Chapter 4 - The Woman in the Photograph
The photograph destroyed everything I thought I knew.
My father was alive.
My mother's story was incomplete.
Dante's mother had been watching me.
And Luca Moretti might have survived the fire.
By morning, I had stopped asking whether I could trust Dante.
I was asking whether anyone had ever told me the truth.
Dante found me in the library at sunrise.
I was surrounded by old photographs.
“You didn't sleep.”
“Neither did you.”
He sat across from me.
“My mother's name was Sofia.”
“I know.”
“She was not involved in the business.”
“Wasn't she?”
His expression changed.
“No.”
I slid the photograph toward him.
“She knew me.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I don't know.”
I placed another photograph beside it.
My father with Luca.
Then another.
My father with Sofia.
Then one of my mother.
Four people.
One hidden story.
Dante rubbed his jaw.
“My father and yours were partners.”
“For Project North Star.”
“Yes.”
“What was North Star?”
“A network.”
“For what?”
“Tracking corruption.”
I stared.
“That sounds almost noble.”
“It wasn't.”
He explained that North Star had been designed to collect information on influential people who were using Moretti-owned businesses to move stolen money through Chicago.
My father was the accountant.
Luca was the strategist.
Sofia was the person who handled witnesses.
Dante had been kept outside it.
Until the fire.
“Why?”
“Because my father believed I was too loyal to the family.”
“And Luca?”
“Luca disagreed.”
“Your father wanted to control everyone.”
“Yes.”
I stood.
“So why was I protected?”
Dante looked down.
“Because you were a witness.”
“To what?”
He pulled out another document.
My stomach dropped.
It was a report from the night of the fire.
Witness statement:
Child seen leaving rear stairwell with Sofia Moretti.
“That's me.”
“Yes.”
“I don't remember.”
“You were nine.”
“What happened?”
Dante's voice was quiet.
“Sofia got you out.”
“Then why didn't anyone tell me?”
“Because the people responsible believed you had never been there.”
I looked at the photograph again.
“I remember her.”
Dante's eyes lifted.
“What?”
“I remember her perfume.”
He froze.
“She smelled like roses.”
His expression softened.
“She loved roses.”
I closed my eyes.
A memory surfaced.
Smoke.
Hands.
A woman's voice.
Don't look back, sweetheart.
Run.
Then darkness.
I opened my eyes.
“Sofia saved me.”
“Yes.”
“And she died?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
Dante looked away.
“Officially, heart failure.”
“And unofficially?”
He didn't answer.
I already knew.
I sat.
For the first time, Dante reached across the table and held my hand.
It was warm.
Steady.
I stared at our fingers.
“You shouldn't do that.”
“Why?”
“Because people might think you care.”
His thumb moved lightly over my knuckles.
“I do.”
My heart stumbled.
“Dante.”
“I've tried not to.”
“Why?”
“Because everyone I've ever loved became a weakness someone else tried to use.”
I pulled my hand back.
“I'm not a weakness.”
“No.”
His eyes held mine.
“You're the first person who makes me want to be better.”
Neither of us moved.
Then the library doors opened.
Nico rushed in.
“We found Luca.”
My entire body went still.
“Where?”
“Chicago.”
Dante stood.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
Nico handed him an address.
An apartment.
Dante looked at me.
“You stay here.”
“No.”
“Harper.”
“You found my father. You found your brother. I'm coming.”
He stared.
Then nodded.
The apartment was empty.
But fresh coffee sat on the table.
A newspaper was folded beside it.
The headline read:
MORETTI EMPIRE RESTRUCTURES AFTER NEW INVESTIGATION
Dante frowned.
“This article was published yesterday.”
Luca was still there.
Watching us.
A voice came from the hallway.
“You always did arrive late.”
Dante raised his weapon.
Luca Moretti stepped into view.
He looked older than the photographs.
Scar across his cheek.
Gray at the temples.
But his eyes were the same.
Dante's face changed.
“Luca.”
His brother smiled sadly.
“You got old.”
Dante's hand shook.
“I watched you die.”
“I know.”
“You let me.”
“I had to.”
“Why?”
Luca looked at me.
“Because of her.”
My breath caught.
Dante stepped closer.
“Explain.”
Luca did.
On the night of the fire, their father had ordered my father killed.
Sofia discovered the plan.
Luca helped both Sofia and me escape.
But Sofia was captured.
She died later.
My father escaped and went into hiding.
Luca staged his own death to continue working underground.
For ten years, he had been dismantling the network that had once controlled the Moretti family.
“And the attacks on Harper?”
Luca shook his head.
“Not me.”
“Then who?”
“Your uncle.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“My uncle died six years ago.”
“No.”
Luca looked at him.
“He didn't.”
Dante went silent.
“Richard Moretti is alive.”
I felt the room tighten.
“Who is Richard?”
Luca answered.
“Your father's younger brother.”
Dante stared.
“He was the man behind North Star's corruption.”
I looked at Luca.
“And my father?”
“Your father discovered him.”
“That's why he disappeared.”
“Yes.”
A sound came from the hallway.
Dante turned.
Too late.
Someone fired.
The bullet hit the wall inches from my head.
Luca dragged me down.
Dante fired back.
Nico rushed into the apartment.
The attacker fled.
Dante turned to Luca.
“Where is Richard?”
Luca smiled grimly.
“Closer than you think.”
He pointed at the newspaper.
The article's author was listed at the bottom.
Richard Moretti.
My pulse raced.
Dante grabbed the paper.
“He owns the publication.”
“Partially.”
“What does he want?”
Luca looked at me.
“You.”
I felt sick.
“Why?”
“Because your father hid the final North Star archive inside you.”
I frowned.
“I don't understand.”
“Neither did he.”
Luca explained that my father had encoded a final access key into my childhood records.
A phrase.
A memory.
A date.
Something only I could know.
“And Richard wants it.”
“How does he know?”
“He has been watching you for years.”
I remembered Marcus.
The attack.
The man in the hospital.
Everything.
“Why now?”
Luca looked at Dante.
“Because Dante is getting married next month.”
I stared.
“What?”
Dante frowned.
“To whom?”
Luca smiled.
“That's the part you're going to hate.”
He looked directly at me.
“Richard arranged it.”
I felt my stomach fall.
Dante stared.
“Who?”
Luca's answer came softly.
“Harper.”
Silence.
I looked at Dante.
He looked at me.
“What does that mean?”
May you like
Luca's voice was quiet.
“It means the entire city has been preparing for a wedding that neither of you agreed to.”
