Chapter 4 - What Isabella Knew
I ordered Elena into the hidden safe room with the twins.
She refused.
“Go.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“Your sons won't enter without you.”
I looked down.
She was right.
Matteo had both arms around my leg.
Leo was crying.
Outside, engines approached the mansion.
Twenty years of violence had taught me how to handle enemies.
Nothing had taught me how to tell terrified children their father needed to leave them behind.
So I crouched.
“Listen to me.”
Matteo shook his head.
“Papa stays.”
“I'll come back.”
“Mommy said that.”
The words destroyed me.
Isabella had said she'd come back.
She never did.
I couldn't make the same promise.
So I removed the heavy gold ring from my finger.
The Moretti crest.
I placed it in Matteo's palm.
“This belongs to our family.”
He stared at it.
“And I'm coming back for it.”
Matteo closed his fist.
Then Elena touched my arm.
“Wait.”
She reached into her apron.
And produced a small brass key.
I stared at it.
“Where did you get that?”
“Matteo.”
My son pointed toward the wooden horse.
I picked it up.
There was a hidden compartment underneath.
Inside was a memory card.
My blood went cold.
Isabella.
We entered the safe room and loaded it onto the computer.
A video appeared.
My wife filled the screen.
Alive.
Her hair tied back.
Fear in her eyes.
“If you're watching this, Dante, something happened to me.”
I couldn't breathe.
Matteo whispered:
“Mommy.”
Isabella continued.
“Carlo has been selling our shipping routes to the Bellucci family.”
My fists tightened.
“He knows I found out.”
Then Isabella looked directly into the camera.
“And Dante, the accident won't be an accident.”
Elena covered her mouth.
The recording continued.
Carlo had betrayed us.
Not merely the organization.
My family.
Isabella had hidden the evidence inside Matteo's toy because she believed nobody would search something belonging to a child.
Then came the final sentence.
“Whatever happens, don't become so consumed with avenging me that our boys lose both parents.”
The video ended.
Gunfire cracked somewhere outside the mansion.
My sons screamed.
And I finally understood.
For twenty-two months, I'd been hunting Isabella's killer.
May you like
All that time, I'd been standing beside him.
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