Chapter 29 Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Chapter 29
Elara’s POV. 

Isabella Rossi.

I stared at the signature until my eyes stung. Next of kin authorization. She signed it. Isabella signed the papers that let them pump my father full of experimental sedatives until his heart stopped. She was twenty when she did it. Twenty.

Why her? The question kept repeating in my head. She wasn’t family, she had no right to be there. She stood in and decided he should die quiet so no one would ever hear what he found.

My chest felt tight, like someone was squeezing it from the inside. All these years I believed my father just had a heart attack. I thought Miller chased me at eighteen because I was unstable like him. But it was her. Isabella made sure he never got to speak. She signed the order and then smiled at me years later while telling me Dante would lock me away after the birth. The same woman. 

I felt enraged. Like everything I thought I knew about my life had been rewritten in one line.

“Why her?” I whispered. My voice came out shaky. “Why would Isabella sign as next of kin for my father? She wasn’t family. She had no right to do that.”

Dante was coughing from the smoke but he turned fast. “What did you just say?”

I held the paper up even though the room was filling fast. “Look. Right here. Isabella Rossi signed the authorization for the sedatives. She’s the one who approved the treatment that killed him. She made sure he died before he could expose Caldera.”

Dante took the paper. I watched his face change. “She was involved that long ago?”

“Yes,” I said. “My father was investigating illegal drug trials at Caldera. He had real proof, Silas wrote the fake reports calling him crazy and Isabella signed the order that ended his life. She’s been part of this since I was fourteen. Before I even met you, before the contract, before any of it.”

The smoke burned my throat. I could barely see Dante now.

He grabbed my shoulders. “We need to move. Now. We can’t stay here.”

I nodded but my mind wouldn’t stop running.

Dante pulled me up from the floor. “Elara, stay with me. We’re getting out.”

Lorenzo’s voice came through the door. “We’re blowing it in three… two… one!”

The explosion shook everything. The shutters broke open, Marco and Lorenzo charged through and grabbed us.

“Car is outside!” Marco shouted. “Move!”

We ran down the hallway. My legs felt heavy but I kept going. The folder stayed tight against my chest. I couldn’t let it go. 

We burst out the service exit into the rain. The black SUV waited with the door open, engine running.

Dante grabbed my arm and pulled me toward the waiting black SUV.

He pushed me into the backseat first and climbed in right after. Marco slammed the door and the driver floored it. 

I was breathing hard. The folder was still in my lap. I opened it again even though my hands shook. There was more; a financial record showing millions going from Caldera to Silas’s account. And at the end, the board list.

Vittorio Rossi. Chairman. Isabella’s father.

“They didn’t just kill my father,” I said quietly. “Vittorio Rossi paid for it. He funded the trials my dad was trying to expose. Isabella signed the papers, Silas wrote the lies. The whole family has been protecting this. And they came after me because I was his daughter. They wanted me quiet too.”

Dante turned to me. “You’re telling me this started before I even found you?”

“Yes,” I answered. “I thought you were the monster who wanted to use me and throw me away. But Isabella has been trying to erase me since I was a kid. She helped kill my father. She planned to do the same thing to me after I gave you a son. She’s been laughing at us this whole time.”

Dante’s hand found mine. “Then we stop pretending. We take this file straight to Agent Reed and expose all of them. Isabella, her father, Silas, Caldera. Everything.”

I looked out at the rain. “I don’t just want to expose her, I want to hear her say it. I want Isabella to look me in the eye and admit she signed my father’s death order. Then I want to watch her lose everything.”

The car suddenly jerked hard. The driver slammed on the brakes. My body jerked forward against the seatbelt.

Red and blue lights lit up the road. Sirens sounding from every direction. Three black SUVs blocked us, doors flew open, armed men stepped out.

“Get out of the car, Moretti!” a man shouted. “Give us the file and the doctor. Right now.”

I grabbed Dante’s arm. “They set us up. We have to turn around.”

But one of the SUV doors opened. Isabella stepped out. She walked straight in front of our car and stood there in the rain, smiling.
“Dante,” she called, voice sweet and calm. “Come here. It’s time to end this little game.”

Dante let go of my hand, opened the door and stepped out. He walked over and stood right beside her.

I pushed my door open and got out too. “Dante, what are you doing?”

Isabella laughed. “You really think you won, right? Dante has been the one who orchestrated everything from the beginning of your whole life till this day. He has been doing everything. He picked you on purpose, made sure you signed that contract. And now that you’re pregnant with the heir, it’s time for the final act.”

My stomach dropped. “Dante… say something.”

Dante looked at me like I was nothing. “You really think you’re worth something, huh? Marco, get her ass in the car and take her back home. Make sure she does not leave until I say so. We don’t want anything worrying that baby. We’ve had enough fun.”

Marco grabbed my arm and pulled me back inside the SUV. I fought but he was too strong. 

I sat in the backseat shaking. Right when I thought he might have actually cared. Tears began to roll from my eyes but I cleaned them immediately. 

The car stopped at the mansion. I stormed upstairs, found Lorenzo’s burner phone on the dresser and called Sloane.

“I want you to hack every account of Dante Moretti,” I said the second she answered. “I want a deposit of $100 million dollars to an offshore account. Can you help me?”

Sloane didn’t even pause. “You would hear a ding in the next 30 minutes. What are you gonna do?”

“I’ll let you know as soon as I’m done. I’ve had enough talks. There’s no room for forgiveness anymore. These motherfuckers really want me to fold by all means. Well my mama didn’t raise no bitch.”

I hung up. I went downstairs to the living room and called all the staff.

“I do not want to see any of you in the next hour,” I said. “Pack your things and leave.”

One worker stepped forward. “We serve the Moretti family, ma’am.”

“I am a Moretti,” I snapped. “And if I see all your faces in the next hour, you might as well burn with the house too.”

They scattered. Lorenzo walked in.
“Elara, you need to have patience,” he said quietly.

I turned to him. “Lorenzo, I can’t do this anymore. I HAVE to go. Please, help me escape your brother.”

Lorenzo looked at me, eyes serious. “I’ll help you. We’ll figure out a way tonight. Just give me ten minutes to—”

The front door slammed open. Dante walked in, eyes locked on me like a predator.

“Going somewhere, wife?” he said coldly.

I didn't have time to think, the sound of this voice made my blood spike. I pulled the small gun I had taken from the hospital raid out of my waistband, aimed it at Dante’s chest, and pulled the trigger.

BANG!