Chapter 3 - The Six Abandoned Children Weren't Random—Their Parents Had All Discovered the Same Secret Inside Dante's OrganizationThe tunnel led to an underground garage.
Dante's private SUV waited.
We left the condemned building without being seen.
The children sat in the back.
Tommy slept in Dante's arms.
I watched the city lights pass.
Nobody spoke.
Finally Dante asked:
“How many?”
“Six.”
“Why those six?”
“Because their parents knew something.”
“What?”
I handed him Ruth's notebook.
He read.
The first page contained six names.
Each belonged to a family who had been connected to Calvetti businesses.
Each family had experienced something strange.
A parent disappeared.
A child became sick.
A financial account vanished.
Then the child disappeared.
Dante read quietly.
“This is impossible.”
“No.”
He looked at me.
“This happened under my name.”
“Yes.”
“Without my knowledge.”
“Yes.”
He turned toward Tommy.
“Why him?”
“Because he was your son.”
Dante looked away.
Ruth had believed Tommy would be used as leverage against him.
But I knew there was more.
The children were witnesses.
Their parents had discovered a network.
Someone had been moving money through fake charities.
The charities were supposedly helping families.
They were actually moving people.
Children were used as leverage.
Parents were threatened.
Some cooperated.
Others disappeared.
The money all flowed into a company.
Calvetti Family Services.
Dante's company.
But he had never heard of it.
That meant someone had created a shadow organization inside his empire.
Victor.
Dante called him.
“Where are you?”
“At headquarters.”
“You've been busy.”
Victor laughed.
“You finally found them.”
Dante went silent.
“You knew.”
“Of course.”
“You knew my son was alive.”
“Yes.”
The children looked at Dante.
His face became terrifyingly calm.
“Why?”
Victor replied:
“Because you were never supposed to have one.”
Dante's hand tightened around the phone.
“You took my child.”
“I protected your empire.”
“From what?”
“Your father.”
Silence.
Victor continued:
“You think the Calvetti organization belongs to you.”
“It does.”
“No.”
His voice became colder.
“It belongs to the people who built it.”
“Who?”
“Your father left instructions.”
Dante stared.
“My father is dead.”
“So is mine.”
A pause.
“Some men never really die.”
The call ended.
Dante looked at me.
“What did your sister know about my father?”
“Everything.”
He opened Ruth's notebook again.
One line was circled:
The father is not the mastermind.
He looked up.
“Then who?”
I pointed to the next page.
A symbol.
Three circles.
A black star.
“The Black Star.”
Dante frowned.
“What is that?”
“I don't know.”
Tommy woke.
He rubbed his eyes.
“Daddy?”
Dante immediately looked down.
“I'm here.”
Tommy reached for him.
Dante lifted him.
The boy fell asleep again.
I watched them.
For seven years, Dante had believed his son was dead.
Now he was holding him.
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And the people who had lied to him had just given him the most dangerous reason in the world to fight.
A family to protect.
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