Chapter 8 - THE DIAMOND HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT
The ring was missing from Dante's pocket.
He had given it to Isabella before leaving the hospital.
Now Marco was asking for it.
Dante looked at his oldest friend.
“What ring?”
Marco's smile disappeared.
“Don't play games.”
“Then stop lying to me.”
Two plainclothes officers appeared at the far end of the corridor.
Marco noticed them immediately.
His hand moved toward his jacket.
Dante stepped forward.
“Don't.”
For one terrible second, they stared at each other.
Then Marco slowly raised his hands.
The officers approached.
“Marco DeLuca, we need to speak with you.”
Marco looked at Dante.
“You don't understand what you're doing.”
Dante's voice was cold.
“I understand you betrayed my family.”
Marco laughed bitterly.
“Your family betrayed itself long before I arrived.”
He was escorted away.
Dante immediately entered Isabella's room.
“Mother, where's Elena's ring?”
She pointed toward the bedside drawer.
“Why?”
He retrieved it.
Platinum.
A small diamond set beneath the band.
Inside was the inscription he had chosen on their wedding day.
Always, D.
He examined the setting.
Nothing seemed unusual.
Then he remembered Elena's habit of taking the ring to a private jeweler every year.
She always said the setting needed maintenance.
He had never questioned it.
He called the jeweler.
“Mr. Moretti,” the woman answered nervously.
“I need to know whether my wife's ring was modified.”
A pause.
“Sir, I was instructed not to discuss that.”
“By whom?”
“Mrs. Moretti.”
Dante swallowed.
“Then I won't ask you to betray her confidence. But is there something dangerous about it?”
The woman hesitated.
“Only if someone knows what to look for.”
Dante stared at the ring.
At the federal office, Elena learned that Marco had been detained.
Rachel placed a tablet in front of her.
“Dante has the ring.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I hoped he would leave it alone.”
Luca looked confused.
“What did you put inside?”
Elena took a breath.
“Nothing.”
Rachel turned toward her.
“Elena?”
“My grandfather did.”
She explained that shortly before his death, Henry Whitmore had given her the platinum band.
At the time, it was an heirloom ring without a diamond.
He told her it contained something that could protect the family someday.
Years later, when Dante proposed, Elena asked a jeweler to reset it.
During the work, the jeweler discovered a miniature storage device sealed beneath the stone.
Elena had copied its contents.
“What was on it?” Luca asked.
“Financial records. Recorded conversations. Names.”
“Whose names?”
Elena looked at him.
“Your father's.”
Luca went pale.
“And Victor's father,” she continued. “And several officials who helped turn legitimate businesses into criminal enterprises.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“Where's the copy?”
Elena opened her handbag.
Inside was a small silver flash drive.
But when she placed it on the table, Luca suddenly stood.
“Elena, don't connect that to anything.”
“Why?”
He pointed to a tiny red mark on the casing.
“That isn't the drive you showed me last night.”
Elena stared.
Someone had switched it.
Rachel examined the casing without opening it.
Then she noticed the engraved initials.
B.R.
Bianca Russo.
May you like
And on the underside was a handwritten label.
FOR DANTE—IF HE CHOOSES THE WRONG WOMAN.
