Chapter 15 - Marco Found the Traitor
Victor’s disappearance reopened every suspicion.
Marco tracked a secondary phone registered under an old business alias.
Signal pinged near the industrial waterfront.
The same district where Luca’s warehouse had burned six years earlier.
Adrian felt the symbolism immediately.
“He wants us there.”
“Victor or Gabriel?” Luca asked.
“Both.”
They found Victor’s car near Pier 18.
Empty.
Inside, Marco discovered blood on the steering wheel.
Not much.
Enough.
They followed camera footage to an abandoned customs office.
Victor was inside.
Alive.
His hands bound.
Gabriel sat across from him.
Adrian and Luca watched through a cracked window.
No visible guards.
That worried Marco.
“Too easy.”
Adrian nodded.
Inside, Gabriel spoke.
“You were Father’s dog.”
Victor laughed weakly.
“And you were always dramatic.”
Gabriel struck the table.
Not Victor.
The table.
“You lied for him.”
“Yes.”
“You helped erase me.”
Victor’s face changed.
“Yes.”
Gabriel stopped.
He had expected denial.
Victor continued.
“I told your father sending you away was safer.”
Adrian listened.
“I helped convince Isabella you were dangerous before I understood how afraid and lonely you were.”
Gabriel stared.
Victor’s voice lowered.
“I failed you.”
Luca looked at Adrian.
Inside, Gabriel’s composure fractured.
“You think an apology matters now?”
“No.”
“Then why say it?”
“Because it’s true.”
Gabriel paced.
Victor continued.
“But you also chose what came after.”
Gabriel turned.
“There it is.”
“You blackmailed people. You ordered the warehouse fire. You hunted Elena. You tried to use Sofia.”
“She has what belongs to me.”
“She has what never belonged to any DeLuca.”
Gabriel’s face twisted.
“You sound like Adrian.”
Victor smiled sadly.
“He finally grew up.”
Adrian almost rolled his eyes.
Then a second voice sounded from the darkness.
“Touching.”
Samuel Bellandi emerged.
Adrian stiffened.
So did Luca.
Samuel held no weapon.
But two men followed him.
Gabriel stared.
“You.”
Samuel looked at Victor.
“You always did talk too much.”
Marco whispered.
“This isn’t a kidnapping.”
Adrian understood.
“It’s a meeting.”
Victor had gone willingly.
At least at first.
Samuel continued.
“I gave you money, Gabriel. Contacts. Records. I helped you expose what the DeLucas stole.”
“You used me.”
“We used each other.”
“You promised the trust.”
“I promised to help restore Bellandi property.”
“To me.”
“No.”
Samuel’s voice hardened.
“To the rightful heir.”
“Sofia.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel laughed.
“She’s a child.”
“That is not a disqualification.”
Gabriel’s face became dangerous.
“You would choose Luca’s daughter over Catherine’s son?”
Samuel flinched at his sister’s name.
“She is not responsible for what your father did.”
“And I was?”
“No.”
The single word struck the room.
Samuel continued.
“You were not responsible for being abandoned.”
Gabriel’s eyes glistened.
“But you are responsible for becoming a man who repeats the abandonment on others.”
Adrian felt the truth of that.
Then Gabriel reached into his jacket.
Marco moved.
The window shattered as agents stormed from both entrances.
Federal surveillance had been tracking Samuel.
Marco had quietly tipped them off.
Gabriel froze.
No gun.
Instead he held a small remote.
His thumb hovered over a button.
“Stay back.”
An agent shouted.
Gabriel smiled.
“Everyone always thinks violence means guns.”
Marco’s face changed.
“Bomb.”
Gabriel pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
He pressed again.
Still nothing.
Victor started laughing.
Gabriel stared.
Victor lifted his bound hands.
A tiny electronic jammer sat beneath the chair.
“You taught me to expect betrayal.”
Gabriel lunged.
Agents tackled him.
No explosion.
No dramatic fire.
No final revenge.
Just a furious man on a dusty floor realizing control had finally left him.
Adrian entered.
Gabriel looked up.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“I told you I would take everything.”
Adrian looked around.
“You lost.”
Gabriel laughed bitterly.
“You think this is winning?”
“No.”
Adrian crouched.
“I think nobody else getting hurt is enough.”
Gabriel’s expression changed.
He expected triumph.
Mockery.
Violence.
Adrian gave him none.
That seemed to hurt more.
Federal agents led Gabriel away.
Victor sat against the wall.
Adrian cut his restraints.
Victor looked up.
“You ignored my note.”
“Yes.”
“Your father would have too.”
“That does not make it better.”
Victor smiled.
“No.”
Outside, morning light spread across the river.
Luca stood beside Adrian.
“Is it over?”
Adrian watched Gabriel disappear into a federal vehicle.
“No.”
Luca sighed.
“What now?”
“The truth.”
Investigations would follow.
Trials.
Financial restitution.
Legal corrections.
Press scrutiny.
Nothing vanished because one man was arrested.
But the immediate danger ended.
Then Marco approached carrying something recovered from Gabriel’s pocket.
A sealed envelope.
Addressed:
SOFIA.
Adrian stared.
“From Gabriel?”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
The handwriting was Elena’s.
Luca took it.
His face changed.
“Elena didn’t write this.”
Adrian looked.
He recognized the handwriting too.
May you like
Their mother’s.
Isabella DeLuca had written Sofia a letter years before Sofia was even born.
