Chapter 3 - The Price of Loyalty
The tension inside the warehouse was suffocating. The air smelled of salt water, rust, and the metallic tang of gun oil. Ten heavily armed security guards had their submachine guns aimed squarely at Lorenzo and Dr. Vance.
Lorenzo didn't flinch. He casually stepped in front of the medical table, fully obscuring Isabella from Marcus’s line of sight.
"Marcus," Lorenzo spoke smoothly, his voice devoid of fear. "You always were Mother’s favorite fool. Did she tell you that if you shoot me here, the entire Bellandi international portfolio liquidates automatically under my dead-man clause?"
Marcus hesitated, his finger twitching slightly on the trigger. He looked sideways at Victoria.
Victoria’s eyes narrowed, but she didn't lose her composure. "You think money frightens me, Lorenzo? You think I care about overseas shares when my grandson—the rightful heir to the Bellandi lineage—is dying in a hospital bed?"
"Julian is my nephew," Lorenzo said coldly. "If you had asked me like a human being, if you had sought medical consent, I might have helped you find a donor. But you chained my daughter in a dark hole. You harvested her blood like an animal."
"She is an animal!" Victoria spat, her voice cracking with aristocratic arrogance. "Her mother was a peasant who scrubbed my toilets! She was a nobody who seduced my eldest son to steal our fortune! That child carries impure blood! Her only value in this world is to serve the true Bellandi bloodline!"
On the metal table, Isabella began to cry softly, covering her ears. "Daddy... I'm sorry... I'm sorry I'm bad..."
Lorenzo’s soul burned. He reached behind his back, his hand wrapping around the handle of his custom Kimber .45 pistol. He knew he couldn't outgun ten tactical mercenaries alone while protecting two civilians. He needed a leverage point.
"Dr. Vance," Lorenzo muttered under his breath, barely moving his lips. "When the lights go out, take Isabella through the rear loading dock."
"What about you?" she whispered back.
"Just run."
Victoria noticed the shift in his posture. "Enough of this nonsense. Men, secure the girl. Kill the doctor. As for Lorenzo... break his legs. He can watch his daughter save his nephew from a wheel chair."
Four guards stepped forward, raising their weapons.
Before they could take two steps, a deafening explosion shattered the far wall of the warehouse.
Thick, black smoke instantly flooded the room, accompanied by intense blinding flashes and high-frequency acoustic screeches—military-grade flashbangs.
The mercenaries screamed, blinded and disoriented, firing randomly into the air. Marcus cursed loudly, firing two shots toward the prep table, but his bullets hit only metal.
Through the haze of smoke, several dark figures dressed in black tactical gear—completely different from Victoria’s men—swarmed into the building with terrifying efficiency. They moved like shadows, disarming Victoria’s guards with swift, lethal precision. Bones snapped, bodies hit the concrete, and within fifteen seconds, all ten of Victoria’s mercenaries were unconscious on the floor.
Marcus was slammed face-first into a steel pillar, his revolver kicked away. Victoria was forced to her knees, a gloved hand pressing her heavy shoulders down.
Lorenzo stood motionless, his pistol drawn, cover intact. He recognized the tactical formation immediately.
From the primary breach point, a tall man wearing a tailor-made charcoal suit walked through the swirling smoke. He carried a silver-tipped walking stick and had a deep scar running from his left eyebrow down to his jawline.
"Uncle Dominic," Lorenzo said, slowly lowering his weapon.
Dominic Bellandi—Victoria’s estranged brother-in-law and the undisputed head of the Bellandi family’s underground security syndicate in Europe. He was the one man Victoria truly feared.
Dominic stopped three feet from Victoria, looking down at her with absolute disgust.
"Victoria," Dominic said, his voice deep and gravelly. "You always were an embarrassment to our family's name. But this... this is pitiful."
"Dominic?!" Victoria gasped, her face pale with shock. "What are you doing here? This is a private family matter! Lorenzo has betrayed us—"
"Lorenzo built his own empire," Dominic interrupted coldly. "You, on the other hand, have been quietly bankrupting the Bellandi estate for the last five years to cover Marcus’s gambling debts in Macau."
Marcus groaned from the floor, blood trickling from his forehead.
Dominic turned his gaze toward Lorenzo, then looked over at little Isabella, who was shivering in Dr. Vance’s arms. Dominic’s expression softened slightly. "Is that Clara’s child?"
"Her name is Isabella," Lorenzo said, his voice hard. "And if anyone else in this family touches her, I will burn everything you all built to the ground."
Dominic chuckled softly, a dry, humorless sound. "You sound just like your father when he was young. Relax, Lorenzo. I’m not here to take the girl. I’m here to collect a debt."
Dominic motioned to his men. Two guards hauled Marcus to his feet, while another handed Dominic a thick leather briefcase.
Dominic tossed the briefcase at Victoria’s feet. It popped open, spilling hundreds of financial documents and bank records across the wet floor.
"What is this?" Victoria demanded, her hands trembling.
"Those are the transfer records of the illegal marrow procedures," Dominic said smoothly. "Along with the forgery documents Marcus signed to siphon off Isabella’s trust fund—the one her mother left her. You didn't just steal her blood, Victoria. You stole her inheritance."
Lorenzo’s eyes flared with fresh fury. "What inheritance?"
Dominic turned to Lorenzo. "Clara wasn't just a maid, Lorenzo. Her real name was Clara Vance—Evelyn’s younger sister. She was the rightful heiress to the Vance Pharmaceutical fortune before Victoria had her records altered and framed her family for corporate fraud twenty years ago."
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Lorenzo froze, turning his head sharply toward Dr. Evelyn Vance.
Dr. Vance lowered her head, tears welling in her eyes. "It's true, Lorenzo. Clara ran away from the Bellandi family's persecution... she took a job as a maid in your mansion under an alias just to find the evidence to clear our family name. But then... she fell in love with you."
