Chapter 13
Her name was Helena Vale.
Former Bellandi household secretary.
That was the detail Dante had never known.
Helena worked inside the estate during his father’s final years.
She knew Thomas.
Samuel.
Isabella.
And the hidden history of both sons.
Then she disappeared.
Marcus claimed she died abroad.
Vivienne believed him.
Or wanted to.
Isabella looked toward the old capos.
“Helena knew everything.”
Thomas’s face hardened.
“She knew too much.”
Dante caught the phrasing.
“Meaning?”
Thomas looked away.
Dante stepped closer.
“Meaning?”
Thomas exhaled.
Helena had discovered the elders were hiding Lorenzo and Isabella.
She threatened to tell Dante’s father.
Thomas paid her to leave.
Marcus stared.
“You paid her?”
“Yes.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“My mother raised us in cheap apartments while Bellandis drank from silver.”
Thomas’s face tightened.
“The money was generous.”
Marcus stepped forward.
“Then you should’ve tried living on it.”
There it was.
His grievance gained another layer.
Not just rank.
Humiliation inherited from his mother.
Dante listened.
Understanding.
Not excusing.
Helena raised Marcus telling him the Bellandis destroyed her life.
When Marcus entered family business years later, he did so under another surname connection, keeping his mother’s past hidden.
He learned the estate.
The hierarchy.
The resentments.
Then Helena gave him Lorenzo’s location.
Vivienne looked at her brother.
“You knew our mother was alive.”
Marcus said nothing.
Her breathing changed.
“How long?”
“Six years.”
Vivienne slapped him.
Hard.
Not enough to knock him down.
Enough to change the room.
“You let me grieve her.”
Marcus touched his cheek.
Then laughed.
“Now you know how Lorenzo feels.”
Vivienne’s face twisted.
Dante watched.
Every conspirator had eventually discovered they were also being manipulated.
That was the pattern.
Marcus looked at Dante.
“Feeling superior?”
“No.”
Dante’s eyes moved through the room.
“Feeling tired.”
Silence.
“Every person here has a reason.”
“Every person here thinks their reason makes the next betrayal smaller.”
He looked at Vivienne.
“It doesn't.”
Then Marcus smiled.
“One problem.”
Dante waited.
“You still need the captains.”
The livestream had already spread.
Thirty-seven senior men saw Dante attack family associates over Ava.
Some supported him.
Others believed Lorenzo’s challenge legitimate.
The organization could split by morning.
Dante looked at Lorenzo.
Lorenzo held his gaze.
For the first time, neither spoke with hatred.
Only calculation.
Then Lorenzo said:
“We settle it tonight.”
Thomas stiffened.
“How?”
Lorenzo looked toward the council room.
“The old way.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
A formal Bellandi challenge.
Not legal.
Not paperwork.
A room.
The captains.
Two claimants.
One decision.
Dante asked:
“What do you want if you win?”
Lorenzo’s answer came immediately.
“The chair.”
“And if you lose?”
Lorenzo looked toward Ava.
Then back at Dante.
“I leave your daughter out of my life forever.”
Dante’s expression changed.
Not enough.
He stepped closer.
“No.”
Lorenzo frowned.
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“If you lose, you stop treating children like proof of anything.”
A long silence.
Then Lorenzo nodded.
“Agreed.”
May you like
The final battle for power would not be fought with Ava chained to a pillar.
For the first time, the adults would have to put themselves in the room instead.
