Chapter 6 - The Betrayal of Henry Brandt
The hallway was chaos.
Guards shouted into radios.
Employees cried near the kitchen.
One security man lay on the floor with blood spreading across his shoulder.
I ran toward the security wing, my heart pounding so violently I could barely think.
“Rosie!” I screamed.
“Clare!” Matteo shouted behind me.
I reached the guarded suite just as the door opened.
Henry Brandt stepped out.
He was holding Rosie’s hand.
For one breathless second, I felt relief.
Then I saw the gun in his other hand.
Rosie’s face was pale.
The triplets stood behind him, frozen.
“Let her go,” I said.
Henry’s expression was calm.
Too calm.
“I was hoping you would stay in your room, Ms. Bennett.”
“Take your hand off my daughter.”
Matteo stopped several feet behind me.
His men raised weapons.
Henry pressed the gun closer to Rosie’s side.
“Tell them to lower their guns,” he said.
Matteo’s voice turned deadly. “Henry.”
“You should have listened to Elena.”
“Where is my wife?”
For the first time, Henry smiled.
“She is alive.”
The world seemed to stop.
Matteo took a step forward.
Henry lifted the gun.
“Don’t.”
“Where is she?”
“She is where she has been for three years. Waiting for a chance to expose you all.”
“You helped Victor take her,” Matteo said.
“No. Victor helped me save her.”
My stomach dropped.
“Save her from what?” I asked.
Henry looked at me.
“From Matteo.”
Matteo’s face went cold.
Henry continued. “You see only what he lets you see. The charitable businessman. The protective father. The grieving husband. But his family built its power on blood. Elena wanted out. She wanted the boys away from this world.”
“So why hide her from her children?” I demanded.
“Because Matteo would have found her.”
“And now?”
“Now Victor wants what he was promised.”
Matteo’s eyes narrowed. “Victor is alive.”
Henry’s smile vanished.
“Yes.”
A sharp sound came from the window.
Glass shattered.
A smoke grenade rolled into the hallway.
Guards shouted.
Rosie screamed.
I lunged forward through the smoke.
Henry fired once.
The bullet struck the wall.
Then he shoved Rosie toward me and ran.
I caught her, pulling her against my chest.
The triplets rushed toward Matteo.
He dropped to his knees and gathered all three boys around him.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then Dante’s voice came over the radio.
“Vehicle breach at the north gate. Henry escaped with an external team.”
Matteo stared into the smoke-filled hallway.
“Find him,” he said.
His voice was low.
Terrifying.
Then Nico looked up at his father.
“Mom is alive?”
Matteo’s face broke.
Just slightly.
But enough.
“I don’t know,” he said.
It was the first honest answer he had given them.
May you like
And it was the beginning of everything changing.
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