Chapter 6 - The Truth About the Night Sophie Lost Her ParentsSophie disappeared for forty-eight hours.
Dante nearly tore New York apart looking for her.
But he remembered his promise.
So he waited.
On the third morning, she returned to Bellamy House.
Dante was standing by the window.
He looked like he hadn't slept.
“You came back.”
“I need answers.”
“You'll get them.”
She placed the ledger on the desk.
“I read everything.”
Dante nodded.
“There is one section missing.”
He looked at her.
“The final pages.”
“Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
Sophie studied him.
“You do.”
“Yes.”
“Tell me.”
Dante took a breath.
“Your father gave them to me.”
“Why?”
“Because they contained the names of everyone involved.”
“Marcus?”
“Yes.”
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
She froze.
“Your father was involved?”
“Deeply.”
“Then why did you hide it?”
“Because your father asked me to.”
“Why?”
“Because he believed revealing everything would start a war.”
Sophie sat.
Dante continued.
“The night before your parents died, your father met me.”
“You were nineteen.”
“Yes.”
“He gave me the ledger.”
“He told me Victor had discovered it.”
“He knew he was going to die.”
“Yes.”
“What did you do?”
“I drove to their house.”
“But they were already gone.”
“I arrived too late.”
Sophie swallowed.
“What happened?”
“Victor had sent men.”
“Your father was there?”
“No.”
“He stayed away.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted to protect you.”
Dante reached into his pocket.
He pulled out an old cassette tape.
“Your father gave me this.”
Sophie stared.
A recording.
Her father's voice filled the room.
“Sophie, if you are hearing this, then I'm gone.”
She covered her mouth.
“I want you to know that none of this was your fault.”
Her tears fell.
“I made mistakes. I trusted dangerous people. I believed I could control them.”
His voice cracked.
“I couldn't.”
The recording continued.
“I left the ledger because someday you may need to know who we were.”
A pause.
“Dante Russo knows the truth.”
Sophie looked at Dante.
Her father's voice returned.
“Trust him.”
The recording ended.
Silence.
Sophie cried.
Dante moved toward her, then stopped.
She reached for him.
He held her.
For the first time, she allowed herself to break.
“I hated you,” she whispered.
“I know.”
“I thought you betrayed me.”
“I understand.”
“I still don't know if I can forgive you.”
“You don't have to.”
She looked up.
“But I believe you.”
His eyes closed.
That was enough.
Then the door opened.
Matteo stood there.
“We found Marcus.”
Sophie rose.
“Where?”
“Outside the city.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Bring him in?”
Matteo shook his head.
“No.”
He placed a photograph on the table.
Victor Hale.
Older.
Alive.
Sophie stared.
“No.”
Dante picked up the photograph.
“Impossible.”
Matteo spoke quietly.
“We confirmed it.”
Sophie felt the world disappear beneath her.
“Victor Hale is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then who died twenty-four years ago?”
Matteo looked at Dante.
“His brother.”
Sophie whispered.
“Then Marcus knew?”
“Marcus always knew,” Dante said.
The room fell silent.
Sophie finally understood.
Marcus hadn't inherited his father's empire after his death.
He had inherited it while his father was still alive.
Victor had been hiding.
Watching.
Planning.
Waiting.
And Marcus had spent years preparing Sophie for one reason.
To find the ledger.
But there was one question left.
Why did Victor want the ledger so badly?
Dante found the answer that evening.
An old financial transfer.
Twenty-four years ago.
Money had been sent to a private account in Switzerland.
The recipient name made his blood run cold.
Daniel Bennett.
Sophie stared.
“My father took money.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
“Then why?”
He looked at the records.
“Because he was laundering money from Victor.”
“For whom?”
Dante turned the page.
The account belonged to a federal witness.
A man who had spent decades dismantling organized crime networks.
The same man who had disappeared after your parents' deaths.
Sophie stared.
“My father was working with the government?”
“Secretly.”
Everything changed again.
Her father hadn't betrayed the Russos.
He had been trying to destroy the network from inside.
Victor had discovered him.
Marcus had misunderstood the entire story.
And now Sophie possessed the evidence that could expose everything.
But before they could act, every light in Bellamy House went dark.
A single gunshot sounded upstairs.
Dante grabbed Sophie.
“Stay behind me.”
Another shot.
Then another.
Matteo ran toward the stairs.
Dante pulled Sophie toward the open door.
The one door he'd promised.
But someone was standing outside.
Marcus.
His face was bleeding.
His gun lowered.
“You need to come with me.”
Sophie froze.
“Why?”
“Because Victor is here.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Where?”
Marcus looked at Sophie.
“In the building.”
Then he whispered the words that changed everything.
“He's not after the ledger anymore.”
“What does he want?”
May you like
Marcus stared at her.
“You.”
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