Chapter 6 - DANIEL’S FIRST BETRAYALVincent claimed Daniel Bennett approached him four years earlier.
Daniel worked as a financial-crimes investigator inside a federal task force. He discovered Saint Orison while tracing missing witness-protection funds.
Instead of reporting the network immediately, he offered Vincent a deal.
The DeLuca family would help Daniel locate Antonio Bellandi’s surviving archive.
In return, Daniel would remove Vincent’s name from the first federal indictment.
Isabella stared at the video.
“My husband traded with you.”
“He wanted to protect you,” Vincent replied.
“He protected me by preserving your power?”
“He believed exposing the entire network would reveal your Bellandi identity.”
“Did he tell you where I lived?”
“He did not need to. Sofia already knew.”
Alessandro stepped between Vincent and Isabella.
“Why did Daniel give you the rabbit?”
“He believed it could locate the Black Ledger.”
“Then why return it to Emma?”
Vincent’s expression shifted.
“I didn’t.”
The old man at the service gate had not worked for DeLuca.
Sofia’s forces might have delivered it.
Or Daniel himself.
Vivian moved away from her father.
“You promised Cecilia would come home if I made Isabella expose the mark.”
Vincent looked at his daughter with mild disappointment.
“You were never good at patience.”
“You said my sister was alive.”
“She may be.”
Vivian’s face collapsed.
The slap had not been random cruelty. Vincent instructed her to provoke Isabella in the corridor, believing Emma would defend her mother and reveal the rabbit publicly.
Vivian had obeyed to obtain information about Cecilia.
“You could have warned me,” Isabella said.
“And trust a Bellandi?”
“You struck me in front of my child.”
Vivian met her gaze.
“Yes.”
No manipulation erased that choice.
She had been frightened and cruel at the same time.
Alessandro’s guards moved toward Vincent.
Before they reached him, one of the twelve family leaders fired into the ceiling.
“Stop!”
Chaos spread through the hall.
Several leaders believed Alessandro intended to use the Black Ledger to rule them. Others wanted Vincent detained. Guards who had served beside one another for years suddenly aimed weapons across the tables.
Emma covered her ears.
Isabella pulled her behind a marble column.
The damaged rabbit began vibrating in the child’s hands.
A hidden light glowed beneath its black stitched ear.
“Mommy, Bunny wants to go downstairs.”
The toy transmitted a directional pulse toward the chapel.
Isabella followed it while Alessandro held the hall.
Below, the pulse led past the thirteen-chair chamber to a narrow wall covered in family crests.
Emma placed the rabbit against the Bellandi symbol.
A door opened.
Behind it was a medical cell.
Daniel sat on the floor, wrists bound, his face thinner than in the video.
Isabella stopped at the threshold.
He looked up.
“Bella.”
She wanted to run to him.
Instead, she looked for cameras, guards, and wires.
Daniel saw the hesitation.
“You learned.”
“Are you real?”
“I hope so.”
Emma ran forward before Isabella could stop her.
“Daddy!”
Daniel’s composure broke.
He pressed his forehead against the child’s hair, unable to free his hands.
Isabella knelt several feet away.
“Did you work with Vincent?”
“Yes.”
“Did you trade his freedom for information?”
“Yes.”
“Did you hide my identity from me?”
“Yes.”
“Did you give them the rabbit?”
“Yes.”
The answers came without excuses.
Then Daniel looked toward the doorway.
“We have less than five minutes before Sofia floods the chapel chamber with gas.”
Isabella cut his restraints.
“Where is she?”
“Inside the estate.”
“We searched it.”
“She never left.”
Daniel pointed toward the ceiling.
“Sofia has been watching from the thirteenth family’s private gallery.”
A soft clap echoed above them.
A concealed balcony opened.
Sofia Moretti stood behind the railing.
Beside her was an elderly man in a wheelchair.
Alessandro’s father.
May you like
Carlo Moretti opened his eyes.
👉 Sofia had hidden Carlo inside his own estate while controlling Alessandro through the story of his death.
