Chapter 10
Rocco did not confront Bianca.
Not yet.
Instead he asked Michael to rebuild the timeline from the beginning.
Names.
Dates.
Introductions.
Payments.
Who contacted whom first.
When the pattern was finished, Rocco stared at it for almost an hour.
Grant had organized the operation.
But he had not created it.
Bianca had.
She began approaching wealthy club members almost a year earlier.
She listened to their problems.
A restaurant owner being pressured by competitors.
A developer frightened by labor disputes.
A nightclub owner with unpaid debts.
Then she offered something none of them could easily refuse.
Access to Rocco Bellandi’s protection.
Grant handled the meetings because he knew the machinery.
Bianca found the clients.
Bianca decided the prices.
Bianca chose which names were valuable.
And most importantly—
Bianca knew Rocco well enough to know exactly what kinds of people he would refuse.
That was why the operation stayed beneath the club.
They were not simply stealing from Rocco.
They were building a second Bellandi organization inside his own name.
One he did not control.
Grant had been getting a percentage.
Bianca had been building influence.
The nine-hour punishment suddenly made terrible sense.
Mia had not stumbled across Grant’s secret.
She had stumbled across Bianca’s.
Rocco met Grant again that night.
This time Grant spoke.
“Your wife came to me thirteen months ago.”
“What did she say?”
“That you would never give her a place in the business.”
Rocco remained silent.
“She said you treated her like decoration.”
“So you helped her?”
Grant looked ashamed for the first time.
“I thought we’d make money.”
“And when you realized she wanted more?”
“I was already in.”
Rocco stared at him.
“Why did she look at you in the garage?”
Grant slowly raised his eyes.
“Because she thought I was going to tell you.”
For nine days Rocco had believed Grant was the person Bianca feared losing.
May you like
He had been wrong.
Grant was the person Bianca feared talking.
