Chapter 1
Lorenzo did not question Victoria.
Not yet.
He carried Isabella away from the open passage.
Her filthy hands were wrapped around his collar.
Her breathing came in short, uneven pulls against his neck.
Every few seconds, she glanced behind him.
At Victoria.
At Marcus.
Then back at the hole behind the portrait.
Lorenzo noticed.
He lowered himself onto one knee.
“Isabella.”
Her eyes lifted.
“You’re with me now.”
She nodded.
But her fingers tightened.
Lorenzo held up the black pet collar.
“What happened?”
Victoria laughed softly from across the gallery.
The sound was deliberate.
Dismissive.
“She wandered where she shouldn’t.”
Lorenzo did not look at her.
Isabella did.
The child immediately pressed herself closer to her father.
That reaction silenced half the room.
Lorenzo’s thumb moved over the collar buckle.
Expensive leather.
Not something pulled from a household pet.
No scratches.
No fur.
New.
Marcus saw where Lorenzo was looking.
His jaw tightened.
“She got into the service passage,” he said. “Victoria scared her. That’s all.”
Lorenzo slowly looked at him.
“You just tried to take this from my hand.”
Marcus’s breathing paused.
Only once.
“That collar is embarrassing enough without you turning it into evidence.”
Lorenzo’s eyes became still.
“Evidence of what?”
Marcus said nothing.
Behind Lorenzo, one capo shifted his weight.
Another lowered his glass.
Nobody spoke.
Lorenzo turned back to Isabella.
Her cheek rested against his shoulder.
“What were you doing behind the wall?”
She swallowed.
“I was hiding.”
“From Aunt Victoria?”
A small nod.
“And Uncle Marcus?”
Another nod.
Lorenzo’s hand tightened around the collar.
Victoria’s smile disappeared.
“She's three, Lorenzo.”
His eyes flicked toward her.
Victoria stopped speaking.
Isabella whispered:
“They were mad because I found Daddy.”
Lorenzo frowned.
“You found me?”
She shook her head.
“Your ring.”
Marcus’s face changed.
Lorenzo saw it.
So did Victoria.
The child pointed weakly toward the concealed passage.
“Daddy’s other ring.”
Silence.
Lorenzo looked down at the family signet ring on his own hand.
One ring.
Heavy gold.
Bellandi crest.
The only official signet he had used for nearly twenty years.
He rose.
“Anthony.”
His senior bodyguard stepped forward.
“Search the passage.”
Victoria immediately moved.
“No.”
The word came too quickly.
Every capo looked at her.
Lorenzo’s eyes settled on his aunt.
Victoria recovered.
Her shoulders straightened.
“That corridor is part of the old house. It’s unsafe.”
Lorenzo’s voice dropped.
“My daughter was inside it.”
A pause.
“So safety stopped being your concern a while ago.”
Anthony entered with two guards.
Marcus’s hands curled.
Lorenzo noticed.
Three minutes passed.
Then five.
Finally Anthony emerged.
He carried a small velvet box.
He did not give it to Lorenzo immediately.
That hesitation mattered.
“What?”
Anthony opened it.
Inside lay a second Bellandi signet ring.
Nearly identical to Lorenzo’s.
Same crest.
Same engraving.
Same weight.
Lorenzo stared at it.
Victoria stopped breathing.
Anthony’s voice was low.
“There’s more.”
He held up a stack of papers found beside it.
Each page carried a Bellandi seal.
Each page appeared to bear Lorenzo’s authorization.
And the newest document was dated that morning.
May you like
It transferred emergency command over every estate bodyguard—
to Marcus.
