Chapter 4 - The Boy They Thought Would Break Her
By seven in the morning, Elena had learned that fear could become physical.
It could sit behind the ribs.
It could make every breath hurt.
It could turn the twenty-minute drive from Brooklyn to NYU Langone into something endless.
Dante wanted her to return to Vancel Tower.
Elena refused.
"My brother is there."
"We have security."
"My brother is ten."
"Which is why—"
"Dante."
She turned toward him in the back seat.
Blood still stained the sleeve of his shirt beneath the temporary bandage she had tied around his arm.
"If someone tried to steal you from a hospital when you were ten, would a bodyguard have been enough? Or would you have wanted your family?"
Dante stopped arguing.
When they arrived, a physician was waiting at a restricted entrance.
Dr. Isabel Mendez had treated Toby for almost three years.
She looked tired and furious.
"What happened?" Elena asked.
"Toby is fine."
"Where is he?"
"Upstairs."
Elena started toward the elevator.
Dr. Mendez caught her.
"Elena."
Something in her voice stopped her.
"The transfer request was not random."
"I know."
"The paperwork included your signature."
Elena stared.
"I didn't sign anything."
"I know."
"How?"
"Because they misspelled your middle name."
For the first time all morning, Elena nearly laughed.
Her mother had given her the middle name Maeve, and almost everyone wrote May.
A mistake had saved Toby.
"Who stopped it?"
"A nurse in cardiology. Marissa Bell. She called you, but your phone was off."
Elena remembered turning it off in the vault to avoid tracking.
"Then she contacted me."
Dante stepped forward.
"Who came to transport him?"
Dr. Mendez looked at him.
She clearly recognized him.
Her eyes moved toward his bloody sleeve.
"Before we discuss anything, you need treatment."
"I'm fine."
"Men who say that while dripping blood on hospital floors are rarely fine."
Elena looked at Dante.
"I like her."
"I don't."
"You should."
Dr. Mendez pointed toward an examination room.
"Sit."
To Elena's amazement, Dante Vancel obeyed.
While a surgical resident cleaned his wound, Elena went upstairs.
Toby was sitting in bed playing a racing game on a tablet.
He looked up.
"You're late."
Elena nearly collapsed from relief.
She crossed the room and hugged him.
Too tightly.
"Ow."
"Sorry."
"Did you sleep here?"
"No."
"You smell weird."
Elena laughed through tears.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For being annoying."
Toby looked past her.
"Who's the giant guy?"
Dante stood in the doorway.
His arm had been properly bandaged.
"This is Dante."
Toby stared.
"The building guy?"
Dante raised an eyebrow.
Elena sighed.
"He watches business news."
"I'm ten, not dead."
Dante approached the bed.
"Tobias."
"Toby."
"Dante."
They shook hands solemnly.
Toby looked at the bandage.
"You get shot?"
Elena nearly choked.
Dante said, "Yes."
"Dante."
"What?"
"Maybe don't tell the ten-year-old."
"He asked."
Toby grinned.
"I like him."
"Don't."
Dante almost smiled.
For several minutes, the room felt strangely normal.
Then Toby's face changed.
"Ellie."
"What?"
"That lawyer came again."
Elena froze.
"What lawyer?"
"The silver-hair guy."
Dante looked toward the hallway.
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"What did he say?"
"He asked if Mom ever gave you a silver necklace."
Elena's heart stopped.
Dante's expression became unreadable.
"What did you tell him?" she asked.
"That Mom gave you lots of stuff."
Toby hesitated.
"He got mad."
"At you?"
"No. He smiled."
Toby looked down.
"But it was a mean smile."
Elena sat beside him.
"He asked if I wanted my surgery paid for."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"What did he want in return?"
Toby shrugged.
"He said grown-ups sometimes keep secrets that hurt children."
Elena felt sick.
"And then?"
"I pushed the nurse call button."
Dante looked impressed.
Toby lifted one shoulder.
"You told me if an adult says not to tell my sister something, I should tell my sister."
Elena kissed his forehead.
"Exactly."
Dr. Mendez entered.
"We need to discuss the surgery."
Elena's relief disappeared.
"What about it?"
"The charitable foundation withdrew the funding this morning."
Elena closed her eyes.
Of course.
"How much do we need?"
Dr. Mendez hesitated.
Dante said, "How much?"
Elena turned.
"No."
Dr. Mendez looked between them.
"The remaining uncovered cost is approximately one hundred eighty-seven thousand dollars, including surgical support and post-operative care."
