Chapter 3 - THE PHOENIX PENDANTAlessandro had spent his entire life learning one rule.
Never trust coincidence.
The phoenix pendant was not a coincidence.
Neither was the fake timestamp.
Neither was Nadia.
Everything had been designed.
Someone wanted him angry.
Someone wanted him to react.
Someone wanted him to kill the wrong person.
That was when Clara woke.
Her eyes opened slowly.
“Alessandro?”
He immediately moved beside her.
“I'm here.”
She tried to sit up.
“Where am I?”
“Safe.”
She touched his hand.
“What happened?”
“Someone poisoned you.”
Clara's face changed.
“The cake?”
“No.”
“The wine.”
She closed her eyes.
“I don't remember drinking it.”
“You did.”
She looked confused.
“I remember someone giving me the glass.”
“Who?”
Clara struggled to remember.
“A woman.”
Alessandro leaned closer.
“Who?”
“She smelled like jasmine.”
He froze.
Victoria always wore jasmine perfume.
But so did several women in the Moretti circle.
“What else?”
Clara closed her eyes.
“She said something.”
“What?”
“She told me…”
Clara's breathing became shallow.
“She said, 'Welcome to the family.'”
Alessandro stood.
That sentence had been recorded on camera.
But the audio had been missing.
Someone had deleted it.
Now they knew the person who had spoken to Clara.
Alessandro left the room.
Marco followed.
“What are you thinking?”
“Victoria.”
“You think she did it?”
“I think she wanted us to think she did.”
Marco frowned.
“Why?”
“Because she's too obvious.”
Alessandro returned to the security room.
They reviewed every angle.
Then they discovered a hidden camera.
One installed illegally behind a painting.
It showed a different angle.
At 8:43 p.m., four minutes before the poisoning, Victoria entered the restaurant.
She approached the wine station.
But she didn't touch the glasses.
She simply stood there.
Then another woman appeared.
Victoria handed her something.
A small black case.
The woman took it.
Then Victoria walked away.
Alessandro stared.
“Who is she?”
Marco zoomed in.
The woman wore a red dress.
But her face remained hidden.
Then she turned slightly.
Alessandro recognized the necklace.
A family heirloom.
His mother's necklace.
His mother's necklace had disappeared fifteen years earlier.
Only one person had access to it.
His aunt.
Victoria.
But the woman wasn't Victoria.
She was younger.
Much younger.
Alessandro looked at Marco.
“Find every woman who has attended our events wearing that necklace.”
Three hours later, they found her.
Sophia Bellini.
Victoria's personal assistant.
Twenty-nine years old.
Beautiful.
Elegant.
Invisible.
She had worked for Victoria for seven years.
And she had access to everything.
But there was one more surprise.
Sophia had been present at Clara's engagement dinner.
Alessandro confronted her.
She denied everything.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Alessandro placed the footage in front of her.
Sophia's face went white.
“I wasn't trying to kill Clara.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“I was following orders.”
“Whose?”
She remained silent.
Alessandro leaned closer.
“Victoria's?”
Sophia nodded.
“What did she want?”
“She wanted Clara gone.”
“Why?”
Sophia's eyes filled with tears.
“Because Clara was going to inherit everything.”
Alessandro froze.
“What?”
Sophia explained.
Victoria had discovered that Alessandro intended to change the family business.
He planned to leave the criminal world.
He planned to turn the legitimate companies over to Clara.
Victoria would lose everything.
So she created a plan.
Kill Clara.
Frame someone else.
Then convince Alessandro that the attack came from an outside enemy.
She would become his trusted advisor.
And when he was vulnerable, she would take control.
But Sophia suddenly whispered:
“There was another person.”
“Who?”
Sophia looked terrified.
“I never met him.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because Victoria was afraid of him.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“What was his name?”
Sophia shook her head.
“She called him…”
She swallowed.
“Father.”
May you like
Alessandro froze.
His father had been dead for twelve years.
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