Chapter 8 - THE BETRAYAL AT THE FAMILY TABLE
The Moretti family dinner had always taken place on Sunday.
Dante's father established the tradition.
Attendance was expected.
Questions were discouraged.
And Lorenzo Bellini always sat to Dante's right.
That Sunday, the chair remained empty.
Dante had invited his aunt, two cousins, Celia Moretti's surviving relatives, and several senior business associates.
Alessia watched from the dining-room doorway.
She had never seen the family gathered without celebration.
No birthday.
No holiday.
No engagement.
Just a table full of people waiting to discover why Dante had summoned them.
He stood at the head of the table.
"Thank you for coming."
His aunt, Gianna Moretti, frowned.
"Where's Lorenzo?"
Dante looked around.
"That's what I intend to discuss."
---
For twenty minutes, Dante explained the evidence.
The missing Riverside compensation.
The forged employment records.
The secret payments.
The black ledger.
The intimidation of witnesses.
His family reacted with disbelief.
Then anger.
Then fear.
Gianna struck the table.
"You're accusing Lorenzo of stealing from us?"
Dante looked at her.
"I'm accusing him of stealing from families who trusted our redevelopment promises."
A cousin interrupted.
"Why are you airing this in front of household employees?"
Alessia felt her face burn.
Before she could step away, Dante answered.
"Because Miss Romano found evidence I failed to notice."
The cousin looked offended.
"She's a maid."
Dante's expression hardened.
"She's the person who asked the questions the rest of us avoided."
Silence followed.
Then Dante continued.
"She deserves more respect than anyone who helped conceal this."
Alessia looked down.
Not because she was ashamed.
Because nobody had defended her so openly before.
---
Halfway through dinner, the front doors opened.
Lorenzo Bellini entered.
Two men followed him.
He wore an expensive gray suit.
His silver hair was perfectly combed.
He smiled as though nothing had happened.
"Dante. I heard you were discussing me."
Dante remained seated.
"Take a chair."
Bellini laughed.
"Surely we can speak privately."
"No."
The room became silent.
Dante gestured toward the empty chair.
"Sit."
Bellini's smile disappeared.
Then he noticed Alessia.
His expression changed.
"You."
She stood straight.
"Mr. Bellini."
He looked at Dante.
"You're allowing a domestic employee to interfere in family business?"
Dante folded his hands.
"She isn't the problem, Lorenzo."
Bellini glanced toward the documents.
Then smiled again.
"These are old accounting records. You don't understand the circumstances."
"Then explain them."
Bellini hesitated.
Dante waited.
Finally, Bellini said, "Your father approved everything."
The words struck the room like thunder.
Gianna gasped.
Dante did not move.
"Everything?"
"Every transfer. Every agreement."
"And Maria?"
Bellini's expression flickered.
Dante leaned forward.
"Did my father approve what happened to my sister?"
Bellini swallowed.
For the first time, he looked frightened.
"I don't know what you mean."
Dante placed the ledger on the table.
"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. Three days before her accident."
Bellini stared at the page.
Then looked toward the door.
His two companions moved.
Rocco stepped forward.
Dante raised one hand.
"Nobody touches anyone."
Bellini laughed bitterly.
"You're going to let me walk out?"
"Yes."
The room went still.
Dante continued.
"Because the authorities already have copies of the records. What happens next will not be decided by men with guns in my dining room."
Bellini stared.
For a moment, he seemed unable to comprehend the answer.
Then his expression changed.
"You think the law will protect you?"
Dante looked at him.
"No."
He took a breath.
"I think it's time I stopped believing I should be protected from it."
---
That night, the Moretti family split apart.
Some relatives accused Dante of betraying his father's legacy.
Others demanded an accounting of every financial transaction.
Several business associates resigned.
And Bellini disappeared before investigators could question him.
But the greatest damage came from something Alessia discovered after dinner.
Mrs. Conte had left a sealed envelope in the pantry.
Inside was an old photograph of Maria standing beside Alessia's father.
On the back, in Maria's handwriting, were the words:
HE BUILT THE HIDDEN ROOM. HE KNOWS WHERE THE SECOND RECORD IS.
Alessia stared.
Her father had died five years earlier.
May you like
And she had never known he worked for the Morettis.
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