Chapter 2 - The Night Someone Came for Ruby
"Get down!"
Dante crossed the marble hallway before Ruby understood what was happening.
He wrapped one arm around her waist and drove them both behind the stone base of the staircase.
Glass exploded across the floor.
Marco drew his weapon.
"West garden!"
Two guards rushed past the doorway.
Ruby's heart hammered.
She tried to rise.
Dante pushed her gently back.
"Stay here."
"Someone said my father's name."
"I heard them."
"Who was it?"
"I don't know."
"You're lying."
His eyes flashed.
"I'm trying to keep you alive."
Another shot rang out.
Dante turned toward Marco.
"Seal the property."
"It's already happening."
"No one leaves."
Marco disappeared toward the west corridor.
Dante looked at Ruby.
She could feel his breathing against her temple.
He wasn't afraid for himself.
She realized that with unnerving clarity.
He was terrified for her.
"Your room," he said.
"No."
"Ruby."
"I'm not being locked upstairs while everyone else decides what I'm allowed to know."
"This isn't the time."
"It's exactly the time."
Dante's mouth tightened.
The gunfire stopped.
For several seconds, the mansion became eerily silent.
Then voices erupted outside.
Security.
Doors.
Running feet.
Ruby stood.
Dante caught her shoulders.
"Listen to me."
She stared at him.
"If this is connected to your father, you are the target."
"Why?"
"I don't know yet."
"You always know."
"Not tonight."
For once, Ruby believed him.
That frightened her more.
Dante guided her toward an interior corridor with no windows.
Sofia followed behind them.
The young maid was shaking.
Ruby reached for her.
"Are you hurt?"
Sofia shook her head.
"No, ma'am."
Dante glanced at Sofia.
"Stay with her."
Ruby stopped.
"I'm not going upstairs."
He looked at her.
She folded her arms.
"Try carrying me."
For one second, despite everything, Dante's mouth almost curved.
Almost.
Then Marco returned.
"We caught one."
Dante became instantly cold.
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Good."
Ruby stepped forward.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"You don't get to order me around anymore."
"This has nothing to do with our marriage."
"It has everything to do with my father."
Dante looked toward Marco.
Marco gave a nearly invisible shake of his head.
Ruby saw it.
"Oh, absolutely not."
She marched toward the west hall.
Dante swore under his breath and followed.
They crossed the kitchen, descended a service staircase, and entered an underground security wing Ruby had never seen.
That discovery alone made her stomach twist.
Six months living in the mansion.
And she hadn't known this place existed.
Two guards stood outside a reinforced room.
Inside, a man sat tied to a chair.
Blood ran from a cut above his eyebrow.
He looked around forty.
His clothing was dark, practical, anonymous.
But the moment Ruby entered, his expression changed.
Recognition.
"Patrick's girl."
Ruby stopped.
Dante moved in front of her.
"Who sent you?"
The man laughed.
Dante didn't.
"What do you want with my wife?"
The stranger looked around him.
"Your wife?"
His smile widened.
"That's what you call her?"
Ruby stepped beside Dante.
"How did you know my father?"
The man's gaze settled on her.
"You have his eyes."
"Answer me."
"He should've told you."
"Told me what?"
The stranger leaned back.
"That Patrick Gallagher wasn't killed by an accident."
Ruby went still.
Her father's death had been ruled a heart attack followed by a car crash.
He had suffered cardiac arrest while driving alone.
The vehicle had struck a barrier.
He died before paramedics arrived.
Dante slowly turned toward the prisoner.
"Careful."
The man smiled.
"You still haven't told her?"
Ruby looked at Dante.
His face revealed nothing.
Too little.
Her voice trembled.
"Dante."
He didn't look at her.
"Dante."
Finally, he did.
Ruby felt something collapse inside her.
"You knew there were questions about my father's death."
"I suspected."
"Since when?"
"Before we married."
She stepped backward.
The prisoner laughed.
"Beautiful."
Dante grabbed the man's shirt.
"Who sent you?"
The stranger remained amused.
"You married her, took control of the family assets, and still couldn't find the ledger."
Dante's hand tightened.
"What ledger?"
Ruby asked.
Neither man answered.
She turned to the prisoner.
"What ledger?"
The stranger looked at her.
"The reason your father died."
Ruby's breath caught.
"The reason half the men in this city wanted Gallagher Holdings destroyed."
