Chapter 6 - Carlo Moretti
Elena laughed.
It was not amusement.
It was shock.
“No.”
Marco did not move.
“My father died.”
“I saw the body.”
“You saw a coffin.”
“I saw him before they closed it.”
Marco looked at Dante.
“Carlo staged his death with help from Anthony.”
Elena shook her head.
“No.”
Gabriel, who had followed them to the hospital, stepped into the room.
His expression confirmed it before he spoke.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena turned on him.
“You knew?”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years?”
“Yes.”
“You let me bury him.”
“Elena—”
“You let me stand beside a grave!”
“He was trying to keep you alive.”
She slapped Gabriel.
The room went silent.
“I needed him alive.”
Gabriel lowered his eyes.
“I know.”
“Where is he?”
“Until yesterday, I didn’t know.”
Dante looked at Marco.
“You do.”
Marco nodded.
“Carlo contacted me three weeks ago.”
“Why?”
“He said Victor was moving again.”
“Moving how?”
“Cleaning up loose ends.”
“Teresa.”
“Yes.”
“Daniel Harper?”
Marco’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
Elena swayed.
Dante caught her.
This time she did not pull away.
Marco continued.
“Daniel discovered payments attached to the fake Caritas account. He thought Elena was being watched.”
“He was,” Elena whispered. “He told me something felt wrong.”
“He started investigating.”
“And Victor killed him.”
“Yes.”
Elena began crying silently.
Dante’s grip tightened around her shoulders.
“He didn’t die because of you,” Marco said.
She looked at him.
“He died because he tried to protect us.”
“Yes.”
The truth was not comforting.
It was worse.
Dante asked, “Why poison Luca now?”
Marco looked at the closed ICU door.
“Victor needed Dante distracted.”
“From what?”
“Tonight.”
“What happens tonight?”
“A board vote.”
Dante almost laughed.
“A board vote?”
“Salvatore Holdings is restructuring.”
“I know.”
“If you fail to appear, Victor’s proxies can trigger an incapacity clause.”
Dante stared.
“No.”
Marco nodded.
“You’ve missed two emergency executive sessions already.”
“Because my son is dying.”
“That’s the point.”
Elena understood first.
“He wasn’t trying to kill Luca.”
Marco shook his head.
“No.”
“He was trying to make Luca sick enough to keep Dante here.”
“Yes.”
Dante’s face became cold.
“Then why the overdose?”
“Victor’s people made a mistake.”
“Who administered it?”
“School nurse.”
Elena gasped.
“Mrs. Caldwell?”
Marco nodded.
“She owed money.”
“Where is she?”
“Missing.”
Dante looked at the clock.
The board vote was in five hours.
He understood Victor’s plan now.
Create a medical emergency.
Reveal Luca at exactly the right time.
Force Dante into emotional chaos.
Remove him from the corporate vote.
Trigger the incapacity clause.
Take control of Salvatore Holdings.
Once Victor controlled the legitimate companies, he controlled the security apparatus, the financial infrastructure, and half the political relationships Dante had spent years building.
“He used my son as leverage.”
“Yes.”
Dante looked at Luca through the glass.
Victor had made one mistake.
He had assumed Dante would choose power or family.
Dante already knew the answer.
“Let him have the vote.”
Marco stared.
“Boss.”
“I’m not leaving Luca.”
“If Victor gets control—”
“He gets a company.”
“He gets everything.”
“No.”
Dante looked at Elena.
“He doesn’t.”
She understood.
Victor believed the Salvatore empire was Dante’s greatest weakness.
But Dante had just discovered something more valuable.
His son.
His family.
He would burn everything else before sacrificing them.
Marco’s phone buzzed.
He checked it.
“Carlo is here.”
Elena’s entire body went still.
“Where?”
“Parking structure.”
Dante nodded.
“Bring him up.”
“No,” Elena said.
Dante looked at her.
She wiped her face.
“I’ll go.”
He wanted to stop her.
He did not.
They rode the elevator together.
The parking structure smelled of concrete and gasoline.
A man stood beside an old gray sedan.
Seventy-two years old.
White hair.
Thinner than Elena remembered.
But alive.
Carlo Moretti looked at his daughter.
“Elena.”
She stopped twenty feet away.
He took one step.
She raised her hand.
“Don’t.”
Carlo stopped.
“You’re alive.”
“Yes.”
“For fifteen years.”
“Yes.”
“You watched me think you were dead.”
“I watched from far away.”
“That is not better.”
“No.”
“You knew about Luca?”
Carlo’s eyes filled.
“Yes.”
Dante stepped forward.
Carlo looked at him.
“You.”
Dante’s voice was flat.
“You knew he was my son?”
“Yes.”
“And you said nothing.”
“I couldn’t.”
“You could have called.”
“Victor monitored everything.”
“You could have found a way.”
“I tried.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“Everyone keeps saying that.”
Carlo reached into his coat.
Dante immediately raised his gun.
Carlo stopped.
“Easy.”
“Hands where I can see them.”
Carlo slowly pulled out a sealed envelope.
“This is why I came.”
“What is it?”
“Victor’s confession.”
Dante stared.
Carlo continued.
“Not complete. But enough.”
“How?”
“I met him yesterday.”
Elena looked horrified.
“Why?”
“To offer him what he wanted.”
“Which was?”
“Me.”
Carlo gave Dante the envelope.
Inside was a small recording device.
“I told Victor I would surrender the evidence and disappear permanently if he left Elena’s family alone.”
“And he admitted everything?”
“He admitted enough.”
Dante pressed play.
Victor’s voice filled the garage.
Anthony.
Daniel.
The false accounts.
Elena’s eviction.
The manipulated messages.
Then Victor said one sentence that made Dante’s blood run cold.
“The boy was never supposed to die.”
Elena covered her mouth.
Victor continued.
“The dosage was wrong. Caldwell panicked.”
Dante stopped the recording.
Enough.
More than enough.
Carlo said, “Take that to federal prosecutors.”
Dante stared at him.
“You’re telling me to go to the government?”
“I’m telling you to end this differently than our fathers would have.”
Dante looked at Elena.
She nodded.
That was the choice.
Not revenge.
Not another body.
End it.
For real.
Dante called his attorney.
Then federal investigators.
Then the hospital security director.
Then the board.
At 2:00 p.m., Victor began the emergency vote without Dante.
At 2:07, federal agents entered the Salvatore Holdings building.
At 2:11, the boardroom doors locked.
At 2:14, Victor Salvatore was arrested.
Dante watched the livestream from Luca’s hospital room.
Victor looked directly into the camera.
Almost as if he knew Dante was watching.
Then Victor smiled.
Dante frowned.
His phone buzzed.
A scheduled message.
From Victor.
IF YOU’RE READING THIS, THEY TOOK ME.
A second line appeared.
YOU STILL HAVEN’T ASKED WHO CHANGED THE DOSAGE.
Dante’s stomach turned.
May you like
Then a third line appeared.
SHE’S IN THE HOSPITAL WITH YOU.
