Chapter 4 - The Betrayal Within
The private wing of White Plains Memorial Hospital was locked down tighter than a federal penitentiary within twenty minutes of their arrival. Dr. Katherine Sterling, a trusted family physician who had secretly despised Vivien’s tyrannical grip on the Rossi household for years, hovered anxiously over the examination bed while a team of nurses monitored Grace’s vitals.
"She's severely malnourished and suffering from acute psychological trauma," Dr. Sterling informed Dante as he stood by the door, his arms crossed, his face carved from dark granite. "The baby is under immense stress, but miraculously, heart tones are strong. However, given her condition, labor could be triggered at any moment. She needs absolute rest, nourishment, and security."
"No one gets in," Dante ordered, looking directly at Marco, his most trusted enforcer who had just arrived at the hospital. "Not my mother. Not her associates. If anyone approaches this room, you put them down."
"Understood, boss," Marco nodded firmly.
Dante walked back into the private room and pulled a chair up beside Grace’s bed. She was resting now, an IV drip rehydrating her frail body, her breathing deep and even. He reached out, gently intertwining his fingers with hers.
The door to the room clicked open. Dante didn't turn around, assuming it was the doctor.
"I told you, no visitors," Dante said coldly.
"Even if the visitor carries information about the rat inside your inner circle?" a smooth, chillingly familiar voice replied.
Dante snapped his head around. Standing in the doorway was Victor Vance—the patriarch of the rival syndicate across the state line, a man Dante had spent the last six months trying to neutralize. Vance was flanked by two armed men, smiling a sharp, predatory smile.
Dante was on his feet in a fraction of a second, his hand sliding instantly to the hidden firearm at his waist. "You've got a lot of nerve walking into my hospital, Vance."
"Relax, Rossi," Vance chuckled, holding up his hands in mock surrender. "I didn't come here to start a war. In fact, I came to save you from one. Do you really think your mother acted alone in locking your wife away?"
Dante narrowed his eyes. "What are you talking about?"
Vance tossed a thick manila envelope onto the edge of Grace’s hospital bed. It slid across the sheets, stopping near Dante’s hand.
"Your mother didn't just want to get rid of a commoner," Vance said, his expression turning serious. "She made a deal with my second-in-command three months ago. In exchange for handing over control of your northern shipping ports, my organization agreed to back her play to oust you, eliminate your pregnant wife, and install a puppet CEO who would bow to our joint syndicate. Your mother sold your family out for corporate power, Dante."
Dante slowly picked up the envelope, his fingers tearing open the clasp. Inside were signed contracts, bank transfer receipts routing millions of dollars from Rossi accounts into an offshore shell company owned by Vivien, and transcripts of secret meetings between his mother and his worst enemies.
The betrayal was complete. Total. Absolute.
"Why are you telling me this?" Dante asked, his voice dead and terrifying.
May you like
Vance smiled thinly. "Because a war built on corporate backstabbing and family treason is bad for business. Besides... even monsters have codes, Rossi. And what your mother did to an expectant mother crosses a line that even the underworld doesn't forgive."
Vance turned and walked out of the room, leaving Dante standing in the sterile light, holding the proof that the woman who gave him life had tried to destroy everything he loved.
