Chapter 2 - The Bride Disappeared During the Blackout, and I Discovered She Had Spent Six Months Building a Secret Network Inside My EmpireDarkness swallowed the chapel.
Security alarms screamed.
Guests shouted.
Someone knocked over a chair.
I heard glass breaking.
“Lock the west wing!”
Marco's voice cut through the chaos.
My men moved instantly.
Emergency lights came on.
Red.
Dim.
Cold.
I scanned the room.
Isabella was gone.
“Find her.”
Four guards rushed toward the side doors.
I turned to Emma.
“Where's your mother?”
“Back there.”
She pointed toward the service corridor.
I moved.
Sophia was on the ground.
A cut marked her forehead.
I knelt beside her.
“Are you hurt?”
She shook her head.
“Emma?”
“She's safe.”
Sophia's eyes filled with fear.
“She's coming for you.”
“I know.”
“Not because she loves you.”
“I know.”
“She wants your company.”
That wasn't what I needed to hear.
“Why?”
Sophia swallowed.
“Because your cousin promised her control.”
I froze.
“My cousin?”
“Yes.”
“Marco?”
She nodded.
“For months.”
“How do you know?”
“Because my husband discovered it.”
Everything changed.
I helped Sophia stand.
“What happened to your husband?”
“He wasn't killed in an accident.”
“What happened?”
“He was investigating Marco.”
I stared.
“How?”
“He found missing shipments.”
“From my companies?”
“Yes.”
“Then what?”
“He confronted him.”
“And?”
“My husband disappeared.”
I felt my blood run cold.
“And you?”
“I searched.”
“Why didn't you come to me?”
She looked away.
“Because Marco told me you'd ordered it.”
I stared.
“He told you I killed your husband?”
“He showed me documents.”
“What documents?”
“Your signature.”
My stomach tightened.
Forged orders.
My name.
My authority.
My seal.
Marco could have fabricated anything.
I turned toward the main hall.
“Find Marco.”
My men spread out.
I called my finance director.
“Check every account with Marco's authorization.”
“Sir?”
“Do it.”
Five minutes later, he called.
“Sir…”
“What?”
“There are 127 shell accounts.”
I closed my eyes.
“Amount?”
“Approximately eight hundred million.”
The chapel went silent.
Eight hundred million.
Money diverted from my legitimate companies.
And another account.
A trust.
Linked to Isabella.
I asked:
“When was the first transfer?”
“Six months ago.”
My wedding planning had started six months ago.
So had the theft.
Isabella hadn't been marrying me.
She had been acquiring me.
My finance director continued.
“There's more.”
“What?”
“The accounts are structured to trigger an automatic transfer at 6:00 p.m.”
“What transfers?”
“Ownership.”
“Of what?”
“Everything.”
I looked at the clock.
5:54 p.m.
Six minutes.
Exactly the time in the message.
My stomach dropped.
The takeover was automatic.
I had six minutes.
I looked at Sophia.
She whispered:
“Your cousin knew the wedding would bring everyone into one place.”
I nodded.
“All the trustees.”
“Your lawyers.”
“Your family.”
“The people who can authorize the transfer.”
I understood.
The wedding wasn't a celebration.
It was a trap.
Isabella needed every person with authority in one room.
Marco needed the system unlocked.
And I had invited them myself.
My mother came toward me.
“Alessandro.”
I looked at her.
“What were you going to tell me?”
She hesitated.
“Your father knew.”
“About Marco?”
“About the theft.”
“How long?”
“Years.”
My stomach turned.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
She looked down.
“Because your father believed Marco could be controlled.”
“He couldn't.”
“No.”
She looked at Sophia.
“Neither could Isabella.”
Then the vault alarm sounded.
My head of security called.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“Someone opened the first vault.”
“Who?”
He answered:
“Your brother.”
I froze.
I didn't have a brother.
Only cousins.
My security chief corrected himself.
“I'm sorry.”
He sounded shaken.
“Your uncle.”
My father's younger brother.
A man I had trusted.
A man who had supposedly retired years ago.
May you like
My family was rotten far deeper than I had imagined.
And the six-minute countdown continued.
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