Chapter 7
The bodyguards moved with ruthless, mechanical efficiency. Two massive men hauled Adrian up from the floor, securing his arms painfully behind his back. The capo groaned in agony, his tailored suit completely ruined, his polished shoes dragging across the marble.
"Dante, we are blood!" Adrian yelled as they dragged him toward the heavy oak doors leading to the subterranean levels of the estate. "You can't do this! I am a senior capo! My men will rebel!"
"Your men answer to me," Dante replied coldly, not even turning his head to watch his cousin being hauled away. "Take him to the soundproof cells. Do not let him sleep. I want every audio file he possesses recovered by morning, or I will start peeling him apart."
"Yes, Boss," the lead bodyguard nodded, pulling Adrian out of the reception hall. The heavy doors slammed shut, cutting off the traitor's desperate screams.
Dante slowly stood up to his full height. He adjusted his wristwatch, the metallic clink echoing in the quiet room. He looked at Victoria.
The beautiful thirty-five-year-old woman was trembling violently. Her engagement ring flashed in the bright cinematic light, a cruel mockery of the future she thought she had secured.
"Dante, please," Victoria wept, sinking to her knees, her elegant gown pooling around her on the floor. "I will leave. I will pack my bags right now and disappear. You will never see me again. Just let me walk out that door."
"You are an accessory to espionage," Dante stated, his deep voice devoid of mercy. "You conspired with a capo to manipulate the head of the family. You laid hands on my daughter."
"I was just a pawn!" Victoria sobbed, burying her face in her hands. "Adrian used me! He told me exactly what to wear, what to say, what music to play! He groomed me to be your perfect wife so he could control you through me!"
"And you went along with it for the money and the status," Dante summarized brutally. He looked at one of the remaining guards. "Lock her in the east wing guest suite. No phones. No internet. Board the windows. She does not leave that room until I have finished with Adrian."
"No! Please! Dante!" Victoria shrieked as the guards grabbed her arms, lifting her effortlessly from the floor. She thrashed wildly, her diamond earrings swinging, but it was entirely futile.
Dante turned his back on her, walking toward Maria Collins. The housekeeper was holding her bruised arm, but she stood tall, meeting her employer's eye.
"Maria," Dante said, his raspy voice dropping into a register of profound gratitude. "You protected my daughter today. You exposed a treason that could have destroyed this family. I am in your debt."
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"I loved Mrs. Moretti, sir," Maria whispered, tears welling in her eyes. "She was a good woman. She didn't deserve to be spied on. She didn't deserve any of this."
"She didn't," Dante agreed, his jawline tightening with a sorrow he rarely allowed the world to see. "Go to Lily. Stay with her in the secure nursery. I have work to do."
