CHAPTER 4 – THE TRAITOR'S SHADOW
CHAPTER 4 – THE TRAITOR'S SHADOW
The man's name was Marco Bellini.
He had served the Moretti family for twenty-eight years.
He attended Dante's wedding.
He carried baby Leo after he was born.
He stood beside Dante at Elena's funeral.
He had always been there.
Which made him either the most loyal man alive...
Or the perfect spy.
Dante ordered surveillance instead of confrontation.
"I want proof."
Marco continued his routine.
Morning coffee.
Security meetings.
Dinner with the guards.
Nothing unusual.
Until the third night.
At 2:17 a.m., he slipped through a side gate.
One black sedan waited with its lights off.
He handed the driver a thick envelope.
Before the car pulled away...
A tiny tracking device landed beneath its bumper.
One of Dante's men smiled into his radio.
"We've got them."
The sedan didn't head toward Manhattan.
It drove north.
Far from the city.
Far from the Moretti empire.
It finally stopped outside an abandoned lakeside church.
Marco entered alone.
Dante watched through binoculars.
"So this is where you've been praying."
Inside the ruined chapel, candles flickered against cracked walls.
Marco wasn't alone.
A woman wearing a gray coat stood with her back turned.
She spoke first.
"You were followed."
Marco shook his head.
"No."
"You underestimate Dante."
"He trusts me."
The woman laughed quietly.
"No."
"He used to."
Before Marco could answer—
The chapel doors exploded inward.
Dante and six armed men stormed inside.
"Don't move!"
Marco spun around.
His face drained of color.
"Dante..."
The mysterious woman ran toward a hidden passage.
Two guards chased her.
Gunfire echoed through the abandoned church.
She disappeared into darkness.
Marco dropped to his knees.
"I can explain!"
Dante walked toward him slowly.
"You stood beside my wife's coffin."
Marco began crying.
"I had no choice."
"Who forced you?"
"They would've killed my family."
"Who?"
Marco looked around desperately.
Then whispered one name.
"The Black Council."
Every guard exchanged nervous glances.
Even Dante stiffened.
I had never heard those words before.
But everyone else clearly had.
"What is the Black Council?" I asked.
No one answered.
Marco looked directly at Dante.
"They never wanted Elena dead."
Dante grabbed his collar.
"Then where is she?"
Marco's eyes filled with terror.
"I don't know."
"Lie again."
"I'm not!"
He gasped for air.
"The last time I saw her..."
He hesitated.
"...she was alive."
The room fell completely silent.
Then, from somewhere beneath the old church...
A woman's voice screamed.
"Dante!"
His head snapped toward the sound.
May you like
Every instinct in his body recognized that voice.
It was Elena.