Dante released him.
Marco entered.
"We found something."
He handed Dante a small device.
A flash drive.
Ruby stared at it.
"Where?"
"His jacket."
Dante examined it.
The stranger chuckled.
"Go ahead."
Marco took the drive.
"We'll isolate it."
"No," the prisoner said.
Everyone looked at him.
He smiled at Ruby.
"It's for her."
Ruby stepped closer.
Dante blocked her.
"Don't."
"I'm done letting you block me."
The prisoner tilted his head.
"Your father knew you'd eventually marry Moretti."
Ruby frowned.
"What?"
"He planned for it."
Dante's face changed.
The man saw it.
"So that's one thing even you didn't know."
Ruby felt suddenly dizzy.
"My father planned my marriage?"
"No."
The prisoner smiled.
"He planned for Moretti to fall in love with you."
Silence.
Ruby stared at him.
That made no sense.
Dante said quietly, "Take him downstairs."
The guards moved.
The man resisted just enough to turn his head toward Ruby.
"Ask your husband what happened on October seventeenth."
Ruby looked at Dante.
The stranger laughed while being dragged away.
"Ask him why Patrick Gallagher walked into Moretti headquarters that night carrying a gun."
The door slammed.
Ruby turned.
"October seventeenth."
Dante's face had gone pale.
"What happened?"
He looked at Marco.
Marco looked away.
Ruby stepped directly in front of her husband.
"Tell me."
Dante exhaled.
"Your father threatened to kill me."
Ruby stared.
"Why?"
"Because he believed I was responsible for something that happened to you."
"To me?"
Dante nodded once.
"What happened to me?"
His silence made her skin crawl.
"Dante."
"You were twenty-two."
Ruby searched her memory.
Twenty-two.
She had spent most of that year in Europe studying art restoration.
Then there had been the accident.
She had returned early after collapsing in Florence.
Doctors said exhaustion.
Her memory of several weeks remained strangely fragmented.
She had never questioned it.
Until now.
"What happened?"
Dante looked at her with an expression she couldn't read.
"Someone tried to abduct you."
Ruby stopped breathing.
"No."
"Your father covered it up."
"No."
"He was terrified whoever ordered it would try again."
"Why don't I remember?"
Dante's voice softened.
"You were drugged."
The room seemed to tilt.
Ruby grabbed the table.
Dante reached for her.
She flinched.
He stopped.
"When did you find out?"
"That night."
"October seventeenth?"
"Yes."
"My father came to kill you because he thought you did it."
"Yes."
"Did you?"
Dante's eyes hardened.
"No."
She believed him.
She hated that she believed him.
Marco returned with a laptop.
"We opened the drive."
Ruby turned.
A single video file appeared.
Date stamped eight years earlier.
October seventeenth.
Ruby's pulse raced.
Marco clicked it.
Patrick Gallagher appeared on screen.
Alive.
Younger.
Furious.
He stood in what looked like Dante's office.
A younger Dante stood opposite him.
Patrick slammed a photograph onto the desk.
Ruby couldn't see the image.
Her father's voice crackled through the recording.
"You stay away from my daughter."
Dante replied.
"I didn't touch her."
"You knew they were coming."
"I learned too late."
"Because of your brother?"
Dante went completely still beside Ruby.
On the screen, younger Dante said nothing.
Patrick leaned closer.
"If Lorenzo ever comes near Ruby again, I will bury the Moretti name myself."
The video ended.
Ruby looked at Dante.
"Lorenzo?"
Dante's expression had become unreadable.
"Who is Lorenzo?"
Marco slowly closed the laptop.
No one answered.
Ruby's stomach tightened.
"Dante."
He finally spoke.
"My brother."
"You have a brother?"
"Had."
"What happened to him?"
Dante stared at the dark laptop screen.
"I killed him."
Before Ruby could speak, the security door opened.
A guard rushed in.
"Boss."
Dante turned.
The guard looked shaken.
"The prisoner is dead."
Marco swore.
"How?"
The guard swallowed.
"He wasn't alone."
Dante reached for Ruby.
Then every monitor in the security room flickered.
A live video appeared.
A man stood outside the mansion gates.
Silver-haired.
Smiling.
Dante's hand dropped.
Ruby looked from the screen to her husband.
The stranger raised one hand toward the camera.
May you like
Then he spoke.
"Hello, brother."