Toby's eyes widened.
"That's like… a million Fortnite skins."
Nobody laughed.
Elena stood.
"I'll find it."
Dante looked at her.
"Elena."
"No."
"I haven't said anything."
"You were going to."
"Yes."
"I am not taking two hundred thousand dollars from you."
Toby looked confused.
"Why not?"
Elena sighed.
Dante sat near the window.
"Because your sister believes accepting help is a character flaw."
"I do not."
"You rejected ten thousand dollars while making minimum wage."
"That was different."
"How?"
"You asked me to dance."
Toby's eyes widened.
"You asked my sister on a date?"
"No."
"Yes."
Dante and Elena spoke at the same time.
Toby grinned.
"This hospital is awesome."
Dr. Mendez coughed to hide a laugh.
Elena glared at everyone.
Then Dante's phone vibrated.
He checked the message.
His expression hardened.
"Michael found Mercer."
"Where?"
"Federal courthouse."
Elena blinked.
"Why?"
"He's filing an emergency petition."
"For what?"
Dante looked at her.
"Guardianship review of Toby."
Elena stopped breathing.
"What?"
"He claims you're financially unstable, employed in an adult nightlife environment, and associated with organized crime."
Elena stared at Dante.
"Associated with organized crime?"
Dante's mouth tightened.
"That would be me."
"He's trying to take my brother?"
"Temporarily place him under court-supervised medical guardianship."
Dr. Mendez cursed.
Toby looked frightened now.
"Ellie?"
Elena immediately sat beside him.
"No one is taking you."
"But—"
"No one."
Her voice was firm.
She looked at Dante.
"Tell me you have a lawyer."
"I have twenty."
"I only need one."
Dante stood.
"You'll have the best."
Two hours later, Elena found herself in a private conference room across from Evelyn Shaw, a sixty-year-old attorney with silver braids and the expression of someone who could cross-examine God.
Evelyn read Mercer's petition.
"This is garbage."
Elena exhaled.
"Can he win?"
"Not if judges still read."
Dante sat at the far end.
Evelyn looked toward him.
"However, your presence complicates things."
"I know."
"So leave."
Dante's eyebrows lifted.
Elena almost smiled.
Evelyn continued.
"The petition alleges Elena is under your financial control."
"She refuses my money."
"I've noticed."
Evelyn turned to Elena.
"We need evidence of your stable caregiving history. School records. Medical records. Lease. Employment."
Elena winced.
"Greg fired me."
"Did he provide cause?"
"Refusing to dance with Dante."
Evelyn stared.
Then looked at Dante.
"Of course."
"It wasn't exactly—"
"I don't care."
She returned to Elena.
"That firing may actually help. We can argue retaliation."
Dante's phone vibrated again.
He ignored it.
Evelyn noticed.
"Answer your phone, Mr. Vancel. Some emergency somewhere is probably becoming more expensive."
He checked the screen.
Then his face changed.
"What?"
Elena asked.
"Someone broke into your apartment."
Her heart dropped.
"Rosa?"
"She's fine. She was with Toby."
"What did they take?"
"Nothing obvious."
Elena knew immediately.
"They were searching."
"For the pendant."
Evelyn frowned.
"What pendant?"
"Long story."
"I charge by the hour. Make it short."
By noon, Elena and Dante traveled to Queens under heavy security.
Her apartment door hung broken from the frame.
Drawers had been emptied.
Mattresses cut open.
Kitchen cabinets stripped.
Her mother's photographs covered the floor.
Elena stepped through the wreckage.
She found one framed picture shattered beneath a chair.
Her mother holding Toby as a baby.
Elena's anger replaced fear.
"They went through everything."
Dante stood behind her.
"I'm sorry."
She looked at him.
"Stop saying that like you're responsible."
"In some ways, I am."
"No."
She picked up the photograph.
"Luciano is responsible."
Dante watched her.
Elena walked into her mother's old bedroom.
The room had become storage after Sofia died.
Boxes filled the closet.
Elena suddenly remembered something.
"When my mother was sick, she kept talking about a blue dress."
Dante frowned.
"What?"
"She'd wake up confused and say, 'Never throw away the blue dress.' I thought it was medication."
Elena pulled boxes from the closet.
Near the back she found a garment bag.
Inside was a faded navy dress.
Nothing unusual.
Then Dante touched the hem.
"Elena."
The stitching was uneven.
She grabbed scissors.
