Chapter 6 - The Traitor Inside the Mansion
Dante raised his gun.
Richard didn't move.
Elena stepped between them.
"No."
"Move."
"Dante."
"He signed an order to kill my father."
Richard's voice was calm.
"No, I didn't."
Dante held up the ledger.
"That's your signature."
"Yes."
Elena turned.
"Then explain."
Richard looked at his daughter.
"The sentence above it was added later."
Dante laughed bitterly.
"Convenient."
"Look at the ink."
Dante paused.
Richard pointed.
"The signature is blue-black fountain ink. Carlo used the same pens. The sentence is ballpoint."
Elena looked.
He was right.
Dante examined the page.
Richard continued.
"I signed a blank certification page. We all did. Marco later used them to manufacture orders."
"Why?"
"To turn us against each other."
Dante stared at the page.
"Matteo thought Carlo ordered his death. Carlo thought Matteo ordered mine. Sofia believed Matteo killed Carlo."
Richard nodded.
"Marco made everyone suspicious of everyone."
Elena understood.
"And while the families destroyed each other, he took control."
"Exactly."
Dante lowered the weapon.
Not fully.
But enough.
"We go to the mansion."
Richard nodded.
"Marco expects that."
"So?"
"So he'll have every entrance covered."
Dante looked toward Margaret.
"You know another way?"
Margaret smiled faintly.
"I planned your parents' anniversary party there nineteen years ago."
Elena stared.
"You worked for the Morettis too?"
Margaret shrugged.
"I've been trying to tell you our company had interesting clients."
Elena closed her eyes.
"After this, we're having the longest family meeting in human history."
They entered the Moretti estate through a service tunnel beneath the old wine cellar.
Dante led.
Elena followed despite everyone repeatedly telling her not to.
Richard and Margaret came behind.
Isabella stayed with the injured guards.
The mansion was eerily quiet.
No staff.
No security.
Marco had cleared it.
They reached the lower hallway.
Dante stopped.
Voices upstairs.
Marco.
Sofia.
"You won't get away with this," Sofia said.
Marco laughed.
"I already did."
Dante motioned for everyone to wait.
He moved closer.
Marco continued.
"Carlo was always sentimental. He believed loyalty mattered more than leverage."
Sofia's voice hardened.
"You murdered him."
"Eventually."
Dante's face changed.
Elena touched his arm.
He looked at her.
Stay calm.
She didn't say it.
He understood.
Marco continued.
"Richard was harder. He survived."
Richard's jaw tightened.
"And Matteo?"
Sofia demanded.
"Still useful."
"Where is he?"
"Nearby."
Elena looked at Richard.
Marco had brought Matteo here.
Dante whispered:
"Basement."
They moved through the service corridor.
At the basement stairs, a guard appeared.
Richard knocked him unconscious before Elena even registered the movement.
She stared.
"Dad."
"Later."
"Apparently everything is later."
They descended.
Behind one steel door, they found Matteo Vescari.
Alive.
Thin.
Weak.
Chained to a chair.
Richard rushed forward.
"Matteo."
The older man lifted his head.
"Richard?"
For a moment, years disappeared from both men's faces.
Richard cut his restraints.
Matteo grabbed his arm.
"Marco knows you're here."
Dante froze.
"What?"
"He let you enter."
A lock clicked behind them.
The basement door sealed.
Red lights turned on.
Speakers crackled.
Marco's voice filled the room.
"Welcome home, children."
Dante looked upward.
"Open the door."
Marco laughed.
"I've waited seventeen years for all necessary heirs to stand in one location."
Elena stared.
"Necessary heirs."
Richard cursed.
"The trust."
Matteo nodded weakly.
Marco continued.
"Dante Moretti."
A screen illuminated.
"Elena Brooks."
Another.
"Isabella Vescari."
Dante looked around.
"Isabella isn't here."
Marco's voice remained calm.
"Oh, but she is."
A second door opened.
Two armed men pushed Isabella inside.
Her hands were tied.
Dante swore.
Marco continued.
"Three bloodlines."
Elena whispered:
"Moretti. Brooks. Vescari."
Richard nodded.
"The original trust."
Marco laughed.
"At last someone understands."
A glass panel opened in the wall.
Documents waited behind it.
"The assets require signatures from designated descendants."
Dante stared.
"You orchestrated the engagement because you needed Elena legally connected to me."
"Partially."
"Why?"
"Marriage combines two voting blocks."
Elena said:
"And Isabella?"
"Transfers the third."
Isabella spat:
"Never."
Marco's voice hardened.
"Your father has already signed."
Matteo looked down.
"I'm sorry."
Isabella's face fell.
"They threatened you."
"Yes."
Marco continued.
"Now Dante signs. Elena signs. Isabella signs. Sofia confirms."
"And then?" Dante asked.
"I own everything."
"Through what legal mechanism?"
"Control appointment."
Elena stared at the documents.
"There's a problem."
Marco paused.
"What?"
"I'm not actually engaged to Dante."
Silence.
Then Marco laughed.
"Public declaration. Witnesses. Ring."
"That's not marriage."
"No."
Elena smiled despite her fear.
"And according to New York law, pretending we're engaged doesn't merge anything."
Marco's voice became colder.
"You think I don't know that?"
A new door opened.
A priest entered.
Elena's smile vanished.
Dante's expression became murderous.
Marco said:
"Which is why you're getting married tonight."
Elena stared at Dante.
