The tunnel entrance was blocked.
Mayor Bellini stood still, his expression unreadable, while the two men behind him waited in silence.
Elena's pulse thundered in her ears.
Daniel's voice was low. "You really think you can hide this forever?"
Bellini tilted his head slightly.
"It's been hidden for forty years."
Elena stepped forward before Daniel could stop her.
"You're wrong," she said, her voice shaking but fierce. "This isn't about the town. This is about control."
For the first time, something flickered in the mayor's eyes.
Annoyance.
But not fear.
"Control keeps people safe," he replied.
"No," Elena said. "Truth does."
A long silence followed.
Then—
Bellini sighed.
"You sound just like her."
Elena froze.
"Like Lucia," he added quietly.
Something in his tone had changed.
Not softer.
Darker.
Daniel noticed it too. "What do you mean?"
Bellini stepped into the chamber, his shoes scraping against the stone floor.
"She wasn't just digging into land records," he said.
Elena's heart skipped.
"What else did she find?"
Bellini looked directly at her.
"Your grandfather wasn't just forging documents," he said slowly.
"He was moving something through those tunnels."
The air seemed to vanish from the room.
Daniel frowned. "Moving what?"
Bellini didn't answer immediately.
Instead, he looked toward Lucia's skeleton.
Then back at Elena.
"Wine shipments," he said at first.
But his slight pause betrayed him.
Elena's voice sharpened.
"That's not the truth."
Bellini's jaw tightened.
Lucia had known.
She had followed the tunnels.
She had seen what was really being transported beneath Seravalle.
Elena stepped closer.
"What was it?" she demanded.
Bellini's voice dropped.
"People."
Silence exploded in the chamber.
Daniel stared at him.
"That's not possible."
"It is," Bellini said coldly. "Laborers.
Migrants. People no one would look for.
They were moved quietly between properties. Hidden. Controlled."
Elena felt her stomach turn.
"My grandfather would never—"
"He didn't start it," Bellini interrupted sharply.
The words hit like a shock.
Daniel's eyes narrowed. "Then who did?"
Bellini smiled faintly.
"My father."
Everything shattered.
"Elena," Daniel whispered, "this changes everything…"
Bellini nodded slowly.
"Yes," he said. "It does."
He looked down at Lucia again.
"She found the truth. Not just about your grandfather… but about mine."
Elena's voice trembled.
"So you're saying… your family was behind it?"
Bellini didn't deny it.
"My father built the system," he said quietly. "Your grandfather helped expand it."
The tunnel felt suffocating.
Lucia hadn't just discovered fraud.
She had uncovered something far worse.
Something worth killing for.
Elena looked at the carved message again.
Matteo… please… don't…
Now she understood.
Lucia hadn't been begging.
She had been trying to stop him.
To stop both of them.
Daniel stepped closer to Elena.
"We need to get out of here," he whispered.
But Bellini raised his hand slightly.
The men behind him stepped forward.
Blocking the path completely.
"I'm afraid," Bellini said calmly, "you know too much now."
The storm above roared violently.
And deep beneath Seravalle—
The truth had finally come to light.
But escaping with it…
Was another story.