THE DEAD WOMAN’S VOICE IN THE DINING ROOM

The paramedics rushed into the sewing room, their boots loud against the hardwood floor.

They pushed us aside, taking over chest compressions and loading Father Gabriel onto a stretcher. Within seconds, they were gone, leaving a deafening silence in their wake.

Vanessa was on her knees, staring at the gold signet ring resting in her trembling hands.

“My brother, Leo,” she whispered, her perfectly manicured nails tracing the Bellini crest. “He was seventeen when he vanished. My father told me he ran away to Europe.”

Luca wiped a streak of sweat from his forehead. The mafia boss looked completely unmoored.

“Why would Father Gabriel have Leo’s ring?” Luca asked.

“Because my father lied,” Vanessa said, tears finally spilling over her eyelashes. She looked up at Luca, her face stripped of all manipulation. “Leo didn't run away. He was murdered.”

I stepped back, leaning against the wooden crib.

“Who murdered him?” I asked.

Vanessa’s eyes locked onto Luca.

“Your father,” she said.

Luca flinched. “My father? Why?”

Vanessa stood up, clutching the ring to her chest.

“Because Leo was the one having the affair with your father’s mistress. The baby wasn't your father’s bastard, Luca. It was my brother’s.”

The revelation hit the room like a physical blow.

The pieces slammed together in my mind. The mistress. The baby. The rage of Luca’s father.

“My father found out,” Luca said slowly, putting the puzzle together. “His mistress betrayed him with a Bellini boy. So he killed the mistress. And he killed Leo.”

“Yes,” Vanessa sobbed. “And he was going to kill the baby, too. That’s why your mother hid the child here. She was protecting my brother’s son from your father’s wrath.”

Luca ran a hand through his dark hair. The weight of his family’s sins was crushing him.

“That’s why your father was looking for the baby,” Luca realized. “He wasn't trying to help my mother. He wanted his grandson.”

“And your mother poisoned him to stop him from taking the boy,” Vanessa said bitterly.

I looked at the blue blanket in the crib.

“But my mother took the baby to the train station,” I said, my voice shaking. “Father Gabriel said Luca’s father’s men caught them. They took the boy.”

Luca’s expression hardened into something terrifying. The ruthless boss of the Chicago syndicate was back.

“If my father’s men took the boy,” Luca said coldly, “then the boy didn't survive the night.”

Vanessa let out a heartbroken wail and sank onto the small chair by the sewing machine. The child she had been secretly searching for—her own nephew—had been dead for twenty years.

“Wait,” I said.

Both of them looked at me.

“Father Gabriel said the original tape was under the altar in the chapel,” I reminded them.

Luca didn't hesitate. He turned and sprinted down the hallway. I followed closely behind, my heels clicking loudly on the marble floors. Vanessa trailed us, wiping her eyes.

We burst through the heavy double doors of the private chapel.

It was dark, lit only by the flickering red sanctuary lamp.

Luca went straight to the marble altar. He dropped to his knees and felt along the ornate carving at the base.

There was a hollow click.

A small stone panel slid open.

Luca reached inside and pulled out a standard, clear plastic cassette tape.

He didn't wait. He carried it back to his study, where the silver cassette player still sat on his desk.

He shoved the tape in and pressed play.

The hiss of static filled the room. Then, Elena’s tired, soft voice.

“Luciano. If you are hearing this, it means you have chosen a wife. And it means I am gone.”

It was the same opening as the copy. We listened as she confessed to poisoning Vanessa’s father. We listened as she explained hiding the child.

Then, the tape reached the point where the copy had cut off.

This time, Elena’s voice kept going.

“I knew your father’s men caught Sarah at the train station. I knew they took the boy.”

Luca gripped the edge of the desk so hard his knuckles turned white.

“But your father didn't kill the child, Luciano,” Elena’s voice whispered through the speaker. “He couldn't do it. He saw the baby’s face, and he saw his own blood.”

Vanessa gasped. “His own blood? But the baby was Leo’s!”

Elena’s voice continued, as if answering her from the grave.

“The mistress lied to Leo Bellini. The boy was never his. The baby truly was your father’s son, Luciano. Your half-brother.”

Luca stopped breathing.

“Your father hid the boy to protect him from the Bellinis. He gave him to the only man he trusted. His loyal driver. Arthur.”

My heart plummeted into my stomach.

I knew Arthur. He was Luca’s head of security. He had been with the family for thirty years.

Suddenly, the heavy oak doors of the study slammed shut.

The deadbolt clicked into place from the outside.

“Did you hear that, Boss?” a deep, gruff voice came through the thick wood of the door.

Luca froze.

“Arthur,” Luca said.