Chapter 6 - The Bride Who Refused to Be Bought
Sofia Bellandi called Victor herself.
No father.
No lawyer.
No intermediary.
Her voice shook through the phone.
“I have Daniel Marlow.”
Victor stood in his office with Elena beside him.
Gabriel traced the call.
Carlo watched from across the room.
Victor kept his voice calm.
“Is he alive?”
“Yes.”
“Did you take him?”
“No.”
“Then explain.”
Sofia breathed slowly.
“My father did.”
Elena grabbed the edge of Victor’s desk.
Victor continued.
“Where are you?”
“At one of our river warehouses.”
“Why are you calling me?”
“Because my father doesn’t know I have his phone.”
A muffled sound came from the other end.
Sofia lowered her voice.
“He thinks Daniel is the only person who knows where the original copies are.”
Victor looked at Elena.
“What does he want?”
“The ledger.”
“He already knows I won’t give it to him.”
“He wants something else now.”
Victor knew before she said it.
“You.”
“Yes.”
Silence.
Sofia sounded ashamed.
“He still wants the marriage.”
Elena stared at the phone.
Victor almost laughed.
“Your father is consistent.”
“He thinks if we announce the engagement publicly, you won’t release anything because destroying him would destroy your wife’s family too.”
Victor looked at Elena.
Her expression was unreadable.
“I already told him no.”
“I know.”
Sofia’s voice softened.
“Thank you.”
Victor was surprised.
“For what?”
“For asking whether I wanted to marry you.”
“That should not be unusual.”
“In our families, it is.”
Victor looked at Elena again.
Sofia continued.
“That’s why I’m helping you.”
Gabriel held up a note.
TRACE COMPLETE.
Warehouse 12.
Victor nodded.
“Sofia, can you get Daniel out?”
“No. Two men are guarding him.”
“Can you leave?”
“I think so.”
“Then leave.”
“I won’t.”
Victor frowned.
“What?”
“If I walk out, my father will know I warned you.”
“You did warn me.”
“That doesn’t mean I want him to know before you arrive.”
Victor almost smiled.
He liked Sofia far more as an ally than a prospective bride.
“We’re coming.”
“Victor.”
“Yes?”
“There’s something else.”
He waited.
“My father didn’t order the surveillance inside your house.”
Victor glanced at Sebastian, who was under guard in another room.
“Sebastian admitted it.”
“Not all of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone else paid for the equipment.”
“Who?”
Sofia whispered a name.
Victor’s face changed.
Carlo saw it.
“Who?”
Victor ended the call.
Then looked directly at his uncle.
“Carlo Russo.”
Elena froze.
Gabriel’s hand moved toward his weapon.
Carlo did not.
He simply looked tired.
Victor walked around the desk.
“Sofia says you paid for the cameras.”
Carlo sighed.
“Yes.”
Elena stared at him.
“You watched me?”
“No.”
“You put cameras in my room.”
“I authorized surveillance in the staff wing.”
“That includes my room.”
Carlo looked genuinely uncomfortable.
“That was not supposed to happen.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“Explain quickly.”
Carlo sat.
“Nineteen years ago, Daniel disappeared with evidence capable of destroying us. Six months ago, I received a photograph of him alive.”
“From whom?”
“Dominic.”
Victor’s expression tightened.
“He wanted me frightened.”
“It worked.”
“So you watched Elena.”
“I believed Daniel would contact her.”
Elena stared at him.
“And when he did?”
“I planned to speak to him.”
Victor almost laughed.
“Your definition of conversation is unusually broad.”
Carlo ignored him.
“I never threatened Elena. I never sent the note. Sebastian did that.”
“And Matteo?”
“I told him to keep her away from old files.”
Elena shook her head.
“Every one of you decided my life belonged to you.”
Carlo had no answer.
Victor did.
“It stops now.”
Elena looked at him.
Victor turned to Gabriel.
“Prepare the cars.”
Carlo stood.
“You cannot go to Warehouse 12.”
“Watch me.”
“It’s a trap.”
“Yes.”
“And you are walking into it.”
“Also yes.”
Carlo’s frustration erupted.
“Then what exactly is your plan?”
Victor picked up the metal ledger case.
“This.”
Elena stepped forward.
“You’re giving it to Dominic?”
“No.”
“Then why bring it?”
“Because he needs to believe I might.”
She shook her head.
“I’m coming.”
Victor looked at her.
“No.”
Her expression immediately sharpened.
Victor corrected himself.
“I would strongly prefer that you stay here.”
“Better.”
“Elena.”
“That is my father.”
“I know.”
“He disappeared once because people told him they were protecting me. I’m not staying behind while everyone does it again.”
Victor knew he had lost the argument.
“Fine.”
Carlo muttered, “You indulge her.”
Victor looked at him.
“No. I listen to her. You should try it.”
They reached Warehouse 12 shortly before noon.
Victor entered with Elena and Gabriel.
Carlo remained outside coordinating security.
Inside, Daniel sat tied to a chair.
His face was bruised.
Sofia stood nearby.
Dominic faced Victor across the concrete floor.
Dozens of shipping containers surrounded them.
Dominic smiled.
“You brought her.”
Elena glared at him.
“I came myself.”
Dominic’s smile faded slightly.
Victor held the case.
“You wanted this.”
“Yes.”
“Release Daniel.”
“After we discuss terms.”
Victor set the case on a crate.
“No marriage.”
Dominic sighed.
“You remain difficult.”
“Sofia doesn’t want it.”
Dominic looked at his daughter.
“You have embarrassed me enough today.”
Sofia’s chin lifted.
