Chapter 5 - THE TUNNEL UNDER THE CHAPEL
The road to the chapel was flooded in places, forcing Lorenzo to abandon the vehicle and continue on foot.
Mud covered his shoes. Rain soaked through his shirt. Victoria struggled behind him, slipping on the wet ground, but Lorenzo did not slow down.
Every second mattered.
He kept seeing Isabella behind the portrait.
Her tiny hands gripping his jacket.
Her voice asking whether he was angry.
He should have protected her from the moment she was born. Instead, he had trusted the wrong people because trusting them had been easier than questioning his family.
At the chapel, the wooden doors stood open.
Inside, candles burned along the altar.
No one was there.
Lorenzo crossed the empty room and found a trapdoor beneath the carpet. The lock had been broken recently.
A staircase descended into darkness.
Victoria stopped at the entrance.
“I’ve never been down there.”
“You knew it existed.”
“Marcus told me only after your father died.”
“Why did you stay silent?”
Victoria looked at him.
“Because I thought silence was the only way to survive.”
Lorenzo turned away.
They descended.
The tunnel smelled of wet stone and rust. Water ran along the walls. Their footsteps echoed far ahead, making it impossible to tell how long the passage was.
Then they heard something.
A child crying.
Lorenzo ran toward the sound.
“Isabella!”
Her voice answered from somewhere in the darkness.
“Daddy!”
He followed it until he reached a rusted iron gate.
Behind the gate was an old storage room.
Isabella sat on a wooden crate, her hands tied loosely with a scarf. Marcus stood beside her.
He held a gun.
Lorenzo stopped.
Victoria made a frightened sound behind him.
Marcus turned.
His face looked exhausted, almost sorrowful.
“Put the gun down,” Lorenzo said.
Marcus glanced at Isabella.
“She’s unharmed.”
“Move away from her.”
“You found the boathouse.”
“And the letter.”
Marcus closed his eyes.
“Matteo never understood what it took to keep this family alive.”
“You killed my mother.”
“I didn’t kill her.”
“You arranged the brakes.”
“I arranged a warning.”
Lorenzo’s expression changed.
Marcus continued quickly.
“She was going to destroy the company. Your father had become unstable. He wanted to hand control to you, but you were twenty-six and reckless. Victoria and I believed we could protect the Bellandi name.”
“You stole millions.”
“I moved money to protect it.”
“You murdered my mother.”
“She survived the crash.”
Lorenzo froze.
Marcus lowered the gun.
“She was alive when we found her. She had a broken leg and internal bleeding. We could have called an ambulance.”
“But you didn’t.”
“Your mother had the evidence. If she lived, everything would collapse.”
Victoria began to sob.
“I didn’t know he left her there.”
Marcus looked toward her.
“You knew enough.”
Lorenzo felt something inside him break.
He had spent six years grieving a death that had been made deliberate.
“Why take Isabella?”
“She found the recording. I needed it before you heard it.”
“You could have searched the house.”
“Your father encrypted the file. The key was inside the collar.”
Lorenzo looked at the black collar still around Isabella’s neck.
“Why put it on her?”
Marcus’s expression hardened.
“Because Victoria told me the child had taken the box.”
Victoria shook her head.
“She was holding it. I thought the tag was empty.”
“You put it on her,” Lorenzo said.
“I thought it was a joke.”
“There is no joke involving a locked room and a frightened child.”
Victoria lowered her head.
Isabella began to whimper.
Lorenzo slowly raised both hands.
“Marcus, let her go.”
“You don’t understand. If that recording reaches the board, I lose everything. The company, the money, my freedom.”
“You lost those things when you chose to hurt a child.”
Marcus’s eyes moved toward the tunnel behind Lorenzo.
A distant siren echoed above the ground.
Lorenzo had called the police before entering the chapel.
Marcus heard it too.
He grabbed Isabella and pulled her against his chest, the gun pressed near her shoulder.
Lorenzo’s voice became calm.
“Marcus, listen to me. You can still walk out of here alive.”
“You brought the police.”
“I brought help.”
“You brought executioners.”
“No. I brought witnesses.”
Marcus laughed bitterly.
“You always were your father’s favorite.”
“And you always hated him for it.”
Marcus’s grip tightened.
Isabella suddenly reached for the silver tag.
Her tiny fingers pressed the side of it.
A sharp metallic click sounded.
The tag opened.
A small red light blinked inside.
Marcus looked down.
The memory card was no longer there.
Lorenzo had removed it earlier.
The collar contained something else.
A recording device.
The entire conversation was being transmitted to Calvin’s receiver above ground.
Marcus realized it too late.
Lorenzo stepped forward.
“Let her go.”
Marcus pointed the gun toward him.
Victoria lunged from behind and struck Marcus’s arm.
The gun fired.
The shot exploded through the tunnel.
Isabella screamed.
Marcus staggered backward. Lorenzo rushed forward, grabbed Isabella, and pulled her free.
Marcus slipped near the edge of the flooded passage and fell hard against the stone wall.
The gun slid into the water.
Police officers entered from both ends of the tunnel.
Victoria stood frozen, staring at her hands.
Lorenzo held Isabella against his chest.
“Daddy,” she whispered. “I was brave.”
He kissed her wet hair.
“You were the bravest person here.”
Behind them, Marcus was handcuffed.
As officers led him away, he looked at Lorenzo.
“You think this ends with me?”
Lorenzo stared back.
“No.”
May you like
He looked toward Victoria.
“It ends when every secret is exposed.”
