Chapter 45.

As the storm rages, the jeweller Joannes stays the night at Caderousse’s inn. After he retires upstairs, Bertuccio—hiding nearby—falls asleep, then awakens to a pistol shot, cries, and the sensation of blood dripping through the floor. He sees Caderousse, bloodstained, stealing the diamond and money before fleeing.

Bertuccio forces his way into the house. He finds La Carconte shot dead on the stairs and Joannes dying upstairs, stabbed repeatedly. Customs officers and gendarmes arrive and arrest Bertuccio, mistaking him for the killer due to his bloodied clothes and forced entry.

Imprisoned, Bertuccio pleads for the Abbe Busoni; months later, Busoni appears, confirms the diamond’s story, and hears Bertuccio’s full confession, including the Auteuil affair. Caderousse is eventually captured, confesses, and is sentenced to the galleys for life, while Bertuccio is freed.

Bertuccio returns to Corsica to find his sister Assunta tortured and fatally burned by Benedetto and accomplices for money; Benedetto vanishes. He recounts this to the Count of Monte Cristo in the Auteuil garden. The Count reproves Bertuccio for not restoring the rescued infant to its mother and muses that Benedetto may become an instrument of vengeance.

That night in Paris, Monte Cristo surveys his Champs-Élysées house with unerring familiarity, gives orders for alterations, and prepares secluded apartments for Haidée. He instructs Ali on managing the servants, then receives Haidée, who arrives and is led to her rooms as the household falls silent.