Chapter 14
In his private study, Vincent sat surrounded by financial ledgers, encrypted hard drives, and old intelligence reports from the night of Sofia's disappearance. Beside him stood Clara, who had spent the last two hours helping him identify specific handwriting notes left on the forged shipping logs.
"Dante wasn't acting alone," Clara pointed out, pointing her finger at a small star symbol stamped near the margin of a bill of lading. "This mark... whenever shipments arrived with this blue ink stamp, Mr. Dante would personally escort the trucks to the south estate barn. He never let the regular drivers touch those crates."
Vincent zoomed in on the high-resolution scan on his computer screen. "The blue star belongs to the Moretti internal security detail. That means someone inside Marco's own division was assisting Dante with contraband movement."
Before Vincent could investigate further, Marco knocked and entered the study, his face dark with concern. "Boss, we intercepted an encrypted radio transmission originating from inside our own communications room twenty minutes ago. Someone tried to notify the Cassano family that Dante has been compromised."
Vincent didn't look surprised. He stood up, buttoning his tailored suit jacket. "Did you trace the signal?"
"It came from Captain Russo’s terminal," Marco replied, his jaw tightening. "Russo was Dante’s right-hand man in the guards detail."
"Bring Russo to the main courtyard," Vincent said, his voice dropping an octave into a register that made even Marco brace himself. "And call a full gathering of the estate staff and guards. It is time everyone in this family remembers who holds the authority here."
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Clara stepped forward nervously, her hand reaching instinctively toward Vincent’s sleeve before she caught herself. "Mr. Moretti... please be careful. Dante told me once that if he ever fell, he had people ready to tear this place apart."
Vincent turned to her, his dark eyes softening briefly as he looked down at her worried face. "Let them try, Clara. This house was built on iron, not fear. Stay here with Ellie until I return."
