Chapter 6 - The Deal That Could Destroy the Russo Empire
Gabriel wanted the account.
That much was obvious.
But Sophie wanted something more valuable.
The truth.
She convinced Gabriel to talk.
Every minute they spent talking gave Antonio's team time to trace their location.
Sophie asked questions.
How had her mother escaped?
Why had Gabriel covered up the baby's survival?
Who had helped him?
Where was the money?
Gabriel answered some.
Lied about others.
But Sophie noticed patterns.
His left hand kept touching the black ring.
His right eye twitched whenever she mentioned Nicholas Vale.
He became defensive whenever Maria spoke.
And he avoided Antonio's questions about Vittorio.
Finally, Sophie said, “You didn't do this alone.”
Gabriel smiled.
“No.”
Antonio stepped forward.
“Who?”
Gabriel looked at him.
“Someone much closer than you think.”
The theater doors opened.
A man entered.
Luca.
Antonio's own security chief.
Antonio froze.
Sophie felt her stomach drop.
Luca stood beside Gabriel.
Antonio stared.
“How long?”
Luca didn't answer.
Gabriel smiled.
“Since before you were born.”
Antonio raised his weapon.
Luca looked at him.
“You should listen.”
“You betrayed me.”
“I protected you.”
“You kidnapped my mother.”
“I did not.”
Gabriel smiled.
“Interesting.”
Luca looked at Sophie.
“I was the one watching you.”
Sophie recognized the photos.
“You followed me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because someone else was trying to reach you.”
“Who?”
“People inside Bellarosa.”
Her heart sank.
“Marco?”
Luca nodded.
Antonio looked shocked.
“Marco works for you.”
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“Marco works for Gabriel.”
The betrayal widened.
The restaurant manager.
The head waiter.
Perhaps even the business itself.
Bellarosa had been chosen because someone wanted access to Maria.
Sophie had simply walked into the middle of it.
Then Maria stood.
“I knew.”
Antonio looked at her.
“You knew?”
“I suspected.”
Luca continued.
“We needed someone innocent enough to distract them.”
Antonio stared at Sophie.
“So you put her in danger?”
“No.”
Luca shook his head.
“I protected her.”
Gabriel laughed.
“This is adorable.”
Sophie turned toward him.
“You're enjoying this.”
“Very much.”
“Then you don't know what happened to your empire.”
His smile faded.
Sophie removed the black ring from the table.
“You need me to unlock the account.”
“Yes.”
She shook her head.
“No.”
Gabriel's face hardened.
“You don't have a choice.”
Sophie smiled.
“Actually, I do.”
She pulled a tiny flash drive from her sleeve.
Gabriel stared.
“What is that?”
“Your insurance policy.”
She had copied the ledger earlier.
Nicholas had shown her how.
Every name.
Every account.
Every secret payment.
All of it was stored here.
“I send this to the authorities, everything collapses.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
“You wouldn't.”
Sophie looked at Antonio.
“I would.”
Antonio's eyes softened.
Gabriel understood.
“You trust him.”
“Yes.”
“That is a mistake.”
Sophie shook her head.
“You're the mistake.”
Gabriel lunged.
Antonio stopped him.
The theater erupted into chaos.
Security rushed in.
Luca restrained one of Gabriel's men.
Maria escaped.
Sophie ran behind the stage.
She found an emergency exit.
But someone grabbed her.
Marco.
“You.”
He smiled.
“You should have stayed invisible.”
Sophie struggled.
Then remembered her training.
She kicked his knee.
He stumbled.
She ran.
Antonio found her seconds later.
He grabbed her.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“You're shaking.”
“So are you.”
He pulled her into a hug.
It was the first time he had held her as a father.
Not as a protector.
As family.
Sophie closed her eyes.
“I thought I lost you.”
“You won't.”
The police arrived.
Gabriel was arrested.
Luca was arrested too.
But before officers took him away, Luca told Antonio one final thing.
“Your father left another file.”
“Where?”
“Bellarosa.”
Antonio stared.
The restaurant.
Where all of this had begun.
The final file was hidden beneath Table Seven.
Exactly where Maria had been sitting the night Sophie met her.
They returned to Bellarosa.
Marco was gone.
The restaurant was closed.
Antonio found a loose panel beneath the floor.
Inside was a metal box.
It contained photographs.
Letters.
And one final document.
A medical record.
The name on it was Claire Bennett.
Condition: critical.
Location: Saint Vincent's.
Date: two years earlier.
Antonio stared.
“That can't be.”
Sophie looked at him.
“What?”
He handed her the document.
Her mother had not died where everyone believed.
She had died at Saint Vincent's.
And her final words had been recorded.
I WANT MY DAUGHTER TO KNOW HER FATHER NEVER STOPPED LOOKING.
Antonio closed his eyes.
For the first time, tears filled them.
Sophie took his hand.
“You found me.”
He nodded.
“And I found you.”
Maria watched them from across the restaurant.
She smiled sadly.
The family she had spent decades protecting had finally found its way back together.
But one final enemy remained.
The person who had ordered Claire's death.
And his name appeared at the bottom of the medical record.
May you like
Vittorio Russo.
A dead man's signature.
