Chapter 8
The north tunnel was open.
Eleanor hadn't authorized it.
Thomas found fresh tire marks at the far exit.
Two vehicles had recently passed through.
One in.
One out.
The first had likely delivered the jackets.
The second had taken something away.
“What?” Adrian asked.
Thomas shook his head.
“No idea yet.”
Eleanor walked through the carriage house again.
Twelve uniforms.
Old chair.
Black ribbons.
Empty crates.
Then she saw a narrow clean rectangle on the floor.
Something had been stored there.
Heavy.
Removed recently.
“Dimensions?”
Thomas crouched.
“Long case.”
“Weapons?”
“Possible.”
Henry looked uneasy.
Vincent had served Matteo’s father.
He knew where old things were kept.
Including things Eleanor deliberately stopped using.
“Check the west armory.”
Thomas left.
Serena was brought in.
Eleanor pointed toward the empty mark.
“What left?”
Serena looked.
“No idea.”
“Try again.”
“Still no idea.”
Grant arrived under guard.
He saw the mark.
His face changed.
Eleanor noticed.
“Grant.”
He said nothing.
“What was there?”
“Nothing.”
Serena turned toward him.
He avoided her eyes.
Now she noticed too.
“What did you move?”
Grant snapped:
“Shut up.”
Eleanor almost smiled.
Cracks.
Pressure did the work.
Serena stepped closer.
“What did Vincent make you move?”
Grant glared.
“I said shut up.”
Her face twisted.
“You don't order me.”
Grant laughed.
“Really?”
Then crueler:
“You’ve spent six months doing exactly what I told you because without me you’re just a woman in an expensive dress trying to marry above herself.”
Serena slapped him.
Grant smiled.
Eleanor watched.
Villains rarely remain loyal when they realize the prize is shrinking.
Serena pointed at him.
“I made this engagement possible.”
Grant scoffed.
“You humiliated the wrong woman and got thrown through flowers.”
Her face reddened.
Grant continued.
“Great work.”
Serena moved again.
Guards stopped her.
Eleanor said:
“What did you move?”
Grant stayed silent.
Serena laughed bitterly.
“He’s scared.”
Grant turned.
“Of Vincent?”
She smiled.
“Look at you.”
Then:
“You called Eleanor old all afternoon and now an old man says jump and you hide.”
Grant’s jaw clenched.
There.
She had found his pride.
Eleanor let her continue.
“He promised you south crews, didn’t he?”
Grant stared.
Serena’s eyes widened.
She had guessed correctly.
“He did.”
Grant snapped:
“At least he promised me something real.”
“And me?”
He laughed.
“You got Adrian.”
Adrian flinched.
Serena looked toward him.
Then back to Grant.
Grant continued.
“What more do you want?”
That hurt Adrian.
Eleanor saw.
Good.
Pain was clarifying him.
Serena whispered:
“You said Adrian becomes head.”
“He does.”
“For how long?”
Grant said nothing.
Her expression changed.
“Grant.”
Silence.
“HOW LONG?”
He laughed once.
“No idea.”
Serena’s face collapsed.
The engagement.
The humiliation.
The public challenge.
She had believed she was marrying the next Bellini boss.
Grant had believed he would receive crews.
Adrian believed he would inherit authority.
Vincent had promised each of them a different future.
Eleanor asked again:
“What did you move?”
Grant looked at Serena.
Then Adrian.
Then Eleanor.
Finally:
“The old Bellini armory chest.”
Henry went pale.
Eleanor's expression hardened.
That chest did not contain money.
It contained old family rifles, ceremonial pistols, and—more importantly—Bellini-marked ammunition crates.
Weapons identifiable by reputation even if not by law.
“Where?”
Grant said nothing.
Serena shouted:
“Tell her!”
Grant looked at his sister.
Then smiled.
“West warehouse.”
Thomas’s radio crackled at that exact moment.
“Boss.”
Eleanor answered.
“What?”
“We have gunfire at the west warehouse.”
Adrian froze.
Grant closed his eyes.
Too late.
May you like
The fake Bellini men weren’t preparing to leave after the handover.
They were already attacking something in the Bellini name.
