Chapter 9 - The Men Who Locked the Doors
Bellini had spent years presenting himself as a respectable investor. The old warehouse accounts placed him near transactions he claimed never to have seen.
Investigators reopened the fire inquiry, interviewed former employees, and sought surviving business records. Cedric supplied documents from his father's organization and agreed to be questioned with legal counsel present.
I did not confuse that cooperation with innocence. He had withheld information from me and used a fraudulent debt to control the circumstances of our marriage. Both choices mattered.
One former warehouse worker described seeing Bellini arguing with Isabella shortly before the fire. Another remembered being ordered away from a particular storage wing.
Their accounts required independent corroboration, but the picture was becoming clearer.
Then Meera called to tell me an unfamiliar man had waited outside our apartment for nearly an hour. We reported it and moved temporarily to a location known only to a few trusted people.
Nico came with us by choice.
“I'm twenty-four,” he reminded me. “I don't need anyone deciding what's safe for me without asking.”
I stared at him, then laughed through my worry.
“You sound like Mom.”
We began rebuilding our relationship in ordinary ways: cooking dinner, comparing photographs, remembering details neither of us had told anyone else.
One night, Nico found me studying the picture of Isabella.
“Do you think Cedric is telling the truth now?”
“I think he's finally telling parts of it,” I said. “That's not the same as earning trust.”
The next morning, Elena received a notice from the investigating authorities. Bellini's offices had been searched under judicial authorization.
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Among the seized records was a document referencing a survivor from the fire.
It included Nico's new name.
