Chapter 5 - The Fall of the TraitorsVanessa took a frantic, hysterical step forward, pointing her manicured finger at me. "She's a nobody! She's a waitress from Bellini's! Dante, she's trying to manipulate you! She was in on the plot!"
"Cara Fields didn't manipulate me, Vanessa," Dante interrupted softly, taking my hand and bringing my knuckles to his lips for a slow, reverent kiss that made the entire ballroom gasp in shock. "Cara Fields pulled me from a burning car on a mountain pass while you were drinking scotch at the Ritz."
Marco stepped forward, projecting a massive financial and surveillance archive onto the ballroom's primary wall monitor.
The red text and audio files illuminated the room:
FORGED HYDRAULIC REPAIR ORDERS: PIER 12 — Executed by Marcus Moretti’s private crew at 6:00 PM yesterday.
RECORDED AUDIO: BELLINI'S — 9:58 PM — Vanessa Moretti discussing the brake line sabotage with her father's hitman.
EVIDENCE IN THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN THOMAS FIELDS (NYPD) — Certified forensic ballistics linking Marcus Moretti to the 2021 precinct fire.
Marcus Moretti let out a pathetic, choked shriek, collapsing onto his knees flat on the polished floorboards as four uniformed Federal Marshals, accompanied by NYPD Homicide detectives, stepped through the crowd.
CLICK. CLICK.
Heavy steel handcuffs locked around Marcus Moretti’s wrists first.
CLICK. CLICK.
A second set of cuffs locked around Vanessa Moretti’s wrists. She thrashed wildly, screaming curses at me as federal agents dragged her and her father flat across the carpet toward the double doors in chains.
The two hundred guests in the ballroom stood silent, then erupted into a warm, respectful applause as Dante turned his dark gray eyes onto my face.
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"Your father's name is cleared, Cara," Dante whispered softly into my ear, his hand tightening around mine.
"And his daughter is home, Dante," I answered, smiling radiantly as tears of pure, weightless joy spilled down my cheeks.
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