Chapter 19 - Aunt Isabella’s Betrayal
The evidence against Isabella looked terrible.
Security footage showed her leaving the safe house voluntarily.
No struggle.
No weapons.
A waiting car arrived.
She entered.
The driver was one of Vittorio’s men.
Elena watched the video three times.
Adrian stood behind her.
“You don’t believe it.”
“I don’t know what I believe.”
“She saved your mother.”
“And disappeared with Vittorio’s employee twelve hours after we found the archive.”
Dominic placed another document on the desk.
“There’s more.”
Aurelia Trust had filed an emergency acquisition offer for Caruso Maritime.
The authorization contained two signatures.
Vittorio De Luca.
And Isabella Caruso.
Elena’s face became still.
“She signed away her forty-nine percent.”
“Yes.”
“In exchange for what?”
“We don’t know.”
Adrian’s voice was quieter.
“Your mother.”
Elena looked at him.
“He threatened Sofia.”
“That would explain it.”
Or Isabella had lied from the beginning.
At noon, Vittorio held a press conference.
He called Caruso Maritime unstable.
He cited the explosion.
The labor dispute.
Debt concerns.
Then he offered to acquire the company “to preserve jobs.”
Elena nearly threw the remote through the television.
“Very elegant,” Dominic muttered.
Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered.
“Bellandi.”
He listened.
Then looked at Elena.
“It’s him.”
She took the phone.
“Vittorio.”
“Elena.”
“What did you do to Isabella?”
“Nothing she didn’t choose.”
“Where is my mother?”
“Safe.”
“You keep using that word.”
“Sell me the pier.”
“No.”
“You are remarkably consistent.”
“So are cockroaches.”
A pause.
Then Vittorio chuckled.
“I begin to understand why Adrian likes you.”
Adrian took offense silently.
Vittorio continued.
“Tonight. Aurelia Tower. Come alone.”
“You already tried that.”
“This time I have something you want.”
“My mother?”
“Your aunt.”
The line went dead.
Adrian immediately said, “You’re not going.”
Elena gave him a look.
“Stop wasting breath.”
Aurelia Tower was a glass skyscraper in Midtown.
Elena entered alone at nine.
At least visibly.
Dominic had embedded a tracking device in her necklace.
Adrian had teams nearby.
Vittorio sat in a private dining room on the forty-eighth floor.
Isabella sat across from him.
Alive.
Unrestrained.
Elena stopped.
Her aunt couldn’t meet her eyes.
Vittorio gestured toward the empty chair.
“Family dinner.”
“I’d rather eat broken glass.”
“Elena,” Isabella whispered.
“You signed the acquisition.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Isabella’s hands trembled.
“Because he has Sofia.”
Elena’s chest tightened.
“You said she was protected in Switzerland.”
“She was.”
Vittorio sipped wine.
“Protection is expensive. Loyalty is more expensive.”
Elena turned toward him.
“If you hurt her—”
“I haven’t.”
“Then release her.”
“Sign.”
A contract waited beside the plate.
Transfer of Pier Seventeen.
Elena sat.
She picked up the pen.
Isabella looked horrified.
“No.”
Vittorio smiled.
Elena placed the pen against the paper.
Then stopped.
“What did June hide beneath the fig tree?”
Isabella blinked.
Vittorio frowned.
“What?”
Elena never looked away from her aunt.
“My father said I could trust Isabella only if she answered.”
Tears filled Isabella’s eyes.
“Not a thing.”
Elena’s heart jumped.
“What?”
“She hid me.”
Vittorio slowly set down his glass.
Isabella continued.
“When I first discovered Vittorio’s financial crimes, I ran home. Antonio wanted me gone because my marriage endangered everyone. June hid me beneath the fig tree—not literally beneath it. There was an old wine cellar whose entrance was concealed by the roots.”
Elena looked at Vittorio.
He hadn’t known.
Isabella smiled faintly.
“Your grandmother told everyone she buried family silver there.”
Seven words.
Never trust the wolf when bells stop.
Elena pushed the contract away.
“I trust her.”
Vittorio’s face hardened.
“You shouldn’t.”
Isabella suddenly grabbed his wine bottle and smashed it across his face.
Elena dove sideways.
The dining room doors burst open.
Adrian’s men stormed in.
Vittorio escaped through a private security door before they reached him.
But Isabella remained.
She grabbed Elena’s hands.
“He moved Sofia.”
“Where?”
“I heard his pilot.”
Isabella took a shaking breath.
“New York.”
“Where in New York?”
“Somewhere called Black Harbor.”
Adrian entered.
Dominic followed seconds later.
His expression changed at the name.
“I know Black Harbor.”
Elena looked at him.
“What is it?”
“An abandoned naval fuel terminal across the river.”
May you like
Isabella whispered:
“That’s where Vittorio plans to kill your mother if you don’t surrender the pier by midnight.”
