Chapter 17 Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Chapter 17
Elara’s POV. 

I sat on the floor of my room, my back against the bed, watching the red light on the wall-mounted intercom flicker.

Dante hadn't come to my room at 8:30 PM. It was now 11:00 PM.

From the hallway, I heard voices escalating. I pressed my ear to the door.

"I didn't touch the offshore accounts, Dante! Use your head!" Isabella’s voice was shrill, vibrating with panic.

"Then explain the transfer," Dante’s voice was a low rumble. "Twelve million dollars moved from the Rossi-Moretti joint holdings to a private server in the Cayman Islands. The authorization code came from your father’s terminal."

"My father is in a federal holding cell! He doesn't even have a toothbrush, let alone a terminal!"

"Then someone used his terminal." Dante snapped. "And you’re the only one with the encryption keys."

I pulled back from the door, my heart racing. I instantly remembered the girl Lorenzo had mentioned. Sloane, the only person capable of navigating the Syndicate's digital labyrinth. 

The next morning, the tension in the house had increased. I was allowed out of my room for breakfast, but the table was a war zone.

Dante sat at the head, surrounded by three laptops and a technician. Isabella sat across from me, her makeup perfect, but her hands were trembling so violently she couldn't pick up her spoon.

"Another one," the technician whispered, tapping the screen.

Dante turned the laptop toward Isabella. "A leak to the SEC. Shipping manifests from the 14th. The ones you were supposed to have scrubbed, Isabella."

"I did scrub them!" Isabella shouted, standing up. "Someone is setting me up! Look at her!" she pointed a shaking finger at me. "She’s a doctor, she’s smart, she’s been talking to Lorenzo—"

"Lorenzo is in a hole upstate with no electricity!" Dante roared, standing up and towering over her. "And Elara has been locked in this wing under twenty-four-hour surveillance! She hasn't touched a computer ever since. You, however, have had access to every terminal in the building."

"It’s an error in the system, Dante," Isabella pleaded, her voice cracking. "Marcus! Ask Marcus! He knows how these things work!"

"Marcus is the one who brought the discrepancies to my attention," Dante said. "He thinks you're hedging your bets. He thinks you're preparing for the Rossi family to break away and take the Syndicate's capital with you."

"That's a lie!"

"Is it?" Dante leaned in, his eyes cold. "The audit shows the money moving through Caldera Chemicals. Your family’s company. The same company that provided the drugs used in the warehouse. Everything leads back to you, Isabella."

I sat in silence, sipping my tea, quietly enjoying the drama unfold. Sloane was doing exactly what Lorenzo said she would.

Dante stormed out to the library with the technician, leaving me alone with Isabella. The guards stayed by the door, but they were looking at the floor.

Isabella turned to me. "You did this," she hissed, leaning across the table.

"I've been locked in a room, Isabella," I said calmly. "How could I move twelve million dollars?"

"I don't know how, but I know it's you. You and that pathetic brother of his." She reached out, her hand hovering near my throat. "You think you can outsmart me? Huh?"

"He doesn't trust you anymore," I whispered. "That's the difference."

"Trust doesn't matter in this world," Isabella said, her voice dropping. "Only survival does. And I’m not going down because of a girl who spends her nights crying in a dark room."

She stood up and walked away, but she didn't head for the exit, she headed toward the kitchen.

I went back to my wing, my mind spinning. Sloane’s leaks were working, but they were making Isabella desperate. And a desperate Isabella was more dangerous than a calculated one.

I checked the vents in my room, the water pitcher, the seals on my vitamins.

Nothing.

But then I saw it.

On my vanity, sitting right next to my hairbrush, was a small, white envelope. 

I opened it and inside was a single slip of thermal paper, a printout of a bank transaction.

TRANSFER COMPLETE: $1,000,000.00

SENDER: ISABELLA ROSSI

RECEIVER: ELARA VANCE (TRUST ACCT)

If Dante found this, he wouldn't see a victim, he would see a conspirator. He would think I was paying for my own escape with his money.

I heard the heavy thud of Dante’s boots in the hallway.

I looked at the paper, and in no time, I shoved the paper into my mouth.

Dante walked in. He looked exhausted, his shirt stained with sweat.

"We found another leak," he said, walking to the window. "A list of our private security contractors. It’s being sent to the DA’s office as we speak."

"Dante, sit down," I said. "You're shaking."

"I'm losing control, Elara," he whispered, pressing his forehead against the cool glass. "The Rossis are screaming, the board is threatening to replace me, and I don't know what to do."

"Maybe it's not Isabella," I said, playing the part of the concerned wife. "Maybe someone is trying to make you destroy each other."

Dante turned to look at me. "If it's not her, then who?"

"I don't know," I said. "But you need to be careful. Desperate people do desperate things."

Dante walked over and sat on the bed. He put his head in his hands. "I need that son, Elara."

He reached out and pulled me toward him, burying his face in my stomach and I stood there, stroking his hair.