Chapter 12 - The Betrayal Came From Inside the Family
They found Isabella twenty minutes later.
Safe.
Angry.
And standing beside Alexander in a service garage.
Dante nearly killed him with a look alone.
Isabella stepped between them.
“Stop.”
“He took you.”
“I followed him.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew where Rizzo was going.”
Alexander handed Luca an address.
An abandoned Moretti warehouse.
“Rizzo believes the flash drive contains his records.”
“It doesn't?” Sophia asked.
“No.”
“What is on it?”
“A copy of the ledger Damian stole.”
Dante stared.
Alexander continued.
“I started working for my uncle because I thought the Morettis destroyed my family.”
Isabella looked away.
“He sent me to get close to them.”
Dante's voice was dangerously quiet.
“To my sister.”
“At first.”
Dante moved forward.
Isabella grabbed his arm.
Alexander did not retreat.
“Then I fell in love with her.”
“Convenient.”
“I know.”
“Did you leak the video?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
“Damian.”
Sophia frowned.
“Damian said Rizzo forced him.”
“He did. But Damian wasn't just being threatened. He was being paid.”
The betrayal deepened.
Damian had lied even after being found.
The real plan was larger than anyone understood.
Rizzo wanted Dante’s organization destabilized.
The foundation scandal would destroy Dante publicly.
A security incident at Isabella’s wedding would destroy him privately.
Then business partners would abandon him.
Competitors would move.
The Moretti empire would fracture.
Sophia looked at Dante.
“He's trying to make you react.”
“Yes.”
“Violently.”
Dante nodded.
“Then everyone gets exactly the monster they expected.”
Alexander looked surprised.
“You understand him.”
Sophia glanced at Dante.
“Sometimes.”
Dante's expression softened briefly.
Then Luca received a message.
“Damian escaped the clinic.”
Of course he had.
Rizzo, Damian and whoever remained loyal to them were regrouping at the warehouse.
Dante ordered police contacts notified.
Luca stared.
“Police?”
“Yes.”
That surprised everyone.
Dante looked at Sophia.
She understood.
He was choosing evidence.
Not revenge.
Thomas Bennett's final lesson.
Judge people by what they chose when choosing cost them something.
They went to the warehouse only after law enforcement surrounded the area.
Sophia was ordered to remain in the vehicle.
She lasted seven minutes.
Then she noticed a security monitor inside the car.
One camera showed the warehouse office.
Rizzo sat inside.
Damian stood beside him.
But something else appeared.
A metal case.
Sophia recognized it.
The foundation’s backup archive drive.
If Rizzo destroyed it, years of records disappeared.
She called Dante.
“No answer.”
Luca had entered the building too.
Sophia looked toward the warehouse.
Then at the monitor.
“This is stupid.”
She got out anyway.
Inside, officers moved through corridors.
Sophia followed the sound of voices.
She reached an upper walkway.
Below, Dante faced Rizzo.
Damian stood nearby.
Rizzo laughed.
“You became soft.”
“No,” Dante said.
“I became tired.”
“Of what?”
“Men like you confusing fear with respect.”
Sophia froze.
Dante continued.
“My father should have ended this twenty years ago.”
“Your father was weak.”
“No.”
Dante glanced toward the archive case.
“He trusted the wrong people.”
Damian shifted.
Sophia saw it.
A key card in his hand.
He was moving toward the server-room controls.
She shouted.
“Dante!”
Everyone turned.
Damian ran.
Sophia chased him.
“Sophia!” Dante shouted.
She ignored him.
Damian reached the server room.
Sophia grabbed the door before it closed.
He shoved it.
She stumbled.
No graphic violence.
No weapon.
Just desperation.
Damian reached for the emergency deletion panel.
Sophia slammed her folder into his arm.
The key card fell.
She kicked it beneath a cabinet.
Damian stared.
“You should have stayed an event planner.”
Sophia backed toward the door.
“I was very good at event planning.”
He moved.
Then Luca appeared behind him.
“Enough.”
Damian surrendered.
Minutes later, police escorted Rizzo and Damian outside.
Dante found Sophia near the server room.
He looked furious.
“You left the car.”
“Yes.”
“I gave you one instruction.”
“I saved the archive.”
“That does not improve this.”
“It improves the foundation.”
Dante stared at her.
Then pulled her against him.
Hard.
Sophia froze.
His breathing was uneven.
“You scared me.”
The anger had never been anger.
Not really.
It had been terror.
Sophia wrapped her arms around him.
“I’m okay.”
His face pressed briefly against her hair.
“You keep saying that like it makes what you do reasonable.”
She almost laughed.
Then Dante whispered something she had never expected.
“I love you.”
Sophia stopped breathing.
He seemed to realize what he had said at the exact same moment.
They slowly separated.
Neither spoke.
Sophia looked at him.
“That's inconvenient.”
His eyebrow lifted.
“Very.”
She smiled.
“I love you too.”
For the first time in days, the world seemed to stop moving.
Unfortunately, the danger had not ended.
Because the archive drive contained one last record.
One name no one expected.
A Moretti.
May you like
And the person connected to it was still free.
---
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