Chapter 3 - Sophia's Secret
Sophia woke in a room above a closed flower shop in Queens.
Rain tapped against the window.
A kettle hissed on the stove.
She sat at a small wooden table wearing a borrowed sweater.
Across from her sat Victor Crane.
He looked older than the last photograph Dante had seen.
Gray threaded his beard.
A scar ran beneath one eye.
But his expression remained calm.
"You shouldn't have come here," Sophia said.
"I didn't bring you here."
"You arranged the car."
"I arranged protection. You chose to leave."
Sophia looked down.
On the table lay the brass key.
"The key opened the archive."
Victor nodded.
"What did you find?"
"My mother's name."
"And?"
"She was alive when Dante's father wrote that note."
Victor leaned back.
"Yes."
Sophia's hands shook.
"You knew."
"I've known for years."
"Then why did you let me believe she died?"
"Because your mother wanted you hidden."
Sophia stared at him.
"She's alive?"
Victor did not answer.
Instead he placed a photograph on the table.
Sophia reached for it.
Her breath stopped.
A woman stood beside a small house near the coast.
Older.
Gray-haired.
But unmistakably Claire Bennett.
Her mother.
Sophia covered her mouth.
"No."
"She has been living under another name for twelve years."
"Why?"
"Because she knows who betrayed Dante's father."
Sophia looked up.
"Who?"
Victor's expression hardened.
"The person who is currently inside Dante's house."
Isabella.
Sophia felt cold.
"She didn't know me."
"She knew your mother."
"Then why would she come after me?"
"Because your mother kept evidence."
"What evidence?"
Victor pointed toward the brass key.
"Your mother placed the original ledger in a secure room. That key was the only thing that could open the lock."
Sophia remembered the night she had found Dante bleeding.
She remembered what she had seen behind him.
A ring on his finger.
The same crest she had noticed in an old photograph at the archive.
Romano.
She had spent eleven months in Dante's home.
And she had never realized that the man she had fallen in love with was connected to the woman who had destroyed her mother's life.
She closed her eyes.
"Why didn't my mother tell me?"
"Because she wanted you to have one normal life."
Sophia laughed bitterly.
"A maid in a mafia mansion isn't exactly normal."
Victor smiled sadly.
"Compared with what she feared for you, it was paradise."
A phone buzzed.
Victor checked it.
"Your mother wants to speak with you."
Sophia's heart stopped.
The call connected.
For several seconds, there was only breathing.
Then a woman's voice whispered, "Sophie?"
Sophia broke.
"Mom?"
"My baby."
The room disappeared around her.
All the anger.
All the loneliness.
Every birthday she had spent believing she had nobody left.
It crashed over her at once.
"I thought you were dead."
"I know."
"Why?"
"Because staying away was the only way to keep you alive."
Sophia cried silently.
Then her mother asked, "Did he hurt you?"
Sophia knew exactly who she meant.
"No."
"Did he ever threaten you?"
"No."
"Did he love you?"
Sophia couldn't answer.
Silence said enough.
Her mother's voice softened.
"Then you must know that Dante's father wasn't the monster you were told he was."
Sophia froze.
"What?"
"Your mother should have explained this years ago."
Claire inhaled.
"I was working for Dante's father when I discovered that someone in our circle was selling information to the Contis. Your father's death was not an accident."
"My father?"
Sophia stared at the floor.
"You never told me who he was."
"I couldn't."
"Mom."
"Your father was Daniel Romano's younger brother."
Sophia stopped breathing.
Dante's uncle.
Her father was family.
Not servant.
Not outsider.
Not stranger.
Romano blood.
And Dante had no idea.
Claire continued.
"That is why I had to disappear."
Sophia's voice trembled.
"Does Dante know?"
"No."
"Does Isabella?"
"I believe she does."
Sophia ended the call after promising to meet her mother.
For several minutes she sat in silence.
Then Victor said, "There's one thing you need to understand."
"What?"
"Someone is trying to restart the war between the Romanos and the Contis."
Sophia looked at him.
"Why?"
"Because chaos creates opportunities."
"For whom?"
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"Someone inside Dante's organization."
Back at the Romano estate, Dante had discovered that two guards were missing.
Both had been stationed near Isabella's suite.
Both had disappeared within the same hour Sophia left.
Dante entered the guest room.
Isabella was packing.
"You are not leaving."
She turned.
"I have no reason to stay."
"Actually, you have every reason."
He dropped the photograph of Victor on the table.
She stared at it.
Her face went white.
"You know him."
"No."
"You just lied."
Dante took one step closer.
"Did you know Sophia before she came here?"
Isabella remained silent.
"Did you know her mother?"
Still silent.
Dante slammed his palm onto the table.
"Answer me."
Isabella flinched.
Then she whispered, "Your father destroyed my family."
Dante stared.
"That is what you believe?"
"That is what my father taught me."
"And Sophia?"
"She is the last living witness."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"Witness to what?"
Isabella looked toward the window.
"The ledger."
Dante realized she knew everything.
"You came here for the ledger."
"I came here because my family needed it."
"No."
Her eyes met his.
"I came here because if the ledger is found, the war ends."
Dante felt a strange chill.
"Then why did Sophia have to leave?"
Isabella smiled weakly.
"Because somebody wanted her gone."
"Who?"
Isabella looked terrified.
"I don't know."
For once, Dante believed her.
May you like
Then a gunshot exploded somewhere outside.
Every light in the house went dark.