“You embarrassed yourself.”
Victor almost smiled.
Dominic did not.
He looked back at Victor.
“You would choose a maid over an alliance?”
Victor’s expression remained calm.
“I’m not choosing professions.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
“Then answer.”
Victor looked at Elena.
She stared back at him.
Something inside him finally became simple.
“Yes.”
The word echoed.
Elena’s breath caught.
Dominic shook his head.
“You barely know her.”
Victor answered without looking away from Elena.
“I know she works until she collapses because she thinks disappointing people is dangerous.”
Elena swallowed.
“I know she notices when everyone else lies.”
Victor continued.
“I know she kept working in a house where somebody threatened her because she needed money for her mother’s debts.”
Elena stared.
“How did you know that?”
“Gabriel checked after the note.”
Victor looked back at Dominic.
“And I know she had every reason to run yesterday.”
He paused.
“She stayed.”
Dominic scoffed.
“That is your justification?”
“No.”
Victor’s voice lowered.
“That is my choice.”
Dominic signaled one of his men.
“Take the case.”
Victor placed his hand on it.
“Daniel first.”
Dominic nodded.
A guard untied Daniel.
Elena rushed to him.
“Dad.”
“I’m okay.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“I’ve been worse.”
She almost laughed through tears.
Daniel stood with difficulty.
Dominic’s man reached for the case.
Victor let him.
He opened it.
Empty.
Dominic stared.
Victor said, “The ledger left Chicago this morning.”
Dominic’s face changed.
“With whom?”
“Sofia.”
Everyone looked at her.
Even Sofia appeared startled.
Then she understood.
Victor was bluffing again.
Dominic did not.
He stepped toward his daughter.
“You?”
Sofia stood her ground.
“For once in your life, Dad, believe I can make my own decisions.”
Dominic stopped.
Victor saw something unexpected in the older man’s face.
Fear.
Not of Victor.
Of losing his daughter.
Victor pressed.
“If anything happens here, the documents release automatically.”
Dominic looked at him.
“You keep saying that.”
“This time it’s true.”
Gabriel lifted his phone.
He had uploaded everything that morning.
Copies sat with attorneys in three cities.
Daniel had also prepared statements.
Dominic finally understood.
The old world was ending.
Not with gunfire.
With documentation.
Victor moved toward Daniel.
“We’re leaving.”
Dominic’s men shifted.
Sofia stepped between them.
“Let them.”
Her father stared at her.
For several seconds, nobody moved.
Then Dominic raised one hand.
His men lowered theirs.
Victor walked toward the door with Elena and Daniel.
Before leaving, he turned.
“Sofia.”
She looked at him.
“You’re welcome at my house anytime.”
Dominic almost exploded.
Victor added, “Without an engagement contract.”
Sofia laughed.
Even Elena smiled.
They left.
Outside, police vehicles were approaching in the distance.
Not ordinary officers.
A state investigative unit contacted through Victor’s attorneys.
Carlo stared.
“You called authorities?”
Victor looked at him.
“I told you. Problems built by your generation are not my inheritance.”
Carlo said nothing.
Daniel was taken to safety.
Dominic and several associates were detained for questioning.
It should have felt finished.
It didn’t.
That evening, Victor found Elena packing.
She stood inside the small staff room folding clothes into a suitcase.
His chest tightened unexpectedly.
“You’re leaving.”
She did not look at him.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“My father is going into protective custody.”
“And you?”
“I’ve been offered the same.”
Victor stepped inside.
“So that’s it?”
Elena finally looked at him.
“What do you want me to do, Victor?”
It was the first time she had used his first name.
He noticed.
She noticed him noticing.
“My entire life changed in two days,” she continued. “My father is alive. Your family watched me. A crime boss kidnapped him. You publicly chose me over a woman worth millions.”
“Sofia is worth more than money.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
Elena’s voice softened.
“And I don’t know whether what happened between us is real or whether I’m simply the person you needed to protect.”
Victor stopped.
That question struck harder than any accusation.
Elena closed her suitcase.
“I need to know who I am when nobody is chasing me.”
Victor wanted to tell her not to go.
He wanted to make the same mistake everyone else had made.
Decide for her.
Instead, he stepped aside.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
Victor nodded.
She picked up the suitcase.
Walked toward him.
Then stopped.
“I fell asleep in your bed because I had nowhere else to rest.”
Victor looked at her.
“I know.”
She smiled sadly.
“And somehow that ruined both our lives.”
“Mine was questionable already.”
She laughed once.
Then kissed his cheek.
Victor did not move.
Elena whispered, “Goodbye, Victor.”
She walked past him.
He let her.
Because loving someone did not mean keeping them.
An hour later, Gabriel entered Victor’s office.
“She’s gone.”
Victor stared at the empty doorway.
“I know.”
Gabriel placed an envelope on the desk.
“This arrived for you.”
Victor opened it.
Inside was a photograph.
Elena and Daniel entering a protected building.
Safe.
Victor exhaled.
Then he noticed writing on the back.
Not Elena’s handwriting.
Not Daniel’s.
One sentence.
YOU THINK THIS ENDED AT THE WAREHOUSE?
Victor looked up.
Gabriel’s expression hardened.
The office phone rang.
Victor answered.
Nobody spoke.
Then a familiar female voice whispered.
“Victor?”
He stood.
“Sofia?”
She sounded terrified.
“My father wasn’t the one who ordered Daniel killed nineteen years ago.”
Victor’s grip tightened.
“Who was?”
Sofia began to answer.
May you like
Then glass shattered on her end of the line.
The call went dead.
