Chapter 5 - The Father Who Never Died
Dante stared at the man.
For eight years he had believed Daniel Romano was dead.
He had personally attended the funeral.
He had stood beside the coffin.
He had watched the casket disappear beneath the earth.
Now Daniel stood ten feet away.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
"I watched them bury you."
Daniel nodded.
"I know."
"Who was in the coffin?"
"One of your father's enemies."
Dante's fingers tightened around his weapon.
"You let your own family mourn you."
"I had to."
"You let Sophia believe her father was dead."
Daniel's face finally cracked.
"I had no choice."
Dante almost pulled the trigger.
Then Daniel said one sentence.
"Your father ordered my death."
Silence.
"Why?"
"Because I found out who was betraying us."
Dante lowered the gun slightly.
"Who?"
Daniel looked toward the tunnel.
"The betrayal started with your mother."
Dante's eyes narrowed.
"She is dead."
"No."
Another shock.
"She's alive too."
Dante stared at him.
"My mother?"
Daniel nodded.
"She disappeared six years ago because she discovered the same ledger."
Dante realized the scale of the deception.
Everyone he thought dead was alive.
Everyone he trusted had hidden something.
"What is in the ledger?"
"Names."
"Whose?"
"Judges. Police commanders. politicians. bankers. union leaders. Men who bought protection from both the Romanos and the Contis."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"And Isabella?"
"Her family wants the ledger destroyed."
"Why?"
"Because the names will expose them."
"Then why did you send Sophia away?"
Daniel looked at him.
"I didn't."
Dante froze.
"What?"
"Whoever told Sophia to leave used my name."
Dante's heart stopped.
"She received a message from someone claiming to be you."
Daniel stepped closer.
"I never contacted her."
Dante understood.
Someone had manipulated her.
"Where is she?"
Daniel looked toward the dark tunnel.
"With Claire."
"Take me to them."
Daniel shook his head.
"No."
"That's my woman."
Daniel studied him.
"Do you love her?"
Dante answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
"Then stop treating her like property."
The words struck harder than any bullet.
Dante looked away.
"I know."
"No. You don't."
Daniel stepped closer.
"She spent eleven months believing she could trust you. Then one sentence made her understand that she was still only a servant in your eyes."
"I never saw her that way."
"It doesn't matter what you meant."
Dante looked at him.
"It matters what she felt."
Daniel nodded.
"Now you're learning."
A sound echoed through the tunnel.
Footsteps.
Daniel turned.
"They found us."
Men appeared at both ends of the passage.
Gunfire erupted.
Dante pushed Daniel behind a concrete pillar.
Marco returned fire.
The fight lasted less than a minute.
When the smoke cleared, one attacker remained alive.
Dante grabbed him.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed.
"You're already too late."
"For what?"
"Your house."
Dante's stomach dropped.
"What about it?"
"The woman you left there knows everything."
Isabella.
Dante raced back to the mansion.
He found Isabella standing in the library surrounded by armed men.
For a second, it looked like betrayal.
Then she raised both hands.
"Before you accuse me, look behind the painting."
Dante pulled the painting aside.
A hidden safe was open.
Inside was the original ledger.
He stared.
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Because I don't want my family to destroy it."
Dante turned.
"You're helping me?"
"I'm helping Sophia."
That stopped him.
Isabella took a shaky breath.
"I was jealous of her. I hated that you looked at her differently."
Dante said nothing.
"I wanted her gone because I wanted my old life back."
"You tried to hurt her."
"No."
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
"I tried to frighten her. I told her things I knew would make her leave. But I didn't know about the men outside."
Dante's expression hardened.
"You manipulated her."
"Yes."
"And now?"
"Now I know someone was using my jealousy to start a war."
Dante looked at the ledger.
"Who?"
Isabella pointed at one page.
"The name."
Dante read it.
MARCUS RUSSO.
His second-in-command.
The man who had been beside him for fifteen years.
The man currently leading the search for Sophia.
Dante's blood went cold.
He called Marco.
"Do not move without me."
"Why?"
"Because Marcus is the traitor."
May you like
A gunshot came through the phone.
Then silence.
