Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Unveiled
The room went completely still. The only sound was the soft crackle of the wood fire in the hearth.
Roberto’s smile faltered, replaced by a dark, dangerous scowl. "Alessandro, what is the meaning of this insolence? You don't question my men—"
"Silence, Roberto," Alessandro commanded, his voice sharp as a razor.
Fabrizio’s hand moved inside his suit jacket, pulling a silenced pistol from his holster. But before he could raise the barrel, Antonio stepped out from behind the velvet curtains near the balcony, firing a single silenced round directly through Fabrizio’s knee.
Fabrizio screamed, collapsing to the floor as his gun skidded across the hardwood. Roberto dropped his glass of scotch, the amber liquid splashing against his trousers as he took a terrified step back.
"You brought a weapon into my private study?" Alessandro asked, standing up slowly and walking around his desk. He kicked Fabrizio's gun under his chair and stood over the groaning man. "Speak, Fabrizio. Before I let Antonio take you down to the cellar."
Fabrizio clutched his bleeding knee, gasping for air. "It was... it was Don Roberto!" he gasped, his face pale with pain and terror. "He found out Isabella was hiding in a safe house near Salerno! He ordered me to kill her before she could give birth!"
"You're lying, you miserable dog!" Roberto shouted, his face turning purple with rage. "Alessandro, don't listen to him! He’s trying to save his own skin!"
"Keep speaking, Fabrizio," Alessandro ordered, ignoring his uncle entirely.
"I went to the house four months ago," Fabrizio stammered, blood pooling around his leg. "When I got there, she had already given birth! Another woman—the maid Elena—was there helping her. When I broke in, Isabella fought me... she took a knife to my face..." Fabrizio pointed to a faint, fresh scar near his temple. "...and she jumped out the second-story window into the river to buy time for the maid to escape with the baby!"
Alessandro felt his heart stop in his chest. She jumped into the river.
"Did you find her body?" Alessandro asked, his voice deathly quiet.
"No!" Fabrizio wept. "The river was swollen from the storm! We searched for three days, but we found nothing! Don Roberto told me to find the maid and the baby and finish the job quietly. We tracked the maid here... she had taken a job under a fake name. So I started poisoning her tea so it would look like an illness..."
Alessandro turned his gaze toward his uncle. Roberto was backing toward the heavy oak doors, his hand reaching for the brass handle.
"Antonio," Alessandro said calmly.
Antonio moved like a shadow, stepping in front of the door and pressing the barrel of his weapon against Roberto’s forehead.
"You tried to kill my woman," Alessandro said, walking up to his uncle until they were breathing the same air. "You sent assassins after an innocent mother, and you poisoned a woman in my own house while trying to murder my newborn daughter."
"Alessandro... listen to me," Roberto whimpered, his previous arrogance completely shattered. "She was a nobody! A distraction! She was making you weak! The family needed a strong leader, not someone pining over a bookshop girl! I did it for the Moretti empire!"
"You did it for greed," Alessandro spat. He pulled his own custom firearm from his shoulder holster, racking the slide with a metallic click. "And you failed."
"You can't kill me!" Roberto begged, sweat pouring down his neck. "The syndicate council will turn against you if you murder your own blood!"
"The council will receive the video recording of Fabrizio's confession," Alessandro replied coldly. "And they will agree that traitors do not get to keep their lives."
Alessandro turned his back on his uncle. "Take them both to the docks, Antonio. Make sure they are never found."
"No! Alessandro! Please!" Roberto screamed as Antonio and two heavy enforcers dragged him and the groaning Fabrizio out through the private side entrance.
Alessandro stood alone in his study for a long moment, listening to the fading cries of his uncle. He walked over to the window, looking out at the gardens. Isabella had fought an assassin to save their child. She had jumped into a raging river to buy time for Lily to escape.
May you like
He refused to believe she was dead. If there was no body, there was still hope.
He pulled out his phone, dialing his top intelligence operator in Naples. "I want every search team on the Sele River. Search every hospital, every clinic, every convent, and every cottage within fifty miles of Salerno. She's alive, Marco. Find her."
