Chapter 6 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER STOPPED WATCHING
Isabella Bennett hadn't heard her father's voice in eleven years.
Now he was speaking to her from a video recorded just six months ago.
"My beautiful Isabella," Daniel began.
"If you're watching this, then the truth has finally reached you."
His voice broke.
"I am so sorry."
Isabella covered her mouth.
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
Matteo stood beside her, completely silent.
Daniel continued.
"I never abandoned you. I never stopped loving you."
He looked exhausted.
A bruise darkened one side of his face.
"I was forced into hiding after discovering a financial conspiracy involving Richard Vale and people inside the Rossi organization."
He swallowed.
"Lorenzo Rossi tried to protect me."
Matteo leaned closer.
"My father?"
Daniel nodded in the recording.
"Lorenzo saved my life. And I helped save his."
Isabella gripped the edge of the desk.
Daniel continued.
"We believed we could expose Vale. But we underestimated how far his influence reached."
He looked directly into the camera.
"Isabella, your mother knew some of the truth. She kept you away from danger."
Isabella closed her eyes.
Her mother had died three years earlier.
Had she spent all those years carrying this secret alone?
The recording continued.
"Don't hate her. She did what she believed would keep you alive."
Daniel wiped his eyes.
"And don't trust anyone who tells you that the Rossi family was entirely innocent."
Matteo stiffened.
Daniel leaned toward the camera.
"Matteo, if you're watching this with my daughter, your father was not the only man betrayed."
A pause.
"Someone has been using your company's accounts to finance a network of illegal operations."
Gabriel quickly opened the financial folders.
Numbers filled the screen.
Hundreds of transactions.
Shell corporations.
Property transfers.
And an unfamiliar company called Meridian Capital.
Matteo recognized the name.
It was scheduled to become the Rossi family's newest business partner after the wedding.
The same partnership Isabella had overheard.
The same trap she had warned him about.
"This was planned years ago," Matteo whispered.
Gabriel nodded.
"And the wedding was supposed to finalize it."
Daniel's recording reached its final moments.
"Isabella, you need to know one last thing."
His expression changed.
Fear entered his eyes.
"Richard Vale doesn't control the entire operation."
Matteo leaned forward.
"Then who does?"
Daniel glanced toward someone outside the camera frame.
A door opened.
Footsteps approached.
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"The person behind everything is a woman."
Isabella stared.
Daniel continued.
"And she was supposed to marry into the Vale family today."
The video ended.
Matteo slowly turned toward the ballroom.
The bride.
Sophia Vale.
But Sophia wasn't Richard Vale's daughter.
She was marrying his son.
May you like
And her maiden name was...
Sophia Moretti.
