Chapter 2 - The Rule He Broke Before Breakfast
At six-thirty the next morning, Dante woke to something unfamiliar.
A sound.
A child's laughter.
He sat upright.
For a brief moment he had no idea where he was.
Then he remembered.
Sophia.
The storm.
The little yellow blanket.
He looked toward the armchair near the window.
Sophia was sitting there, eating an apple slice from a small plate.
Mrs. Caruso stood beside her.
"I found her in the hallway," the housekeeper explained.
Dante frowned.
"What is she doing here?"
Sophia answered before Mrs. Caruso could.
"I wanted cereal."
Dante stared.
"You walked here?"
Sophia nodded.
"Mommy is busy."
Mrs. Caruso cleared her throat.
"I brought her downstairs."
Dante rubbed his forehead.
"No more wandering."
Sophia nodded seriously.
"Okay."
Then she looked at his face.
"You look tired."
Mrs. Caruso turned away quickly.
Dante stared at Sophia.
"Do I?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"You don't smile."
Mrs. Caruso failed to hide a laugh.
Dante looked at her.
She immediately became interested in the curtains.
Sophia took another bite of apple.
"My mommy smiles."
Dante glanced toward the doorway.
"Your mother is hardworking."
Sophia nodded.
"She cries too."
Dante became still.
"When?"
"At night."
The room changed.
Mrs. Caruso's smile vanished.
Dante's voice lowered.
"Why does she cry?"
Sophia shrugged.
"Because Daddy is mean."
Dante's jaw tightened.
He knew Lena was divorced.
He had never asked about the marriage.
He suddenly wished he had.
Across the hall, Lena was rushing toward them.
She looked exhausted.
"Sophia!"
"I'm here."
Lena pulled her daughter close.
"I told you not to wander."
"Sorry."
Lena closed her eyes.
"Come with me."
Dante spoke.
"Lena."
She stopped.
He had never called her by her first name before.
She looked at him.
"I need to know something."
Her expression became careful.
"Yes, sir?"
"Does your ex-husband know where you work?"
Lena hesitated.
"Why?"
"Because your daughter says he was cruel."
Lena's face tightened.
"He's not involved with us anymore."
"That wasn't my question."
She looked down.
"I don't know."
Dante nodded slowly.
"Find out."
Lena frowned.
"I don't understand."
"Neither do I."
He looked toward the window.
"There was a car outside the east gate last night."
Lena froze.
"What kind of car?"
"Black sedan."
Her face changed.
Dante noticed immediately.
"You know it."
Lena swallowed.
"Maybe."
"What does that mean?"
"It means my ex has a black sedan."
Silence.
Mrs. Caruso stared at them.
Dante's expression hardened.
"Alina."
"Yes?"
"Double the security around the east wing."
Lena shook her head.
"Mr. Rickai, please. I don't want to cause trouble."
"You aren't."
She looked at him.
"Then what is happening?"
"I don't know yet."
Dante stepped closer.
"But I intend to."
That afternoon, Dante summoned his head of security, Elias.
"Tell me everything."
Elias placed photographs on the desk.
The black sedan.
The rear gate.
A man standing across the road.
"License plate was obscured," Elias said.
"Face?"
"Covered."
"How long?"
"Thirty-two minutes."
Dante stared at the photographs.
"Anything else?"
Elias hesitated.
"We found this near the east fence."
He placed a small object on the desk.
A broken silver charm.
Dante recognized the emblem.
An old family crest.
His father's crest.
He picked it up.
"Where did you find this?"
"Ten feet from the gate."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
That crest had not been used in fifteen years.
It belonged to the Rickai organization's old inner circle.
Most of the people connected to it were dead.
Or supposed to be.
Meanwhile, Lena sat alone in the laundry room.
Her hands shook as she looked at her phone.
There were three missed calls.
All from the same number.
Unknown.
Then a message appeared.
You cannot hide her forever.
Lena's breathing stopped.
Another message followed.
Her father didn't save you.
Neither will Dante.
Lena dropped the phone.
She pressed both hands over her mouth.
Someone knew.
Someone knew about Sophia.
Someone knew about her father.
And somehow, they knew Dante's name.
That evening, Dante found Lena standing alone in the garden.
He approached quietly.
"You received a message."
She turned.
"How do you know?"
"You've been shaking for ten minutes."
Lena looked away.
Dante waited.
Finally she whispered.
"My father worked for your father."
Dante went completely still.
"Name."
"Thomas Moretti."
Dante's expression changed.
"I remember him."
"You should."
"What did he do?"
"He was an accountant."
Dante stared.
"Not just an accountant."
"No."
"Then what?"
Lena looked at him.
"He kept records."
"Of what?"
"Money."
Dante's voice became cold.
"Whose money?"
"Everyone's."
She took a breath.
"My father found out someone was stealing from your family. He was going to expose them."
"And?"
"He disappeared."
Dante looked toward the mansion.
"When?"
"Six months before I was born."
"Your mother?"
"Died believing he'd abandoned us."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"And you think someone killed him."
"I know."
"How?"
Lena reached inside her coat.
She pulled out a small brass key.
"My father left me this."
Dante stared.
"What's it open?"
"I don't know."
"Who else knows about it?"
Lena hesitated.
"Someone who has been looking for it."
Dante took one step closer.
"Then we have a problem."
Lena's eyes filled with fear.
"That's what I'm afraid of."
From inside the house, a tiny voice called out.
"Mommy!"
Sophia came running into the garden.
Dante instinctively stepped between the child and the gate.
Sophia looked up at him.
"You're standing weird."
Dante glanced at Lena.
She understood immediately.
He wasn't standing weird.
He was shielding them.
May you like
And for the first time, Lena realized something terrifying.
The most dangerous man in the city had begun protecting her daughter as though she were his own.
