Chapter 14 - ANTONIO’S SIGNATURE
The second ledger surfaced in documents Vale had given Park. It listed Harbor Bridge transfers routed through a Russo-owned shipping company. Antonio said Bellini had managed that account. The account access records supported him.
But at the bottom of one approval form was Antonio’s signature.
He stared at it for a long time. “That one is mine.”
I felt cold.
“I signed a stack of vendor renewals,” he said. “Bellini put this among them.”
Park asked him whether he had read the form.
“No.”
The answer cost him. He knew it.
I left the interview room before he could say anything else. On the sidewalk, anger caught up with me. My grandmother had spent her last months trying to stop a scheme that men with more money than she’d ever seen had failed to question. Antonio hadn’t known what Bellini was doing, but he had signed his name.
He came outside a few minutes later.
“I should have checked,” he said.
“Yes.”
“I won’t ask you to excuse it.”
“I’m glad.”
He let me go.
Park’s team froze the accounts before Bellini could move the money. The same afternoon, Bellini’s attorney sent a statement accusing Antonio of directing the transfers. News cameras appeared outside the clinic and Antonio’s office.
Maria saw the coverage on television. She called me herself.
“Are they going to blame all of it on Antonio?”
“They’re investigating him too,” I said.
“They should.” Her voice shook, but she held firm. “He signed that paper. He needs to answer for it.”
By evening, Park had a warrant for Bellini’s office. He wasn’t there. His driver had picked him up hours earlier.
The driver’s phone was turned off. His car was found near the waterfront, empty.
At ten that night, someone knocked on my apartment door. Park had arranged for an officer to watch the building, so I called her before opening it.
The person outside spoke through the door.
“Sophie? It’s Marco.”
“He’s in custody,” I whispered to Park.
“He was released earlier today,” she said. “Stay on the line.”
Marco’s voice came again. “Bellini left me a message. He says he has the rest of Rosa’s records.”
May you like
“What does he want?” I asked.
“You,” Marco said. “He says you’re the only person who’ll know where she hid the originals.”
