Chapter 4 - The Engagement Ring Was a Warning
Dante watched the video three times before he allowed himself to speak. He had been told the bombing came from a rival syndicate. He had spent years punishing people he believed responsible. Now an engineer he had never met was telling him that the explosion had opened a door for betrayal inside his own house.
The forensic specialist, Priya Shah, cautioned him that the recovered files needed authentication. The authorization file contained a scanned signature, a payment trail, and correspondence that appeared to connect Victor to Asterion's JANUS program. It was powerful evidence, but Dante knew better than to confuse a convincing document with a proven case.
“Make copies,” he said. “Preserve the originals. Get a lawyer involved.”
Marco raised an eyebrow. “Since when do we call lawyers before making people talk?”
“Since I discovered how easy it is to make a man believe a story that isn't true.”
Across the mansion, Isabella Romano was arranging engagement invitations. She had chosen ivory paper, black lettering, and a venue overlooking the lake. Her father, Salvatore Romano, had insisted on a large guest list that included business rivals Dante had avoided for years.
Isabella entered the study without knocking. “Your mother says you've been unwell.”
Dante closed the folder. “I'm getting answers.”
“Victor says you've been paranoid.”
“Victor says a lot.”
She approached him, her diamond ring catching the light. “We can't postpone the wedding every time you have a headache.”
“I haven't asked to postpone it.”
“You're thinking about it.”
Dante looked at her. He remembered proposing during a winter dinner arranged by their families. He remembered the ring. He could not remember feeling happy.
“Why are you marrying me, Isabella?”
Her smile vanished. “What kind of question is that?”
“One you should be able to answer.”
She said they had known each other for years, that their families were stronger together, that she had cared for him during his recovery. Every word sounded rehearsed. When he asked whether she had ever seen his complete medical records, she looked away.
“Victor handles that,” she said.
Of course he did.
That night Anna found Elena in the chapel behind the house. The older woman sat alone in the front pew, a rosary looped around her fingers. She looked smaller without the household watching her.
“Did you know about Daniel Miller?” Anna asked.
Elena's lips parted. “Your husband?”
“He tried to expose the implant. Someone killed him.”
Elena's eyes filled with tears. “I didn't know his name. I knew a man had tried to warn us.”
“Then why didn't you tell Dante?”
“Victor said Dante would die if the device was disturbed. He showed me medical papers. He said if I told anyone, the people behind the project would activate something that could kill him.”
Anna's anger rose. “And you believed him?”
“I watched my son almost die in the bombing. I watched him forget his father's face. I was terrified.”
“Fear doesn't make silence harmless.”
Elena bowed her head. “No. It doesn't.”
She opened a small velvet pouch. Inside was a narrow gold ring with an engraved date. “Dante's father gave him this before he died. Victor told me it had been lost in the explosion. Last week I found it in Victor's safe.”
Anna examined the ring. Inside were initials and a date three months after the bombing. “How could his father give him a ring after he died?”
“He didn't,” Elena said. “Dante's father died before the bombing. The date marks the day Dante first tried to break away from Victor's business arrangements. Dante had it engraved himself.”
“What happened that day?”
“He told Victor he was ending the partnership with the Romanos.”
Anna looked toward the chapel doors. “The family he's about to marry into.”
Elena nodded.
Meanwhile, Dante met Isabella in the winter garden. He placed the ring on the table between them and asked about the meeting with the Romanos three years earlier. She denied knowing anything. Then he asked why the engagement contracts included control of his medical trust if he became incapacitated.
Isabella went pale. “That's standard protection.”
“For whom?”
She stood. “You don't understand what your condition has cost us.”
“My condition,” Dante repeated. “Or my refusal to obey?”
Isabella's expression hardened. “You were easier to love when you needed us.”
She seemed startled by her own words.
Dante pushed back his chair. “The wedding is postponed.”
“Salvatore won't accept that.”
“He doesn't have to.”
At the far end of the garden, Sophie appeared with a paper bird she had folded herself. She stopped when she saw Isabella's angry face. Dante crouched to her height.
“Is that for me?” he asked.
Sophie nodded. “Mommy said blue birds mean you can find your way home.”
Dante took the bird gently. “Then I'll keep it.”
Isabella watched them, her face unreadable. After Dante walked Sophie back to Anna, Isabella stepped into the corridor and called Victor.
“He found something,” she said. “I don't know how much.”
Victor's voice was calm. “Then we move the schedule forward.”
“What schedule?”
“The one your father approved.”
Isabella lowered her voice. “You promised nobody would get hurt.”
May you like
Victor said nothing for a moment.
Then he replied, “That promise expired three years ago.”
