Chapter 7: The Sins of the Father
The holding cell smelled of bleach, stale sweat, and desperation. Isabella Rossi sat rigidly on the hard metal bench, her blood-stained Valentino gown sticking to her skin, her bare feet tucked under her. She looked like a deposed queen stripped of her crown.
When the heavy steel door finally clanked open, she expected to see her high-priced defense attorney. Instead, a tall, gray-haired man in a tailored Brioni suit stepped into the room.
Victor Rossi looked at his daughter with absolute disgust.
“Daddy,” Isabella gasped, leaping up from the bench. “Thank God. You have to get me out of here. The police are treating me like an animal! They took my phone, they wouldn’t let me shower—”
“Sit down,” Victor snarled, his voice echoing off the concrete walls.
Isabella froze. She had seen her father angry before, but never like this.
“Do you have any idea what you have done?” Victor demanded, pacing the small room like a caged tiger. “Do you comprehend the magnitude of your stupidity? I spent thirty years building Rossi Enterprises. Thirty years kissing the rings of men like Marcus Thorne to secure our family’s legacy. And you destroyed it in thirty seconds because you couldn't control your pathetic, delusional obsession!”
“It wasn’t my fault!” Isabella shrieked, the panic finally breaking through her arrogance. “She pushed me! The video was edited! You have to believe me!”
Victor slammed his fist against the metal table, making Isabella flinch violently. “I don’t care what the video shows! I care that my stock plummeted forty percent in the last two hours! I care that Marcus Thorne just bought out all of my senior creditors and called in my loans! We are being financially slaughtered, Isabella! He is liquidating our legacy to punish you!”
Isabella’s mouth fell open. “Marcus… Marcus wouldn’t do that. He loves me. He’s just angry. He’s just putting on a show for the press—”
Victor laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. “You are truly insane. He doesn’t love you. He is coming for my head because of what you did. And I am not going to let you drag me down with you.”
“What… what are you saying?” Isabella whispered.
“I’m disinheriting you,” Victor said coldly, buttoning his suit jacket. “I have already issued a press release condemning your actions. You are no longer a Rossi. The company will not pay for your defense. I will not post your bail. You are entirely on your own.”
“You can’t do this!” Isabella screamed, lunging forward, but the heavy chain of her handcuffs jerked her back. “I’m your daughter! You can’t leave me in here!”
“Watch me,” Victor spat. He turned on his heel and banged his fist against the door. “Guard! I’m done here.”
As the heavy steel door slammed shut behind her father, Isabella collapsed onto the floor, weeping hysterically. Her money was gone. Her name was ruined. Marcus was destroying her family.
But as her sobs echoed in the damp cell, a sudden, chilling memory flashed through her mind. Plan B.
She looked up at the flickering fluorescent light above her. Victor had abandoned her, but she wasn’t truly alone. The man on the phone—the shadow who had been feeding her information about Marcus and Khloe’s private schedules for months—had promised her protection.
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“Destroy the Thorne empire. Burn it all to the ground,” she had told him.
She wiped her tears, a dark, manic smile spreading across her face. Marcus thought he could break her by taking her money? He was about to find out that a woman with nothing left to lose is the most dangerous weapon on earth.
