Chapter 7 - THE MAN BEHIND BELLMONT
Richard Bellmont was one of the wealthiest private collectors in Europe.
He owned galleries.
Auction houses.
Luxury hotels.
And a company that specialized in acquiring distressed art businesses.
He was also Vanessa's father.
I had met him only once.
At my father's funeral.
He had shaken my hand and told me Lorenzo was a talented man.
Then he had offered to buy the remaining workshop equipment.
At the time, I thought he was being kind.
Now I wondered whether he had known exactly what he was purchasing.
Eleanor arranged a formal request for records.
Bellmont's attorneys responded with a letter denying wrongdoing.
They claimed the collection had been acquired lawfully.
But they did not provide the requested provenance documents.
Then something unexpected happened.
A former Bellmont employee contacted Eleanor.
Her name was Sofia Marin.
She had worked in inventory management for twelve years.
She claimed the Tre Vite collection had arrived at a Bellmont storage facility before the warehouse fire was officially declared.
Eleanor arranged to interview her.
Sofia brought photographs.
Shipping records.
And copies of internal emails.
One message contained a chilling instruction.
Move the Bellini pieces before the inspection.
The date was four days before the fire.
I stared at the screen.
My father's collection had not survived by accident.
May you like
Someone had moved it.
Before the warehouse burned.
