Chapter 2 - The Photograph Taken Yesterday
Claire snatched Luca into her arms.
“What do you mean they know?”
Marco did not answer immediately.
That frightened her more than any answer could have.
Dante tried to rise again.
Pain twisted across his face.
“Open it.”
Marco hesitated.
“Open the damn envelope.”
Claire covered Luca's ears instinctively.
Marco tore the envelope.
A photograph slid onto the bed.
Claire recognized the playground immediately.
Luca's school.
The photograph showed her son on the monkey bars.
The timestamp was yesterday.
On the back was a handwritten sentence.
The Moretti heir belongs with the Morettis.
Claire's knees weakened.
Dante stared at the photograph.
“What happened tonight?” he asked.
Marco lowered his voice.
“Ambush outside the warehouse.”
“Who knew I was going there?”
“Six people.”
“Names.”
“Later.”
“Now.”
Luca pressed his face against Claire's shoulder.
“Mommy, I want to go home.”
Claire kissed his hair.
“So do I, sweetheart.”
Dante looked at the boy.
The expression on his face changed completely.
Crime lord disappeared.
Wounded man disappeared.
What remained was something Claire had never expected to see.
A father who had just discovered six stolen years.
Luca peeked at him.
“Are you sick?”
Dante swallowed.
“A little.”
“Did my mom fix you?”
“She usually does.”
Claire's eyes snapped toward him.
Luca considered this.
“You know my mom?”
Dante looked at Claire before answering.
“Yes.”
“How?”
Claire interrupted.
“Luca, honey, Mrs. Alvarez is going to take you to the nurses' station for a minute.”
“No.”
“Baby—”
“I don't want to leave.”
Dante's expression hardened at the fear in Luca's voice.
“Neither do I.”
Claire glared.
“You don't make decisions for him.”
“No. You do.”
The response surprised her.
No challenge.
No claim.
Just acceptance.
Marco moved toward the window and checked the hallway.
“We can't stay here.”
Claire laughed without humor.
“He just had surgery.”
“This hospital isn't secure.”
“It has security.”
Marco looked at her.
“Two members of hospital security are on our payroll.”
Claire stared at him.
“That's supposed to reassure me?”
“No. Because three others are apparently on somebody else's.”
Dante turned toward him.
“Explain.”
“The men who attacked you knew which ambulance route we'd use.”
Dante's face darkened.
“And?”
“They knew Mercy General was the destination.”
Claire looked between them.
“Somebody followed him here?”
“Possibly.”
“Possibly?”
Marco looked at Luca.
Dante noticed.
“Say it.”
Marco pulled out his phone.
“There was a message waiting on my secure line.”
He held the screen toward Dante.
Claire could see only one sentence.
You finally found your family. Enjoy the reunion while it lasts.
Dante's voice became quiet.
“Get Claire and Luca somewhere secure.”
Claire shook her head.
“No.”
Dante looked at her.
“This isn't negotiable.”
She nearly laughed.
“You disappeared for six years and think you can return to my life giving orders?”
“I think somebody photographed our son yesterday.”
“Our son?”
The words exploded from her.
Luca flinched.
Claire immediately regretted it.
Dante lowered his voice.
“Yes. Our son. But I am not asking you to forgive me. I am asking you to let me protect him.”
“You couldn't protect me.”
The words landed hard.
Dante looked away.
“I know.”
Claire had wanted that admission for six years.
Now it gave her nothing.
Marco spoke quietly.
“We have a secure residence north of the city.”
“No Moretti houses.”
“Claire—”
“No.”
Dante studied her.
“Where would you go?”
She didn't answer.
“Your apartment is compromised.”
“How do you know?”
“Because they have photographs.”
Claire looked at Luca.
Her life had been carefully ordinary.
School drop-offs.
Hospital shifts.
Saturday pancakes.
Library books.
Dentist appointments.
Everything Dante's world was not.
Now a single photograph had shattered that illusion.
“I have a friend,” she said.
Dante shook his head.
“No friends.”
“You don't control—”
“If they know your son, they know your friends.”
Claire stopped.
He was right.
She hated him for being right.
Luca tugged her coat.
“Mommy, who is he?”
Silence.
Claire had known this moment would come someday.
She had imagined a kitchen table.
Maybe Luca at twelve.
Maybe sixteen.
Not a recovery room with armed men outside.
Dante looked down.
For the first time since Claire had known him, he looked afraid of an answer.
