Chapter 3
The showroom had cameras.
Grant had apparently forgotten.
Or believed family control extended to footage too.
I told my security chief to lock the system.
Vanessa laughed.
“You’re turning a domestic argument into an investigation.”
“No.”
I looked at Isabella.
“I’m finally looking at what happens when I’m not here.”
Grant rolled his eyes.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“The savior.”
He pointed at Isabella.
“She cries. Daddy appears.”
My daughter’s face tightened.
Grant continued.
“She’s twenty-five.”
I said:
“And?”
“She has a husband.”
“Yes.”
“Then act like her father, not her owner.”
I almost smiled.
The hypocrisy was impressive.
Isabella whispered:
“He says that every time I call you.”
Grant looked at her.
“Because you run to Massimo whenever life becomes uncomfortable.”
“Uncomfortable?”
I glanced at her wrist.
He said nothing.
The security footage loaded.
Five days earlier.
Private showroom.
Grant at the accessory pedestal.
Vanessa beside him.
A third man stood with his back to the camera.
Grant unlocked the lower panel.
The brass key.
Inside were phones.
Not jewelry.
Burner phones.
Vanessa said:
“Massimo still uses North Harbor Thursday?”
The third man answered:
“If Isabella confirms it.”
Grant:
“She will.”
Vanessa laughed.
“And if she doesn’t?”
Grant smiled.
“Noah gets difficult when he misses dinner.”
I stopped the footage.
The room became silent.
Isabella closed her eyes.
I looked at her.
“Did they use food?”
Grant snapped:
“He never went hungry.”
Isabella stared at him.
“You took his plate.”
“For one evening.”
Vanessa added:
“He had snacks.”
Noah clutched Isabella’s dress.
I felt something inside me harden.
“You used my grandson to force information out of my daughter.”
Grant laughed.
“You people love dramatic words.”
“What word do you prefer?”
“Consequences.”
Of course.
I resumed the video.
The third man finally turned.
My stomach dropped.
Luca Ferris.
A Bellandi capo.
Fifteen years under me.
He said:
“Once North Harbor opens, Vale moves.”
Vale.
Rival organization.
May you like
Now the betrayal had a name.
And one of my own men was standing inside it.
