Chapter 14 - Alessandro’s Promise
Security locked Palazzo Moretti down within minutes.
Elena hated it.
Again.
But this time she didn’t argue.
Niccolò Casano had money, connections, and a collapsing future.
Desperate people were unpredictable.
Police searched known properties.
Airports were alerted.
His vehicles were tracked.
Nothing.
At midnight, Matteo found the first clue.
“A maintenance credential was used at the eastern gate.”
“When?” Alessandro asked.
“Twenty-eight minutes ago.”
“Whose credential?”
Matteo looked grim.
“Riccardo’s.”
Riccardo was in custody.
Someone had copied his access.
Elena’s heartbeat accelerated.
“The archive.”
Alessandro shook his head.
“The archive requires my biometrics and your key.”
“The key is upstairs.”
“Then stay here.”
“No.”
“Elena.”
“The original documents are below us.”
“And police are on the way.”
“If Niccolò gets inside before they arrive—”
“He can’t.”
A distant alarm sounded.
Everyone froze.
Matteo checked his tablet.
“Eastern service corridor.”
Alessandro turned to Elena.
“Guest wing. Now.”
She opened her mouth.
His voice softened.
“Please.”
That stopped her more effectively than an order.
She nodded.
Dante escorted her.
Halfway upstairs, Elena remembered something.
“My father’s key.”
“What?”
“I left it in the project office.”
Dante swore.
“Does Niccolò know?”
“He knows the key exists.”
They changed direction.
The project office door stood open.
The key was gone.
Dante immediately called Alessandro.
“He has it.”
“But he still needs biometric access.”
Unless—
Elena remembered the old plans.
“There’s another entrance.”
Dante looked at her.
“What?”
“The archive was built before the biometric door. The original service shaft.”
“Where?”
“Elena.”
“Where?”
She pictured Carlo’s drawings.
“The eastern tunnel.”
Dante grabbed her arm.
“We wait for police.”
“If Niccolò reaches the archive, he can destroy originals.”
“We have copies.”
“Not everything.”
“Elena.”
She pulled free.
“My father protected those records for thirty years.”
“And he would not want you risking yourself for paper.”
The words hit.
Dante was right.
Elena hated it.
They returned to the secure library.
Police arrived.
Teams entered the eastern tunnel.
Twenty minutes passed.
Then thirty.
Alessandro returned.
“We found the service entrance open.”
“Niccolò?”
“No.”
“Documents?”
“Untouched.”
Elena frowned.
“Then why take the key?”
Matteo’s phone rang.
He answered.
His expression changed.
“Sophia.”
Elena stood.
“What about Sophia?”
“She’s missing.”
Everything inside Elena went cold.
Sophia had been staying at a monitored apartment while cooperating.
Her police escort found the apartment empty.
No sign of forced entry.
A message had been left on the table.
Bring the original covenant to Hotel Varenna. Come alone.
Elena closed her eyes.
“No.”
Alessandro took the message.
“He wants the covenant.”
Dante said, “Police will handle it.”
Elena turned on him.
“That’s my sister.”
“Yes.”
“She may have gone willingly.”
“Why?”
Elena knew.
“Because Niccolò told her I would be hurt otherwise.”
They checked Sophia’s second phone.
A recovered message confirmed it.
If you want Elena left out of this, meet me.
Sophia had gone.
Trying, finally, to protect Elena.
It was brave.
It was also stupid.
Elena understood both.
Police created a plan.
No one would actually surrender original documents.
A replica packet would be prepared.
Sophia’s phone location showed Hotel Varenna.
Niccolò had chosen his own property because he knew its private service routes.
Elena insisted on going.
Alessandro refused.
Police refused.
She went anyway—in the command vehicle.
That was the compromise.
From inside the van she watched cameras as officers entered the hotel.
Sophia was found in a private conference room.
Alive.
Alone.
On the table sat a phone.
It rang.
An officer activated speakerphone.
Niccolò’s voice.
“You brought Elena?”
Sophia replied, “No.”
“Then this is over.”
Elena grabbed the microphone.
“I’m here.”
Alessandro looked at her sharply.
Niccolò went quiet.
Then laughed.
“Elena Rossi.”
“You wanted the covenant.”
“I want what your father stole from my family.”
“My father stole nothing.”
“He blocked a project worth more than he could understand.”
“He understood exactly what it was worth. That’s why he protected it.”
Silence.
Niccolò’s voice hardened.
“Bring me the documents.”
“No.”
“Then why are we talking?”
“Because you lost.”
Alessandro watched her.
Elena continued.
“Riccardo is cooperating. Enzo is talking. Marco gave investigators financial records. Sophia testified.”
Sophia looked up.
“Everything you’re running from already exists in ten copies.”
“You think this is over?”
“Yes.”
“You sound like your father.”
Elena smiled sadly.
“Thank you.”
The line went silent.
Then police traced the call.
Niccolò wasn’t in the hotel.
He was at a private airfield outside Milan.
Authorities stopped his plane before takeoff.
No gunfire.
No dramatic chase.
Just flashing lights, handcuffs, and a man discovering that money could not purchase a road out of every consequence.
When Sophia emerged from Hotel Varenna, Elena stood beside the command vehicle.
They looked at each other.
Then Elena walked forward.
Sophia whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“You are unbelievably stupid.”
Sophia laughed and cried simultaneously.
“I know.”
Elena hugged her.
It happened before she could think.
Sophia froze.
Then clung to her.
The embrace did not erase anything.
It did not restore trust.
It did not make the affair disappear.
But for one moment, Elena was simply grateful her sister was alive.
Later, at Palazzo Moretti, Alessandro found Elena sitting on the library floor.
“You okay?”
“No.”
He sat beside her.
For several minutes neither spoke.
Then Elena said, “Everybody keeps leaving.”
Alessandro looked at her.
“My father died. Marco betrayed me. Sophia chose him. Enzo betrayed Dad. I know those things are different, but…”
Her voice broke.
“I’m tired of believing people stay.”
Alessandro did not make a grand promise.
He knew better.
Instead he said:
“I can’t promise you nothing will ever change.”
Elena stared at the floor.
“I can’t promise I’ll never disappoint you. I’m human.”
She looked at him.
“But I can promise you will never have to wonder whether I’m secretly building a life behind your back.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“That is a very specific promise.”
“I thought specificity might help.”
She laughed.
Then cried.
Alessandro reached for her hand.
Elena let him.
Outside, dawn slowly reached the windows.
The conspiracy was breaking apart.
The criminal case was almost complete.
But Elena still had one thing left to restore.
Her own name.
May you like
And the final hearing would decide whether Carlo Rossi’s legacy survived the people who had tried to sell it.
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