Location: Isabella's Safehouse – 3:17 A.M.
The room was still.
But inside Isabella, a storm raged.
Her father.
Alive.
Tortured. Hidden. And used as a pawn by the devil she'd spent years trying to destroy.
"Why would Ricci keep him alive?" she whispered.
Allegra paced. "Leverage. To break you. Or worse—twist him."
Gianna's name rang louder in her mind than ever.
"Call her," Isabella ordered.
Nico blinked. "Are you sure?"
"No," she said. "But if we're playing with fire, I want every match accounted for."
---
Elsewhere – Gianna's Hiding Spot
The burner phone rang once.
Twice.
Gianna answered, breath tight. "You shouldn't be calling me."
"You should've told me about my father," Isabella snapped.
Gianna went quiet.
"I didn't know for sure," she admitted. "But Costanzo—he talked. Slipped one night. Said Ricci was keeping 'a king in a cage.'"
"Where?"
"There's a holding facility under his summer estate in Montauk. No tech. Off-grid. You'll need full clearance."
A pause.
"Isa… I don't want forgiveness. But if you go after him, don't go alone. He's not the man you remember."
---
Location: Ricci's Montauk Estate – Underground Holding Cells
Matteo Moretti sat in the dark, half-shadow, half-man.
Two years chained, starved, drugged. Fed lies, half-truths, and just enough hope to keep him breathing.
Costanzo entered, slow, deliberate.
"You know, Matteo," he said, "your daughter has built quite the reputation."
Matteo lifted his head slowly.
"She's dead," he rasped. "You told me."
Costanzo smiled.
"We said what you needed to believe. Now, here's a better one: she's alive. But she's become one of them."
He tossed photos on the floor—Isabella with Allegra. With Nico. With blood on her hands.
"She's betrayed everything you built."
Matteo's knuckles turned white.
But he said nothing.
Costanzo leaned down. "She'll come for you. And when she does... I need you to help me break her."
---
Location: Isabella's War Room – Later That Day
The map lit up. Plans unfurled. Montauk was locked.
"We go in three nights from now," Isabella said. "Stealth only. We breach, extract, burn the house on the way out."
Allegra crossed her arms. "And if it's a trap?"
Nico answered before Isabella could.
"Then we fight our way through and bring Matteo out—even if he doesn't want to be saved."
Gianna's voice crackled through the line. "He won't trust you. He might not trust her. They've messed with his head."
Isabella said softly, "Then I'll remind him who I am."
---
Final Scene – Ricci's Study
Costanzo watched the monitors. Matteo's photo in one hand. A gun in the other.
"Let her come," he said, eyes cold. "Let her see what love looks like when it's been poisoned."
Ricci lit a cigar.
"Every queen has a breaking point. Let's make this war her funeral."