Chapter 5 - The Dead Man’s Letter
“Elena.”
Her hand flew to her mouth.
Dante drew his gun.
“Who is it?” he whispered.
She shook her head.
Impossible.
The voice came again.
“Elena, open the door.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“That sounds like my uncle.”
“Which uncle?”
“Gabriel.”
“Gabriel Moretti is dead.”
“I know.”
Dante moved beside the door.
“Stay back.”
He unlocked it and pulled it open.
An elderly man stood in the hallway.
Thin.
Gray-haired.
Scar across one cheek.
Elena staggered.
“Uncle Gabriel?”
The man began crying.
“Hello, little bird.”
Elena had not heard that nickname in fifteen years.
She crossed the distance and embraced him.
Dante did not lower the gun.
Gabriel saw it.
“You look like your father.”
“People keep telling me that.”
“Your father tried to kill me twice.”
“Then give me a reason not to make it three.”
Elena pulled away.
“Dante.”
Gabriel raised both hands.
“I’m not here to hurt anyone.”
“You’re legally dead.”
“That was the idea.”
“Why?”
Gabriel looked at the metal box.
“Because Carlo learned who killed your brother.”
Dante’s blood chilled.
“My brother was killed by Moretti men.”
“No.”
“I saw the reports.”
“You saw the reports Victor wanted you to see.”
Dante’s gun remained steady.
Gabriel continued.
“Your brother Anthony discovered Victor was skimming money from both families through shell companies.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“It does if Victor and Carlo were secretly working together.”
Elena stared at her uncle.
“My father worked with Victor?”
“At first.”
Gabriel nodded toward the envelope.
“Read it.”
Dante lowered the gun slightly.
Elena opened her father’s letter.
The handwriting shook in places.
Carlo Moretti had written six pages.
He described a partnership formed years earlier with Victor Salvatore.
Money laundering.
Construction contracts.
Bribes.
Nothing surprising for either family.
Then the partnership changed.
Victor began arranging conflicts between the Salvatores and Morettis, profiting from both sides.
Carlo wanted out.
Anthony Salvatore discovered the scheme.
Victor ordered Anthony killed and planted evidence pointing to Carlo.
Carlo realized too late that Victor intended to destroy both families and inherit influence over whatever survived.
“He killed my brother,” Dante whispered.
Gabriel nodded.
“Carlo tried to reach your father.”
“My father died six months later.”
“Heart attack.”
Dante looked at him.
Gabriel’s expression said otherwise.
“No.”
“We never proved it.”
Dante returned to the letter.
Near the end, Carlo wrote about Elena.
If my daughter becomes connected to Dante, she will be in danger. Victor fears anything that could reconcile the families. If Elena and Dante discover the truth together, Victor loses everything.
Elena sat down slowly.
“My father knew about us?”
Gabriel smiled sadly.
“He watched you from a distance.”
“He never contacted me.”
“He thought distance kept you safe.”
Dante read the final paragraph.
One line stood out.
THE PROOF IS NOT IN THE LEDGERS. IT IS IN ANTHONY’S WATCH.
Dante stared.
“My brother’s watch?”
Gabriel nodded.
“Carlo had it.”
“Why?”
“Anthony gave it to him the night before he died.”
“What’s in it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Where is it?”
Gabriel pointed at the box.
Elena searched through the contents.
Nothing.
No watch.
She looked at Gabriel.
“It isn’t here.”
His face changed.
“It should be.”
Dante’s phone rang.
Marco.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
“What?”
“Someone tried to get into Luca’s ICU room.”
Dante’s blood froze.
“Who?”
“Woman dressed as a nurse.”
“Did you stop her?”
“She ran.”
“Elena and I are coming back.”
“There’s more.”
“What?”
“She left something.”
“What?”
“A watch.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Describe it.”
“Gold. Old. Engraving on the back. A.S.”
Anthony Salvatore.
Dante looked at Gabriel.
Someone had beaten them to the watch.
