Page 80 of Victorious Vice

He looks back down at the guy on the floor. “Because this is a fucking mess. A mess of my parents’ making.”

“Your father’s been dead for decades, and your mother passed away over a year ago.”

“Yes, I know. And I shielded my mother from what was going on within her company. Why do you think I had to let my son go to prison?”

“Because he confessed to shooting a cop,” I say. “Quit making things up.”

Bellamy helps Dietrich to his feet.

“You want to start explaining?” I say to him.

Dietrich is breathing hard and holding his stomach. “I was only following orders.”

“Yeah, so were the Nazis. Sell it to someone else.”

“I wasn’t going to kill her,” he says.

“You admitted it to me.”

Bellamy steps between us. “His job was to make youthinkhe was going to harm Raven, Gallo.”

I scratch the side of my head. “But he received payment from Agudelo. Not from you.”

Bellamy shrugs. “I hacked my daughter’s Uber app. Do you think it’s so difficult for me to falsify some financial records?”

I blink, unable to come up with a good response.

Bellamy shakes his head. “I knew who you were in contact with in Colombia, Vinnie. I knew you would be looking up everything you could about this guy. You really should work on being less predictable.”

My mind races. “But why would you go to the trouble?”

Then it hits me. Bellamy did all of that so he could…

“You bastard.”

Bellamy frowns. “I see you figured it out. I did it so I could get you put away. Attempted murder.”

“Notactualmurder?”

“He’s wearing a bulletproof vest, of course.”

“Yeah? I had my gun pointed at his brain. Wouldn’t have helped.”

“Which is why I had to intervene.” Bellamy sighs. “You and I are on the same side, Gallo.”

“Not from where I’m standing. You just admitted you wanted to send me to prison.”

He clasps his hands together, not meeting my gaze. “We both want to protect Raven.”

“Right. And you want to protect her from me.”

He finally looks up, making eye contact with me. “Bingo.”

“You think I don’t want that? I love your daughter. No doubt about that. I’ll probably never love again. But I will give her up a million times to keep her safe. She knows that.”

“There are things you don’t understand that are at play here,” he says.

“I swear to God, if you try to tell me that one more time, you’ll be able to get me ontwocharges of attempted murder.” I pace the room. “I’m a member of the Bianchi family. You think I don’t get how this works? If you think I don’t understand something, then explain it. I’ve got a functioning brain, Bellamy.”

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