Chapter 6 - THE ROSARY IN THE WIDOW'S HAND
The rain lashed against the asphalt.
Marco stared at his mother.
“You gave Sabrina the necklace?” Marco repeated, the words making no sense. “Why would you give my father’s stolen jewelry to my mistress?”
Rosa stepped out from under the awning, ignoring the rain soaking her dark wool coat.
She walked over to the trunk of the car and looked down at Sabrina’s body. There was no shock on Rosa’s face. Only a grim, weary acceptance.
“Because Sabrina didn't want to destroy your marriage, Marco,” Rosa said quietly. “She wanted to destroy this entire family. She found out about the blackmail. She knew your father forced Eleanor to hide the stolen jewels.”
Rosa looked at Catherine.
“Sabrina came to me three weeks ago. She told me she had proof that my husband was a murderer and an extortionist. She threatened to take it to the Commission and the FBI unless I paid her ten million dollars.”
Marco’s mind raced. “So you paid her with the necklace?”
“I gave her the necklace as a down payment,” Rosa said, her voice hardening. “To buy time.”
“Time for what?”
Rosa reached into her pocket.
She pulled out a delicate silver rosary.
She wrapped it around her knuckles like a weapon.
“Time to do what your father never had the courage to do,” Rosa stated. “Clean up our own house.”
Answer one: Rosa hadn't just discovered the affair. She had been actively managing a blackmail plot orchestrated by Sabrina to protect the family’s legacy.
Open two: If Rosa bought time... did Rosa order the hit on Sabrina? And why was she holding the rosary?
“You killed her,” Marco breathed, stepping away from his mother. “You had Daniel strangle a thirty-two-year-old woman and stuff her in a trunk outside my gates to frame me?”
“I didn't kill her!” Rosa snapped, her matriarchal fury flaring. “I am trying to protect you, you idiot!”
Rosa pointed the silver cross of the rosary at Marco’s chest.
“Sabrina was strangled with a rosary wire, Marco. The medical examiner will confirm it. And the only person in this family who uses a rosary wire to execute traitors is sitting in your dining room right now.”
Marco’s blood turned to ice.
He looked toward the mansion.
Vincent. The eldest Don of the council.
“Vincent killed Sabrina?” Marco asked, lowering his voice.
“Vincent has been working with Sabrina for six months,” Rosa revealed, the devastating truth finally spilling out. “Vincent wanted the Bellini territory. He used Sabrina to seduce you, to distract you, while he gathered the blackmail material on your father.”
Rosa looked at Catherine.
“When Catherine told me last night that she was leaving you, I knew Vincent was going to make his move today at the council meeting. He killed Sabrina last night because she got greedy and demanded more money from him.”
Marco looked at his wife. Catherine was trembling, but her eyes were fixed on Rosa, absorbing the massive scale of the betrayal.
“Why didn't you tell me any of this?” Marco demanded, turning back to his mother.
“Because you were too busy sleeping with the enemy to see the knife at your throat!” Rosa roared over the rain. “You abandoned your wife! You abandoned your post! I had to orchestrate this entire council meeting today to trap Vincent!”
Rosa grabbed Marco’s arm. Her grip was surprisingly strong.
“I didn't petition the council to strip you of your title, Marco,” Rosa whispered fiercely. “I petitioned them to distract Vincent so you could walk back into that dining room and execute him for treason.”
Marco stared at his mother, the brilliant, terrifying architect of the Bellini empire.
She had used Catherine’s grief, Sabrina’s death, and his own humiliation to set a trap for the man trying to steal their throne.
“Daniel,” Marco said, his voice dropping to a lethal calm.
“Boss,” Daniel stepped forward, drawing his weapon.
“Lock the dining room doors from the outside. Nobody leaves.”
Marco turned to Catherine.
He didn't ask for her forgiveness. He didn't deserve it. But he looked at her with absolute sincerity.
“Catherine. Go to the safehouse with my mother. I will finish this.”
Catherine didn't move.
She reached into her purse and pulled out a heavy, folded piece of paper.
A plane ticket.
“I’m not going to a safehouse, Marco,” Catherine said quietly. “I bought a one-way ticket to Paris three hours ago. My mother is gone. I have nothing left in this city.”
Marco’s heart shattered.
“Catherine, please,” Marco begged, ignoring his men watching him. “Let me fix this. Let me avenge your mother’s torment. I’ll kill Vincent. I’ll make it right.”
Catherine looked at the man she had loved for twenty-three years. The man who was covered in rain and the blood of a violent life.
“You can kill Vincent, Marco,” Catherine said softly. “But you can't kill the man who walked out that door last night. That man is who you are.”
She turned and walked toward the waiting SUV.
“Goodbye, Marco.”
Marco stood frozen in the rain, watching his wife walk away forever.
He had the empire. He had the power.
May you like
But as he turned toward the mansion, drawing his weapon to face the men who had betrayed him, Marco Bellini knew he had already lost everything that mattered.
TITLE: THE FAMILY HEIRLOOM IN THE VAULT
