Mafia Boss Discovers His Bride Is a Virgin… He Thought His Innocent Bride Was…
Chapter 7
Matteo spent the next week investigating his father.
He found old records.
Hidden payments.
Private meetings.
One name appearing repeatedly.
Isabella’s mother.
The two families had been partners once.
Not enemies.
Partners.
They had built companies together.
Then something happened.
A missing shipment.
Millions of dollars.
A secret account.
And finally, a murder.
Matteo discovered his father had tried to protect Isabella’s mother.
But someone inside the family betrayed them.
The traitor was not Matteo’s father.
It was his uncle.
The same uncle who had advised Isabella’s father.
And the same man who had later disappeared.
Matteo found him living under a false identity in another city.
He confronted him.
“You betrayed both families.”
His uncle laughed.
“You were always too emotional.”
“Why did you kill her?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then who?”
His uncle smiled.
“Ask your wife.”
Matteo froze.
“What does that mean?”
“She knows more than she thinks.”
Back at the safe house, he told Isabella everything.
She was stunned.
“My mother knew you?”
“Yes.”
“She trusted your father?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did she warn me about your family?”
“Because she didn’t know who she could trust.”
Isabella sat silently.
Then she remembered something.
“When I was a child, my mother used to say one sentence whenever she was afraid.”
“What?”
“‘The innocent person always gets blamed first.’”
Matteo looked at her.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
A memory came back.
A locked drawer in her mother’s room.
A red ribbon.
A photograph.
And a name.
“Clara.”
Matteo frowned.
“Who is Clara?”
“My mother’s personal assistant.”
They searched.
Clara had disappeared after the murder.
But one old address remained.
They found her in a quiet coastal town.
Clara was elderly now.
When she saw Isabella, she started crying.
“You have your mother’s eyes.”
Isabella sat beside her.
“Tell me what happened.”
Clara hesitated.
Then said:
“Your mother discovered the money wasn’t stolen.”
Matteo leaned forward.
“What money?”
“The forty million.”
“What happened?”
“It was never meant to belong to the criminals.”
“Then who?”
“Your mother created the trust to expose them.”
Clara handed Isabella a photograph.
It showed several men standing around a table.
One was Isabella’s father.
One was Matteo’s father.
One was Victor Bellini.
And one was a woman.
Isabella stared.
She knew her.
It was her aunt.
Clara whispered:
“Your aunt arranged the murder.”
Isabella covered her mouth.
“Why?”
“Because your mother was going to expose her.”
Everything fell into place.
But Clara wasn’t finished.
“There is one more secret.”
She looked at Matteo.
“Your father knew.”
He froze.
“But he wasn’t helping your aunt.”
“Then what was he doing?”
Clara answered:
“Preparing to expose her.”
Matteo closed his eyes.
His father had been protecting Isabella’s mother all along.
And someone had killed him before he could finish.
