Chapter 5 - The Betrayal No One Expected
They reached Maine before dawn.
The coastal house looked exactly as Elena remembered.
White shutters.
Gray stone.
A narrow porch facing the Atlantic.
For one week during their engagement, Dante and Elena had stayed there.
It had been the closest they ever came to an ordinary life.
They had cooked together.
Walked the beach.
Argued about books.
Danced in the kitchen when the power went out.
Then the wedding approached.
And Elena changed.
She had locked away every memory of that week because loving Dante openly had become too dangerous.
Now she walked into the house beside him.
"I hated leaving this place," she whispered.
"I did too."
Dante looked at her.
"You laughed here."
"I still do."
"You forgot how."
She looked at him sadly.
"I was trying to make you survive."
He squeezed her hand.
"We're done surviving."
They searched the house.
Nothing.
Then Elena saw the old piano.
She moved toward it.
"When the power went out, you played this."
Dante smiled.
"I barely knew how."
"You played terribly."
"I remember."
She lifted the bench.
Inside was a small envelope.
Dante opened it.
A note.
"To Elena. If you have returned here with the man you love, stop blaming yourself."
Elena froze.
The handwriting belonged to Adrian.
Her eyes filled.
"He knew."
The letter continued.
"Your father thinks you are protecting him. Victor thinks you are protecting yourself. Raymond thinks he controls both sides. None of them understand the real danger."
Dante read over her shoulder.
"The real enemy is inside the Moretti house."
Dante became still.
His mind returned to Victor.
The ledger.
The surveillance.
His father's death.
Then he remembered someone else.
Someone he had trusted since childhood.
Luca.
No.
He rejected the thought immediately.
Luca had saved his life twice.
But the letter continued.
"Do not trust the man who has been beside Dante since his father's funeral."
Elena looked at him.
"Dante."
He didn't move.
"Who was there?"
"My father's men."
"Who stayed?"
"Luca."
Elena whispered, "Could it be him?"
Dante's jaw tightened.
"I don't know."
A floorboard creaked upstairs.
Both turned.
Someone was there.
Dante moved silently.
He raised his weapon.
A woman stepped into the doorway.
Evelyn.
Elena rushed to her.
"Mom."
Evelyn held her daughter tightly.
"I'm sorry."
Elena pulled away.
"Where is Dad?"
"Coming."
Dante stared at Evelyn.
"Why are you here?"
"To give you the original ledger."
She reached into her coat.
Then stopped.
Her expression changed.
"Someone followed me."
Dante turned toward the window.
A shadow moved outside.
He pushed everyone down.
Bullets shattered the glass.
Evelyn screamed.
Dante returned fire.
They escaped through the rear door into the trees.
Rain began to fall.
Elena stayed close to Dante.
Evelyn followed.
Behind them, the house erupted in flames.
They reached an old boathouse.
Dante locked the door.
Evelyn leaned against the wall.
"Dante."
"Tell me everything."
She looked at Elena.
"Your father never intended to kill you."
Elena blinked.
"What?"
"He intended to use you."
"That's worse."
"I know."
"Then why did you help him?"
Evelyn began crying.
"Because when you were sixteen, he threatened to have your brother killed."
Elena stared.
"My brother?"
"He was the first person who discovered the accounts."
Dante frowned.
"You have a brother?"
Elena looked shocked.
"My brother died."
Evelyn shook her head.
"No."
Silence filled the boathouse.
"His name is Gabriel."
Elena's face crumpled.
"You're lying."
"He was taken from us when he was eight."
"Why?"
"Your father owed Raymond money. Gabriel was leverage."
Dante's expression darkened.
"Where is he?"
Evelyn whispered, "Alive."
The door exploded inward.
Dante pushed Elena behind him.
A man entered.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Scar across his eyebrow.
Elena stared.
She knew the face.
Not from memory.
From an old photograph.
"Gabriel?"
The man stopped.
His eyes filled with tears.
"Elena."
She ran to him.
They collided.
Evelyn sobbed.
Dante lowered his weapon.
Gabriel pulled away.
"I've been looking for you for years."
"Why didn't you come home?"
"Because they told me you had joined Dante's family willingly."
Elena shook her head.
"I joined because I loved him."
Gabriel looked at Dante.
Then laughed bitterly.
"Of course you did."
Dante raised an eyebrow.
"What does that mean?"
"My sister talked about you."
Elena looked confused.
"When?"
"Before the wedding."
Dante's face softened.
Gabriel continued.
"I was the one who told Adrian to investigate your father."
Dante nodded.
"And the ledger?"
Gabriel took out a metal box.
"This."
Inside was the original ledger.
Names.
Dates.
Payments.
And one final page.
Dante turned it.
There was a signature.
Raymond Cole.
And beneath it:
Victor Moretti.
But then he saw one more name.
Dante's blood ran cold.
Luca.
The final page showed payments made to Luca every month for three years.
Elena covered her mouth.
Dante didn't speak.
Gabriel said quietly, "Your closest friend has been feeding them information."
Dante stared at the page.
The man who had protected him.
The man who had stood beside him at his father's funeral.
The man who had held a gun beside him through every war.
A betrayal that deep did not feel possible.
Yet the numbers were undeniable.
Then Dante noticed something.
A discrepancy.
The most recent payment was dated yesterday.
Luca had received money after the penthouse attack.
Which meant he had survived.
And he was still working for them.
Dante closed the ledger.
"We go back to Chicago."
Elena stared.
"Why?"
"Because I want him to think we don't know."
Gabriel smiled.
"Now you're thinking like your father."
Dante shook his head.
"No."
May you like
He looked at Elena.
"Like my wife."
