Chapter 14 - The Last BetrayalThe room went silent.
Carmine looked at everyone.
“Who?”
Maria didn’t answer.
She reached into her coat.
Carmine raised his gun.
“Slowly.”
She pulled out a photograph.
Placed it on the floor.
Ivy stared.
It showed Carmine standing beside Rocco.
But the date was recent.
Rocco had supposedly been dead for days.
Ivy looked at Carmine.
“No.”
Maria smiled.
“Rocco never died.”
Carmine’s eyes narrowed.
The corpse in the basement had been a decoy.
A body altered to look like him.
Rocco stepped from the tunnel behind Maria.
Alive.
Bloodless.
Smiling.
Ivy recoiled.
He looked at Carmine.
“Boss.”
Carmine aimed the gun.
Rocco laughed.
“You really believed I was the traitor?”
“You attacked her.”
“Yes.”
“You tried to kill her.”
“No.”
Rocco looked at Ivy.
“I was trying to scare you into leaving.”
“Why?”
“Because they were watching you.”
“Who?”
Rocco glanced at Maria.
Then at Gideon.
Then at Lucia.
“Everyone.”
Carmine’s eyes hardened.
“You worked with them.”
“I worked to keep her alive.”
Carmine lowered the gun slightly.
Rocco continued.
“The attack was staged.”
Ivy’s face went pale.
“You hurt me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because if I hadn’t convinced them I hated you, they would have killed you.”
Ivy stared.
“That doesn’t excuse what you did.”
“I know.”
Carmine stepped forward.
“You could have told me.”
“I tried.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
Rocco looked at him.
“Because there was a traitor inside your inner circle.”
Carmine’s gaze sharpened.
“Who?”
Rocco pointed.
At Gideon.
Gideon immediately raised his hands.
“No.”
Rocco smiled.
“Not him.”
Carmine turned.
There were only four people left in the tunnel.
Carmine.
Ivy.
Lucia.
Maria.
Rocco.
And one of them was lying.
Rocco whispered:
“You keep looking at the accountants.”
He pointed toward the final person.
“The betrayal came from the family.”
Carmine looked at Lucia.
Lucia shook her head.
“No.”
Maria laughed.
“Too late.”
She pulled out a phone.
A video began playing.
Carmine watched.
His face drained of color.
The video showed Ivy’s mother.
Alive.
Sitting in a chair.
And standing behind her was the person nobody had suspected.
Ivy stared at the screen.
Her mother looked into the camera.
Then said:
“Ivy, sweetheart, I’m sorry.”
Ivy began crying.
Her mother continued.
“I was the one who sent Rocco.”
The screen went black.
Carmine looked at Ivy.
And she whispered:
May you like
“My mother lied to me too.”
Then every light in the tunnel went out.
