The rain softened into a cold drizzle.
But the tension around them only grew heavier.
Elena stared at Isabella, her mind racing.
"Rebuilding it?" she repeated. "You mean the tunnels?"
Isabella shook her head slowly.
"Not just the tunnels," she said. "The entire system."
Daniel frowned. "The trafficking… the hidden movement of people?"
Isabella nodded.
"He's been restoring old properties quietly.
Buying land under different names.
Reopening sealed cellar routes."
Elena felt sick.
"And no one noticed?"
"They noticed," Isabella said bitterly. "They just didn't question it."
Daniel's voice turned sharp.
"What's his end goal?"
Isabella hesitated.
Then answered.
"A private transport route," she said.
"Hidden beneath the vineyards. No records.
No oversight. No interference."
Elena's chest tightened.
"He's turning the past into a business."
"Exactly."
Lightning flashed faintly in the distance.
Daniel ran a hand through his wet hair.
"We need proof," he said. "Something real.
Something undeniable."
Isabella looked at him.
"There is."
Both Elena and Daniel froze.
"What?" Elena asked.
Isabella reached into her coat slowly.
From inside, she pulled out a small, worn notebook.
Leather-bound.
Edges cracked with age.
"I didn't just record the tape," she said. "I kept everything."
Daniel stepped closer.
"What is that?"
"Lucia's notes," Isabella said.
Elena's breath caught.
"Lucia documented everything she discovered," Isabella continued. "Names.
dates. routes. shipments."
Daniel's eyes widened.
"This could expose everything."
Isabella nodded.
"It could destroy the Bellini family."
Elena took the notebook carefully, her hands trembling.
Inside were pages filled with handwriting.
Detailed.
Careful.
Dangerous.
Lucia hadn't just uncovered the truth.
She had recorded it.
All of it.
Elena looked up.
"Why didn't you use this before?"
Isabella's expression darkened.
"Because it wouldn't have been enough back then," she said. "Bellini controlled everything. Police. records. people."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"But now things are different."
Elena closed the notebook firmly.
"And now we have this," she said.
"And the tape," Daniel added.
"And the tunnels," Isabella said.
A moment of silence passed.
Then Elena spoke the words that changed everything.
"We expose him."
Daniel looked at her.
"That's not going to be simple."
"It doesn't have to be simple," Elena replied.
"It just has to be done."
Thunder rumbled one last time in the distance.
The storm was passing.
But something bigger was about to begin.
Because now—
They weren't just uncovering the truth.
They were going to bring it into the light.
And Mayor Bellini—
Was about to lose everything.