Or wanted them to find it.
“Don’t touch it,” Dante said.
“We already bagged it.”
“Lock down the floor.”
“We did.”
Dante ended the call.
Elena stared at him.
“It’s at the hospital?”
“Yes.”
“Why would someone bring it to Luca?”
“To make sure I see it.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“Victor would never give you evidence willingly.”
“Then maybe it’s not Victor.”
The thought was worse.
They returned to the hospital.
The watch sat inside an evidence bag on a table in a secure room.
Dante examined it.
He remembered Anthony wearing it.
He remembered stealing it as a teenager and hiding it under his pillow.
Anthony had laughed for twenty minutes before making Dante return it.
Dante turned the bag.
A scratch ran along the case.
Not random.
A seam.
“There’s something inside.”
Marco brought a small tool kit.
They opened the back.
Inside was not machinery.
It had been modified.
A tiny memory card was hidden beneath the inner plate.
Marco found a secure laptop.
Dante inserted the card.
Three files appeared.
Audio.
Video.
Documents.
He opened the video.
Anthony appeared on screen.
Younger.
Alive.
Dante stopped breathing.
“If you’re watching this,” Anthony said, “I probably didn’t make it.”
Elena reached for Dante’s hand.
He let her.
Anthony continued.
“Victor has been moving money through Salvatore security contracts. Carlo Moretti helped him at first. Carlo is cooperating now because Victor threatened Elena.”
Dante glanced at her.
Anthony’s recorded voice continued.
“Victor’s bigger plan is succession. He doesn’t need Dante dead. He needs Dante alone.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“He thinks isolation makes leaders easier to control.”
Elena whispered, “That’s why he separated us.”
Anthony continued.
“If Dante ever builds a family outside Victor’s control, Victor loses his leverage.”
Then Anthony leaned toward the camera.
“There’s one other thing. Victor has someone inside the Salvatore household. Someone Dante trusts completely.”
The video glitched.
Stopped.
Dante clicked again.
Corrupted.
“No.”
He tried another player.
Same result.
Marco checked the file.
“The last section is damaged.”
“Recover it.”
“I’ll get somebody.”
A knock sounded.
One of Dante’s guards entered.
“Boss.”
“What?”
“We found the fake nurse.”
“Where?”
“Parking garage.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
“Bring her.”
Minutes later, security escorted in a frightened woman wearing stolen hospital scrubs.
She was young.
Maybe thirty.
Not a professional killer.
She looked terrified.
Dante sat across from her.
“What’s your name?”
“Claire.”
“Who sent you?”
“I can’t.”
“You tried to enter my son’s room.”
“I wasn’t going to hurt him.”
“Then what were you doing?”
“Delivering the watch.”
“Why?”
“A man paid me.”
“Name.”
“I never got one.”
“What did he look like?”
She described him.
Tall.
Dark hair.
Forties.
Scar near his eyebrow.
Marco and Dante exchanged a look.
Dante knew only one man matching that description.
His head of security.
Marco Bellini.
The man standing beside him.
Elena looked at Marco.
Marco slowly raised his hands.
“Boss.”
Dante stepped backward.
“No.”
“I can explain.”
“You were with me when the photograph arrived.”
“Yes.”
“You found Teresa.”
“Yes.”
“You traced the car.”
“Yes.”
Marco’s face tightened.
“Because I was trying to get ahead of Victor.”
“Or because you were controlling what I found.”
“Dante.”
“Were you Anthony’s informant?”
Marco went silent.
That was answer enough.
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“You were the person inside the household.”
Marco swallowed.
“Yes.”
Elena whispered, “Then why bring us the watch?”
Marco looked toward the hallway.
“Because Victor knows Gabriel is alive.”
Dante turned.
“What?”
“And because he knows you found the letter.”
“How?”
Marco’s face went pale.
“Because Gabriel isn’t the only dead man who came back.”
Dante stared at him.
“Who?”
May you like
Marco looked directly at Elena.
“Your father.”
