
She shook her head.
“Not me.”
Luca leaned forward.
“Who?”
Sister Catherine walked to a filing cabinet.
She removed a small index card.
A name was written on it.
FRANK DELANEY.
The mechanic.
Sarah felt every person in the office become still.
“He came here once,” Sister Catherine said. “Three months after Antonio died.”
Luca’s voice sharpened.
“What did he say?”
“He was frightened.”
She sat down.
“He told Enzo the brake-line work order had not simply been canceled.”
Anthony frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“Someone paid him to replace the line with a damaged part.”
Luca’s face changed.
Sister Catherine continued.
“Frank said he refused.”
“Then how did the damaged line get there?”
“He didn’t know.”
Daniel, standing near the door, checked the Kenosha team’s messages.
“They’re at Delaney’s address now.”
Sister Catherine looked at Luca.
“Frank told Enzo another mechanic had access to the garage that week.”
“Name?”
“He would not say.”
“Why?”
“Because he said the man was family.”
Luca’s eyes moved toward Marco’s name in Enzo’s letter.
Anthony whispered, “Marco?”
Sister Catherine shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
Daniel’s phone rang.
Everyone looked at him.
He answered.
Then his expression changed.
“Put him through.”
A man’s rough voice came from the speaker.
“Mr. Moretti?”
Luca stepped closer.
“Frank Delaney?”
“Yes.”
“This is Luca.”
A pause.
Then Frank exhaled.
“I figured somebody would eventually find that matchbook.”
Luca’s jaw tightened.
“I need to know who touched my father’s car.”
Frank was silent.
“Mr. Delaney.”
“I’m still alive because I learned when not to say names.”
Luca glanced at Sarah.
Then at Enzo’s line about witnesses.
“No one is asking you to be brave for free.”
Frank gave a tired laugh.
“Money isn’t what kept me quiet.”
“What did?”
“My daughter.”
Luca waited.
Frank continued.
“Vittorio knew where she went to school.”
Anthony’s face hardened.
“He threatened a child?”
“She was nine.”
Sarah looked down.
The room felt colder.
Frank said, “I refused to sabotage Antonio’s car. Two days later, the damaged line was installed anyway.”
“By whom?”
Another pause.
“I saw him leaving the garage.”
Luca’s voice became very quiet.
“Who?”
Frank took a breath.
“Marco Moretti.”
Nobody moved.
Luca closed his eyes.
Then Frank added, “But Marco wasn’t the one who ordered it.”
Vanessa’s father seemed obvious.
Luca asked anyway.
“Vittorio?”
“No.”
That answer surprised everyone.
Anthony leaned toward the phone.
“Then who?”
Frank hesitated.
“A woman.”
Luca opened his eyes.
Sarah felt the room tighten again.
“Name her.”
Frank’s voice dropped.
“I never knew her name. But I saw her twice with Vittorio.”
“Describe her.”
“Dark hair. Maybe thirty-five then. Tall. Always wore gloves.”
Sister Catherine looked suddenly pale.
Luca noticed.
“You know who he means.”
She did not answer.
“Sister.”
Her eyes filled.
“I hoped I was wrong.”
“Who?”
She reached for the old photograph of Antonio, Enzo, Marco, and Vittorio.
Then she pointed to the restaurant window behind them.
A woman’s reflection was barely visible in the glass.
Sarah leaned closer.
Dark hair.
Tall.
One gloved hand resting on the doorframe.
Anthony stared.
“I’ve seen her before.”
Luca looked at him.
“Where?”
Anthony’s face lost color.
“In Vanessa’s family photographs.”
Sister Catherine nodded.
“Her name was Sofia Bellini.”
Vanessa’s mother.
Luca stood completely still.
“She died before I met Vanessa.”
“Eleven years ago,” Anthony said.
Sister Catherine looked at the envelope.
“Enzo believed Sofia was the one person Vittorio feared.”
“Why?”
“Because she knew everything.”
Daniel’s phone vibrated again.
A photograph arrived from the team in Kenosha.
Frank Delaney had given them an old Polaroid.
It showed the Moretti garage three nights before Antonio’s crash.
Marco stood near the open hood.
Beside him was Sofia Bellini.
In her hand was a folder.
Across the folder, written in black marker, were two words.
MARRIAGE PLAN.
Sarah stared.
Anthony whispered, “This started before Vanessa.”
Luca looked at the picture.
“No.”
His eyes hardened.
“This started before any of us knew there was going to be a wedding.”
Sister Catherine turned the Polaroid over.
There was writing on the back.
NOT HER PLAN.
Luca looked up.
“What?”
The nun pointed.
“Enzo wrote that.”
Anthony read the rest.
SOFIA BROUGHT THIS TO ANTONIO. SHE WAS TRYING TO STOP THEM.
The room shifted again.
Frank was still on speaker.
Luca asked, “Did Sofia order the sabotage?”
“No.”
“Then why did you say a woman did?”
“I said a woman ordered me to damage the car. I never said it was Sofia.”
Anthony closed his eyes.
“Another woman.”
Frank confirmed it.
“She was younger.”
Sister Catherine frowned.
“How much younger?”
“Late twenties. Maybe thirty.”
Daniel opened old Bellini records.
Vittorio had one sister.
Camilla Bellini.
Twenty-nine at the time.
Luca stared at her name.
“Where is she now?”
Daniel searched.
“No public address for twelve years.”
Anthony looked at Sister Catherine.
“Did Enzo ever mention Camilla?”
The nun nodded slowly.
“Once.”
“What did he say?”
“That she was the only Bellini more dangerous than Vittorio because she never needed credit.”
Sarah felt a chill.
Daniel kept reading.
“Camilla never married. No children listed. Last corporate filing was eleven years ago.”
“The year Sofia died,” Luca said.
Daniel nodded.
Then another record appeared.
A passport entry.
Camilla Bellini had returned to the United States three days ago.
Anthony stared at Luca.
“For the wedding?”
Luca looked toward the church windows, where dawn was beginning to lighten the glass.
Then Sarah’s phone vibrated.
An unknown number.
She opened the message.
One sentence appeared.
YOU SHOULD HAVE KEPT YOUR COLLAR BUTTONED.
May you like
Beneath it was a photograph of Sarah entering Saint Agnes five minutes earlier.
Sarah’s hands started shaking. Luca read the message, then looked toward the church doors. “Daniel, lock this building down. Whoever sent that is outside.”