Inside the hem was a narrow strip of folded paper.
Elena unfolded it.
A handwritten address.
And one sentence.
GABRIEL LIVES. DO NOT LET DANTE KILL HIM.
Elena's hands went numb.
She looked at Dante.
He had gone completely still.
"What does that mean?"
"I don't know."
"My mother thought you would kill my father?"
"I don't know why."
"You knew more than you told me."
"Elena—"
"You said some of it wasn't yours to tell."
Dante looked toward the floor.
Her voice sharpened.
"What aren't you telling me?"
He remained silent.
That was enough.
Elena stepped backward.
"My father didn't just work for your family."
"No."
"What else?"
Dante's eyes met hers.
"Gabriel was accused of killing my mother."
The room seemed to disappear.
Elena stared.
"What?"
"My mother was murdered two years after Gabriel vanished."
"You said Luciano did it."
"I believe Luciano ordered it."
"But Gabriel was accused."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the gun used to kill her was registered to him."
Elena shook her head.
"That's impossible."
"I know."
"Do you?"
Dante flinched almost imperceptibly.
"What happened after your mother died?"
"I spent years hunting Gabriel."
The words landed hard.
Elena understood the note now.
Her mother had not been protecting Gabriel from Luciano alone.
She had been protecting him from Dante.
"You were going to kill my father."
Dante did not answer.
"You were."
"I was twenty-one."
"That isn't an answer."
"Yes."
Elena's eyes filled.
"I wanted him dead."
She slapped him.
The sound echoed through the destroyed apartment.
Dante did not move.
His security officers outside looked toward the door.
He raised one hand.
They remained where they were.
Elena breathed hard.
"You stood in your apartment and told me you searched for him because you owed him your life."
"I did."
"You left out the part where you spent years trying to murder him."
"I stopped when I found evidence the gun had been planted."
"When?"
"Nine years ago."
"Seven years after he disappeared."
Dante looked ashamed.
"Yes."
Elena backed away.
"You don't get to decide which pieces of the truth I can handle."
"I know."
"No. You keep saying that, and then you hide something else."
She looked at the address.
"Where is this?"
Dante read it.
"Upstate New York."
"Do you recognize it?"
"No."
"Good."
Elena folded the paper.
"I'm going without you."
"No."
"Watch me."
"If this came from your mother, Luciano may know about it."
"I don't care."
"I do."
"Why?"
Dante stepped closer.
"Because your father told me I owed him a life."
Elena laughed bitterly.
"Convenient."
"And because I'm starting to care what happens to you."
Silence.
Elena stared at him.
Dante looked as though he regretted saying it.
She looked away first.
"That doesn't give you the right to control me."
"No."
"So if I go?"
"I'll follow from far enough away to annoy you slightly less."
Despite herself, Elena almost smiled.
Then Rourke entered.
"Sorry."
His face indicated he was not sorry about the interruption.
"We have another issue."
Dante sighed.
"Of course we do."
"Mercer's guardianship hearing has been moved up."
"When?"
"Three o'clock."
Elena checked the clock.
Less than two hours.
Rourke continued.
"And Luciano's attorney filed supporting evidence."
"What evidence?" Elena asked.
Rourke held up his tablet.
A photograph filled the screen.
Elena leaving Vancel Tower at dawn.
Beside Dante.
Then another.
Dante gripping her while gunfire erupted outside the Brooklyn bank.
A third showed Elena in his SUV.
The headline on a tabloid page read:
MAFIA KING'S MYSTERY WAITRESS: CHILD GUARDIAN LIVING UNDER CRIME BOSS'S ROOF.
Elena stared.
"They're making me look like I'm his mistress."
Dante's face became murderous.
Rourke nodded.
"And the story is spreading."
Elena whispered, "Toby."
Dante looked at her.
"They're not just trying to find the archive anymore."
"No."
Elena finally understood.
"They're destroying my credibility before I can use it."
Dante nodded once.
Luciano wasn't hunting evidence.
He was preparing for the moment Elena tried to reveal it.
And now he was coming for the one person Elena loved enough to surrender anything.
Her brother.
Elena straightened.
"Take me to court."
Dante looked at her.
"Elena—"
"No guns. No threats. No buying judges."
One eyebrow lifted.
"I don't buy judges."
"Comforting."
She picked up the photograph of her mother and Toby.
"I'm going to fight him his way."
"And if his way is corrupt?"
May you like
Elena looked toward Dante.
"Then we make the truth louder."
