Chapter 5 - The General ManagerVictor Hale disappeared before dawn.
By breakfast, Lorenzo knew three properties had been emptied.
By noon, two bank accounts were closed.
By three, Bellvita had been searched.
The restaurant was shut down.
Serena stood inside her empty apartment.
“What happens now?”
Lorenzo leaned against the door.
“We find Victor.”
“And then?”
“He tells us who else is involved.”
“And if he doesn't?”
Lorenzo's expression darkened.
Serena stepped closer.
“You promised me something.”
“What?”
“You wouldn't become the monster everyone says you are.”
He looked at her.
“I'll keep the promise.”
They found Victor at an abandoned warehouse.
He was surrounded by two men.
When Lorenzo entered, Victor laughed.
“You finally figured it out.”
Lorenzo looked at him.
“You used Bellvita.”
“I used everyone.”
“Why?”
“Because you were weak.”
Lorenzo's eyes narrowed.
Victor continued.
“You've been trying to legitimize the family.”
“Yes.”
“And your father would have hated that.”
“He's dead.”
“Is he?”
The room became silent.
Serena's heart stopped.
“What did you say?”
Victor smiled.
“Dominic Duca is alive.”
Lorenzo's expression changed.
“That’s impossible.”
“Not everything you believe is real.”
Victor pointed toward Serena.
“She knows.”
Serena shook her head.
“No.”
Victor laughed.
“Your mother knew.”
He turned to Lorenzo.
“Your father ordered Adrian's murder because Adrian refused to give him the ledger.”
Lorenzo's fists clenched.
“And you helped him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dominic promised me Bellvita.”
“Bellvita?”
Victor nodded.
“The restaurant was the meeting point. The business was merely a front.”
Serena remembered the ledger.
The names.
The hidden room.
Victor continued.
“The old private club had tunnels beneath it.”
“Where?”
He smiled.
“Under Table Seven.”
Lorenzo looked at Serena.
She understood.
The table had never been valuable because it belonged to him.
It was valuable because of what was underneath it.
They returned to Bellvita.
The floor was torn up.
Beneath Table Seven was a steel hatch.
It opened into a narrow tunnel.
Inside were boxes.
Documents.
Photographs.
Bank records.
And a safe.
Serena recognized the safe's lock.
“That's my mother's.”
“How do you know?”
“She had one like it at home.”
Lorenzo helped her open it.
Inside was a second ledger.
And a cassette.
They found an old player upstairs.
Serena pressed play.
Her mother's voice filled the room.
“If you're hearing this, then Dominic has found you.”
Serena closed her eyes.
“Lorenzo, if you're with her, listen carefully.”
Lorenzo froze.
“The men around you are not loyal.”
A pause.
“Someone on your board is working with Dominic.”
A name followed.
Nathan Cole.
Lorenzo stared.
Nathan Cole had been his closest financial adviser for six years.
The man had helped build Duca Holdings into a legitimate company.
Serena whispered:
“How many people have been betraying you?”
Lorenzo looked at her.
“Too many.”
The recording continued.
“Do not trust the man with the silver ring.”
Serena looked at Lorenzo's hands.
He wore no rings.
“Who has one?”
They searched every photograph.
Nathan did.
Victor did not.
Marco did not.
Then Serena remembered someone.
“Your lawyer.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“Daniel Mercer?”
“He always wears a silver ring.”
Lorenzo's phone rang.
Daniel Mercer.
Lorenzo answered.
“What?”
The lawyer's voice was calm.
“I know where your father is.”
Lorenzo's expression hardened.
“Where?”
“Bring Serena.”
“Why?”
“Because she has something he wants.”
“What?”
Daniel's answer was simple.
“The ledger.”
The call ended.
Serena looked at Lorenzo.
“We're going.”
“No.”
“You said we'd do this together.”
“I said I would protect you.”
“You can't protect me by leaving me behind.”
He stared.
She stepped closer.
“I am already involved.”
Lorenzo exhaled.
“Then stay beside me.”
She nodded.
“I will.”
His hand found hers.
Neither noticed Marco watching from the doorway.
He smiled faintly.
May you like
For the first time, his boss looked less like a weapon.
And more like a man in love.
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