Chapter 186: Isabella Found The Bugs

Off.

She couldn’t explain it....just a feeling in her gut that something in her apartment had changed.

Isabella moved slowly through her bedroom, studying everything carefully.

Nothing looked disturbed. Nothing looked out of place.

But that feeling persisted.

She checked her living room. Her office. Her kitchen.

Everything was exactly as she’d left it.

Except....

Isabella stopped in front of the decorative lamp on her side table.

It had been there for months. She barely noticed it anymore.

But now, studying it carefully, she saw something that made her blood run cold.

There was a tiny seam around the base. A seam that shouldn’t be there on a solid piece.

Isabella’s hands shook as she picked up the lamp, examined it more closely.

The base unscrewed.

And inside, tucked carefully, was a small device she didn’t recognize.

A listening device.

Isabella’s breath came in short gasps.

Listening device.

Someone was listening to her.

Recording her.

Monitoring her conversations.

Her eyes flew to the other decorative items in her apartment. The lamp on the opposite side table. The picture frame on her shelf. The smoke detector in the corner.

How many?

How many devices were planted in her apartment?

How long had they been here?

And most importantly....

Who had put them there?

Isabella’s first instinct was to call her father.

But she immediately rejected it.

If her father found out she was being monitored, if he realized someone was surveilling his daughter....

He’d think she’d failed him again.

Think she was weak. Vulnerable. A liability.

She couldn’t let him know.

But she needed help.

Isabella’s hands shook as she scrolled through her phone contacts.

Enzo.

She hadn’t spoken to him in weeks, but he’d called to check on her just recently.

Had offered help.

Had said he was there for her.

Isabella hit call before she could change her mind.

***

POV: ENZO

Enzo was in his New York office when Isabella called.

Her voice was panicked. Frightened. Completely different from the composed woman he’d spoken to weeks earlier.

"I think I’m being followed," Isabella said, her words tumbling over each other. "And I think....I think my apartment is bugged. There’s a listening device in my lamp. Maybe more. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do."

"Slow down," Enzo said calmly, already standing, already moving. "Start from the beginning. When did you first notice you were being followed?"

"Days ago. Maybe a week. I kept seeing the same car. The same men. I thought I was paranoid but...." Her voice cracked. "But now I’ve found the device and I know I’m not paranoid."

"Have you called your father?"

"No." Isabella’s response was immediate and firm. "I can’t. If he knows, he’ll think I’m weak. He’ll think I’ve failed somehow. I can’t...." She sobbed. "I can’t bear to see that disappointment again."

Enzo understood that feeling.

Had spent most of his life trying to avoid disappointing Antonio.

"Okay. Listen to me carefully. Don’t touch any other devices. Don’t tell anyone else." Enzo was already pulling up his security contacts. "I’m sending two of my best men to you. They’ll be there within the hour. They’ll sweep your apartment, find all the devices, and keep you safe."

"Enzo....thank you....I’m sorry to burden you with this...."

"You’re not a burden. You’re my friend, even if the politics are complicated." Enzo’s mind was already working through who would have the resources to surveil Isabella. Who would have the motivation. Who would benefit from having her monitored.

The Romanos.

It had to be.

"The men will be there soon," Enzo said. "When they arrive, tell them everything. Don’t hold back. The more they know, the better they can protect you."

"What if they find more devices?"

"Then we know exactly who we’re dealing with. And we know exactly what we need to do."

Enzo hung up, immediately called his head of security.

"Get me two of our best. I need them at Isabella’s penthouse in Rome within the hour. Full surveillance detection equipment. And I need them ready for the possibility that this building is completely compromised."

"Understood. What are we looking for?"

"The Romanos," Enzo said quietly. "I think Dante just made his first real move. And Isabella is the target."

***

POV: DANTE

Dante listened to Isabella’s call with Enzo and felt everything click into place.

Enzo was moving.

Sending men.

Which meant Enzo suspected the Romanos were behind the surveillance.

Which meant Enzo was going to come to Rome.

Which meant Dante now had Enzo Valentino walking directly into a trap.

Perfect.

Dante had been planning how to use Isabella against Dimitri.

But now he realized Isabella was worth so much more than that.

Isabella was the key to accessing Enzo.

And Enzo was the key to understanding Dimitri’s entire operation in the Northeast.

Dante picked up his phone, called Luca.

"New plan," he said when his second-in-command answered. "Let Enzo’s men find the devices. Let them sweep the apartment. Let them think they’ve discovered our surveillance and have successfully removed it."

"But boss, if they remove the devices...."

"I know. Which is why we’re going to let them remove them while we install new ones they won’t find." Dante replied.

"And Isabella?"

"Isabella stays exactly where she is. Thinks she’s been protected. Thinks she’s safe."

Dante ended the call, leaned back in his car, and felt satisfaction settle deep in his bones.

Dimitri Valentino had killed his brother.

And now Dimitri was going to pay in ways he couldn’t even imagine.

Not through direct confrontation.

Not through warfare.

But through the systematic destruction of everything he cared about.

Starting with Isabella Russo, who was so broken she’d become the perfect tool.

And continuing with Enzo Valentino, who cared enough about family to walk directly into danger.

By the time Dimitri realized what was happening, it would be too late.

The pieces would already be in motion.

And there would be nothing he could do to stop it.