He stared back.
"This is insane," she whispered.
"Yes."
Marco ordered:
"Begin."
The priest looked terrified.
Dante stepped in front of Elena.
"No."
A red laser dot appeared on Richard's chest.
Then Margaret's.
Then Matteo's.
Snipers.
Marco's voice came softly.
"Choose carefully."
Elena grabbed Dante's sleeve.
"Do it."
He turned.
"No."
"It's paperwork."
"Not like this."
"Our parents die if we don't."
His eyes held hers.
"Elena."
She lowered her voice.
"We can survive a fake marriage."
Something shifted in his expression.
"Fake?"
She stared.
This was not the time.
"Dante."
He almost smiled.
Then looked toward the priest.
"Start."
The ceremony began.
Absurd.
Terrifying.
Elena stood beside a man she had known for barely two days.
A mafia billionaire.
A stranger who had protected her with his body during gunfire.
A man whose quiet glances were becoming dangerously easy to understand.
"Do you, Dante Alessandro Moretti—"
"Yes."
The priest blinked.
"I haven't finished."
"Speed matters."
Even Elena nearly laughed.
Then:
"Do you, Elena Marie Brooks—"
She looked at Dante.
He looked back.
She remembered waking beside him.
His arm around her.
His mother's shocked face.
His declaration.
She's my fiancée.
Now this.
"I do."
A strange silence followed.
The priest completed the vows.
Dante placed the ring back onto Elena's finger.
This time it felt different.
Wrong circumstances.
Real words.
Marco's voice came through the speakers.
"Excellent."
Documents emerged.
Dante signed.
Elena signed.
Isabella refused until another laser appeared on Matteo.
Then she signed.
A final document appeared.
SOFIA MORETTI — TRUST CONFIRMATION.
But Sofia wasn't downstairs.
Dante looked upward.
"Where's my mother?"
Marco didn't answer.
The basement doors opened.
No guards.
No gunfire.
Just silence.
Dante understood first.
"He has what he needs."
Richard nodded.
"Except Sofia."
They ran upstairs.
The library was empty.
One chair overturned.
Blood on the carpet.
Dante's face drained.
"Mother?"
No answer.
Elena spotted Sofia's phone.
A video call was active.
She picked it up.
Marco Bellini appeared onscreen.
Behind him sat Sofia.
Alive.
A gun against her head.
Marco smiled.
"The new husband and wife."
Dante's voice became ice.
"Where are you?"
Marco ignored him.
"Your signatures gave me access. Sofia's gives me control."
"You'll never get it."
"She'll sign."
Sofia shouted:
"No, I won't!"
Marco struck her.
Dante lunged toward the screen uselessly.
Elena grabbed his arm.
Marco smiled.
"Midnight. Pier 19."
The same pier.
"Bring the original red ledger."
Dante said:
"And you release her."
"Perhaps."
The screen flickered.
Sofia suddenly leaned toward the camera.
"Dante!"
Marco grabbed her.
She screamed one sentence:
"THE LEDGER IS A DECOY!"
The video cut.
Everyone stared.
Richard looked toward the red book.
Dante opened it.
Elena suddenly remembered something.
Her event files.
Numbers.
Vendor codes.
Invoices her mother had insisted never be destroyed.
"My files."
Everyone looked at her.
"What?" Dante asked.
"The original records aren't in the ledger."
She thought faster.
"My mother kept every event invoice since the company opened."
Margaret's face changed.
"Elena."
"You knew?"
Margaret whispered:
"Your father hid transactions inside event expenses."
Richard slowly nodded.
"Catering quantities. Floral counts. Table numbers."
Dante understood.
"A code."
Elena grabbed her phone.
"My entire company archive is cloud-backed."
She opened years of files.
Thousands.
Then searched July 14.
One event appeared.
PRIVATE DINNER — MORETTI RESIDENCE.
Seventeen years ago.
Guest count: 97.
Tables: 4.
Flowers: 16.
Wine: 8.
Dante stared.
"9714168."
Elena remembered the pendant.
She entered the sequence into an encrypted archive field.
A hidden folder appeared.
Richard whispered:
"My God."
Inside were documents.
Audio.
Photographs.
Everything.
Proof of Marco's network.
Proof of murders.
Bank records.
Names of officials.
And one scheduled email draft.
Recipient:
FEDERAL PROSECUTOR.
Dante looked at Elena.
"Can you send it?"
"Yes."
Richard said:
"If Marco sees any network activity—"
"He may kill Sofia."
Elena stared at the send button.
Dante looked toward the clock.
11:14 p.m.
Forty-six minutes.
"We get my mother first."
Elena nodded.
Then her phone vibrated.
Not a threat.
A calendar reminder.
One she had never created.
EVENT STARTS AT 11:30 PM.
LOCATION: MORETTI MANSION.
Elena frowned.
"We're already at the mansion."
Dante looked at her screen.
Another line appeared beneath it.
BRIDE REQUIRED.
Then every light inside the mansion went out.
From somewhere upstairs, a woman screamed.
Dante raised his weapon.
Elena's phone lit again.
LIVE CAMERA — MASTER BEDROOM.
She pressed it.
The screen showed the room where everything had begun.
Their bed.
The forbidden bedroom.
A figure sat on the mattress wearing Elena's ivory robe.
Slowly, the person lifted her face toward the camera.
May you like
Sofia.
And behind her, Marco Bellini closed the bedroom door.
