Chapter 2 - Dante Returned One Week Later With a Deed, a Warning, and a Hotel Bella Had Never Even Dreamed Could Belong to HerSeven days passed.
Bella returned to work.
She served breakfast.
Refilled coffee.
Carried trays.
Smiled at guests who never learned her name.
She told no one what had happened.
Not even Reynolds.
Especially not Reynolds.
But everything had changed.
Every time the private elevator opened, Bella looked toward it.
Every black sedan outside the hotel made her heart beat faster.
And every night, she dreamed of Marin.
Alive.
Somewhere.
Waiting.
On the seventh morning, the Grand Imperior was strangely quiet.
Bella was carrying coffee toward Table Nine when every employee suddenly froze.
A convoy of black vehicles stopped outside the main entrance.
Men in dark suits emerged.
Then Dante stepped from the center vehicle.
He wore a black suit.
No tie.
No visible weapon.
But everyone moved aside anyway.
Reynolds rushed forward.
“Mr. Castello.”
Dante didn't acknowledge him.
His eyes found Bella.
She stood behind the service station.
He walked straight toward her.
“You're coming with me.”
Bella frowned.
“I'm working.”
“No.”
“That's not really a reason.”
He held out a folder.
“Read it.”
She took it.
Her hands went cold.
DEED OF OWNERSHIP.
Property:
Grand Imperior Hotel.
Owner:
Isabella Marie Rossi.
Bella stared.
Then she looked up.
“What is this?”
“Your hotel.”
She laughed.
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because it's yours.”
“Who sold it?”
“I did.”
She stared.
“You don't own it.”
“I own the debt attached to it.”
Bella opened the next page.
$8,000,000.
Her blood froze.
“You gave me a hotel with eight million dollars in debt?”
Dante nodded.
“I gave you an asset.”
“This is not an asset.”
“It can be.”
“Why?”
He looked at her.
“Because someone is trying to take it.”
Bella lowered the papers.
“Who?”
“Your employer.”
She turned toward Reynolds.
He had gone pale.
Dante looked past her.
“Mr. Reynolds.”
Reynolds swallowed.
“Yes?”
“You're fired.”
“What?”
“Effective immediately.”
“You can't—”
“I can.”
Reynolds looked at Bella.
Then back at Dante.
“You think she can run a hotel?”
“No.”
Dante's eyes sharpened.
“I think she can run this hotel better than you did.”
Security escorted Reynolds away.
Employees stared.
Bella whispered:
“You've lost your mind.”
Dante smiled.
“Probably.”
She looked at the deed again.
“Why me?”
“Because your brother left it to you.”
Bella froze.
“What?”
“He discovered the hotel wasn't what it appeared to be.”
“What did he discover?”
Dante lowered his voice.
“That the Grand Imperior was being used to move money.”
“Whose money?”
“Mine.”
Bella stared.
Then she understood.
“And yours?”
Dante nodded.
“My family.”
She looked around the lobby.
“Then why give it to me?”
“Because Marin put your name in the documents.”
“When?”
“Six months ago.”
Bella's heart pounded.
“Before he died?”
“He didn't die.”
She closed her eyes.
This was becoming impossible.
Dante took the deed back.
“You need to sign one thing.”
“What?”
“A protection agreement.”
Bella's eyes narrowed.
“No.”
“You haven't read it.”
“I'm not signing anything.”
“It doesn't give me ownership.”
“What does it do?”
“It makes you legally untouchable within my organization.”
Bella stared.
“You have an organization?”
Dante almost smiled.
“Yes.”
“A legal one?”
“Not entirely.”
She sighed.
“Of course.”
He leaned closer.
“Bella, someone has been trying to kill you.”
She stopped.
“Why?”
“Because your brother left you something.”
“What?”
Dante looked toward the elevators.
“The master key.”
“To what?”
“The accounts.”
Bella didn't understand.
He continued.
“Every illegal payment made through the hotel passes through one system.”
“And I have the key?”
“You have the password.”
“What password?”
Dante looked at her.
“Your mother's maiden name.”
Bella froze.
Her mother had died when Bella was twelve.
She had never told anyone her mother's maiden name.
Not even Marin.
“What was it?”
Dante whispered it.
“Lucia Belladonna.”
Bella's heart stopped.
That name meant nothing.
Until she remembered a locked box in her childhood home.
A photograph.
A woman.
A name written on the back.
Lucia.
She had thought it was a friend of her mother's.
Dante said:
“Your mother wasn't who you thought she was.”
Bella whispered:
“Who was she?”
“Someone who once owned this entire operation.”
She stared at him.
“My mother was a waitress.”
“She was also the daughter of the Belladonna family.”
Bella's mind went blank.
The Belladonnas were legendary.
One of the oldest criminal families in the region.
Everyone thought they had vanished.
Dante continued:
“Your mother escaped.”
“With my father?”
“No.”
He paused.
“With my father.”
Bella stared.
She understood nothing.
“My mother and your father?”
“No.”
“My mother and your father?”
“Yes.”
Bella looked at him.
“My father had an affair?”
Dante shook his head.
“He loved her.”
The silence was enormous.
“And your father?”
“My mother loved him too.”
Dante nodded.
“They were going to leave together.”
“What happened?”
“My grandfather found out.”
Bella whispered:
“And Marin?”
“Your brother was born after they separated.”
Bella shook her head.
“That makes no sense.”
“It will.”
Dante handed her one final paper.
A birth certificate.
Marin Rossi.
Father: Dante Castello Senior.
Bella stared.
Her knees weakened.
“My brother was your father's son.”
“Yes.”
Dante looked at her.
“You and Marin were half-siblings.”
Bella looked at him.
“And you?”
Dante exhaled.
“My father's son.”
She stepped backward.
“So we're not related.”
“No.”
“But our parents…”
“Were connected.”
Bella looked toward the ceiling.
Everything she knew about her family had become uncertain.
Then the hotel alarm sounded.
Dante immediately turned.
Nico appeared from the lobby.
“Fire in the basement.”
Bella's face changed.
“My brother.”
She ran.
Dante grabbed her hand.
“Don't.”
“Marin left something there.”
“How do you know?”
“Because I found his name on the files.”
Dante stared.
Then he followed.
Together they descended into the basement.
Behind the old laundry room was a steel door.
The door wasn't supposed to exist.
Bella looked at Dante.
“How did you know?”
“I didn't.”
She touched the wall.
A hidden keypad lit up.
It asked one question.
WHAT DID SHE SING?
Bella froze.
The lullaby her mother used to sing.
She entered the first line.
The door opened.
Inside was a room filled with photographs.
Her mother.
Dante's father.
Marin.
And one final photograph.
Bella herself.
Taken when she was five.
On the back were three words.
THE HEIR LIVES.
Bella stared.
“Which heir?”
May you like
Dante looked at her.
“You.”
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