Chapter 9 - THE MAN EVERYONE CALLED UNCLE
Victor Bellandi was not Roman’s uncle.
That was the first lie.
The second was worse.
He was not Bellandi at all.
Father Luca found baptismal records in a church archive outside Newark.
Victor had been born Victor Caruso.
His mother later married Dominic’s uncle.
Victor took the family name socially.
Never legally in early records.
Over decades, the distinction vanished.
He became “cousin.”
Then “family.”
Then indispensable.
Not of the same blood.
The note might refer to him.
Roman stared at the baptism certificate.
“My mother was warning me.”
“Maybe.”
“But why hide it?”
Father Luca answered:
“Because Victor built his authority around family legitimacy.”
A man who was not Bellandi had spent thirty years weaponizing Bellandi blood.
I almost laughed at the hypocrisy.
Roman did not.
“Dominic knew.”
“Probably.”
“Why keep him close?”
“Because Victor was useful.”
Again.
A terrible choice made convenient until convenience became power.
Victor’s attorneys moved quickly.
He denied everything.
Called Vincent unstable.
Called my mother corrupt.
Called the DNA evidence fabricated.
Then he made one mistake.
He attacked Lucy publicly.
A tabloid received photographs of my daughter entering Roman’s estate.
Headline:
MAFIA BOSS HIDING KEY WITNESS WITH SINGLE MOM AND CHILD
I became furious.
Roman became quiet.
Quiet Roman was worse.
“I want her out of the city,” he said.
“No.”
“Grace.”
“No.”
“Victor used her photo.”
“And running proves he can move us.”
“This isn’t pride.”
“No. It’s Lucy learning whether fear controls our home.”
Roman stared.
“She’s five.”
“Exactly.”
He walked away.
Then returned.
“I hate when you’re reasonable.”
“I’m enjoying it.”
Instead of hiding Lucy, we did something Victor never expected.
I went public.
Not with crime details.
With one statement.
“My daughter is not evidence, leverage, or a headline. Leave children out of adult crimes.”
It went viral.
Victor’s media strategy backfired.
Then Samuel Vale’s son contacted us.
Senator Andrew Vale.
He had seen the DNA results.
I expected denial.
He asked to meet Iris.
They met privately.
Andrew looked at her for thirty seconds and cried.
“You have my father’s eyes.”
Iris cried too.
Family expanded again.
Not replaced.
Expanded.
Andrew gave us something Samuel had left behind.
A sealed legal declaration.
Samuel acknowledged Iris as his biological child.
He had agreed never to claim paternity because Dominic promised to raise her safely.
The statement said:
Dominic Bellandi knew from the beginning.
Roman read that line for a long time.
His father had not been deceived.
He had chosen Iris completely.
That healed something.
Then the final paragraph opened another wound.
Victor Caruso threatened to expose Iris’s paternity unless Elena persuaded Dominic to grant Victor control over the harbor trust.
So that was it.
Victor had blackmailed Elena for years.
Blood was never the point.
Control was.
The harbor trust owned legitimate properties worth hundreds of millions.
Dominic split control between Roman and Iris.
Victor needed one removed.
Then the other.
“Why not kill me first?” Roman asked.
Father Luca said:
“Because Iris was easier.”
Cold truth.
Roman looked sick.
I took his hand without thinking.
He looked down.
Neither of us moved away.
That was the first time.
Later, alone, Roman asked:
“Why aren’t you afraid of me?”
“I am.”
He looked surprised.
“That’s flattering.”
“I’m afraid of what you can do.”
“Difference?”
“Yes.”
I looked at him.
“I’m not afraid you’ll do it to me.”
He became still.
Trust frightened him more than fear.
That night Victor sent a message.
Not to Roman.
To Iris.
A photograph.
Lucy walking into school months earlier.
Before any of this.
Victor had known who I was long before Iris collapsed in my alley.
Beneath the picture:
Ask Grace why her mother was really killed.
May you like
My mother had supposedly died from a stroke.
Suddenly nothing felt natural anymore.