Claire knelt beside Luca.
“You remember when you asked about your dad?”
Luca nodded.
“You said he lived far away.”
“Yes.”
“Did he come back?”
Claire's throat tightened.
She looked at Dante.
The most feared man in the room couldn't breathe.
Claire nodded.
“He came back.”
Luca slowly turned.
Dante's eyes filled with tears he refused to let fall.
“That's him?”
“Yes.”
Luca stared.
Then asked the simplest question in the world.
“Why didn't you come to my birthdays?”
Dante closed his eyes.
Claire nearly broke.
When he opened them, he spoke carefully.
“I didn't know where I was supposed to be.”
Luca frowned.
“You didn't know my house?”
“No.”
“Mom knew.”
Dante glanced toward Claire.
“Yes.”
Luca walked closer.
Claire almost stopped him.
Instead she remained beside him.
Luca examined Dante as children examined anything unfamiliar.
“You look like me.”
A broken laugh escaped Dante.
“I think you look better.”
Luca touched his own hair.
“We have the same hair.”
“So I've noticed.”
“Do you like dinosaurs?”
Claire almost laughed.
Dante looked serious.
“I haven't studied them enough.”
Luca's eyes widened.
“I know all of them.”
“I may need your help.”
Claire saw it happen.
One tiny bridge.
Built in seconds.
She hated how much she wanted it.
A knock came at the door.
Everyone froze.
“Dr. Callahan?”
A nurse.
Claire opened the door slightly.
“What?”
“Police need to speak with you.”
Dante and Marco exchanged a look.
Claire noticed.
“What?”
Marco whispered.
“Don't tell them about Luca.”
Claire stared.
“Why?”
“Because we don't know who sent them.”
The nurse waited.
Claire stepped into the hallway.
Two detectives stood nearby.
Detective Nora Hayes introduced herself.
Her partner was Raymond Keller.
“We need to ask about tonight's victim.”
“He's recovering.”
“Did he say who shot him?”
“No.”
“Do you know him personally?”
Claire hesitated.
Dante's warning echoed in her head.
“Yes.”
Keller looked interested.
“How?”
“We knew each other years ago.”
“How many years?”
“Six.”
Hayes watched Claire carefully.
“Dr. Callahan, are you aware Dante Moretti is the suspected head of a major criminal organization?”
“Yes.”
“And you're comfortable treating him?”
“I treat patients.”
Keller glanced through the small glass panel in the door.
His eyes landed on Luca.
“Who's the kid?”
Claire felt every muscle tighten.
“My son.”
Keller stared a second too long.
Hayes noticed.
“So your son is visiting during an active trauma case?”
“His babysitter had an emergency.”
Keller looked again.
“You said you knew Moretti six years ago?”
Claire understood where the question was going.
Before she answered, Hayes cut in.
“Ray.”
He looked at her.
“We're here about the shooting.”
Something passed between them.
Claire saw it.
A warning.
Hayes handed Claire a card.
“Call me privately.”
She emphasized the last word.
Keller frowned.
Hayes turned away.
Keller followed reluctantly.
Claire watched them leave.
Marco appeared behind her.
“The man.”
“Keller?”
“Yes.”
“You know him?”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at him like that?”
Marco's phone buzzed.
He read something.
His face changed.
Dante called from inside.
“What?”
Marco entered the room.
Claire followed.
Marco closed the door.
“One of our people pulled Keller's financial records.”
Claire blinked.
“You can do that?”
Dante ignored her question.
“And?”
Marco turned the phone.
“A shell company has been paying him twelve thousand dollars every month.”
Dante's eyes hardened.
“Whose shell company?”
“We're tracing it.”
Claire looked toward the hallway.
Detective Keller was gone.
Luca sat on a chair beside Dante, explaining the difference between a velociraptor and a deinonychus.
The normality made everything worse.
Claire stepped closer to Marco.
“Where is Detective Hayes?”
“I don't know.”
Her phone vibrated.
Unknown number.
Claire opened the message.
DO NOT TRUST MARCO BELLINI.
Her pulse stopped.
A second message appeared.
IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY DANTE REALLY LEFT, COME TO THE HOSPITAL CHAPEL ALONE.
Then a photograph loaded beneath it.
Claire stared.
It showed Dante six years earlier.
Standing at an airport.
Beside another woman.
May you like
The woman was holding his hand.
And on her finger was a diamond ring.
