Chapter 5 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
The woman standing outside should have been dead.
She wasn't.
Dante opened the door halfway.
Isabella Romano stood in the hallway.
Older.
Thin.
A scar ran along her jaw.
Her eyes filled when she saw Dante.
“You look terrible.”
Dante didn't lower the gun.
“You died.”
“That's what Adrian needed you to believe.”
Claire held Luca behind her.
Isabella noticed them.
Her face changed.
“Claire.”
Claire stiffened.
“You know me too?”
“I know too much about you.”
Dante's voice hardened.
“Start talking.”
Isabella entered.
Marco searched the corridor before locking the door.
Keller watched from the window.
Nobody trusted anyone.
Claire was beginning to understand that distrust was the Moretti family religion.
Isabella sat.
“Adrian found out Claire was pregnant before Claire did.”
Claire's skin went cold.
“How?”
“The clinic's database.”
Dante looked at Marco.
Marco shook his head.
“Not me.”
Isabella continued.
“Adrian paid someone inside the hospital network.”
Claire remembered the blood test.
“He knew Luca was a boy?”
“He believed so.”
“Why did that matter?”
Isabella looked toward Dante.
“Your father's succession rules.”
Dante's expression darkened.
“My father never cared about bloodline nonsense.”
“He did at the end.”
“What rules?”
Isabella spoke carefully.
“Your father's revised will transferred control of the family's legitimate holdings to Dante's first biological son.”
Claire laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
“Luca?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Claire stepped forward.
“My son is six years old.”
“I know.”
“He isn't inheriting a criminal empire.”
“It isn't the criminal empire.”
Dante frowned.
“Explain.”
“Shipping companies. Construction firms. Real estate. Hotels. Investments.”
“How much?”
Isabella looked at him.
“Approximately eight hundred million dollars.”
Silence.
Claire stared at her.
“No.”
“Claire—”
“No. Absolutely not.”
Dante touched her arm.
She pulled away.
“He doesn't get that world.”
“I agree.”
Everyone looked at him.
Dante continued.
“I don't want Luca anywhere near it.”
Isabella nodded.
“Adrian does.”
Claire understood.
“If Luca controls the inheritance—”
“Adrian controls nothing.”
“And if Luca disappears?”
“The assets revert to the senior surviving Moretti male.”
“Adrian.”
“Yes.”
Dante's face became frighteningly calm.
“So he threatened Claire because of the child.”
“He threatened Claire before he knew she was pregnant.”
“Then why keep me away after?”
“To prevent you from learning about Luca.”
Dante looked toward his son.
Six years stolen by money and power.
Claire saw the anger in him.
But beneath it was grief.
Isabella opened her bag.
“I have documents.”
She spread them across the table.
Bank records.
Photographs.
Emails.
Surveillance reports.
One photograph showed three-year-old Luca leaving preschool.
Another showed Claire entering the hospital.
Another showed Dante standing across the street watching.
Claire looked at him.
“You really were there.”
He nodded.
Isabella placed another photograph down.
Marco standing beside Adrian Moretti.
Taken two years earlier.
Dante looked at Marco.
Marco didn't flinch.
“I can explain.”
“You keep saying that.”
“I was feeding Adrian information.”
Claire laughed bitterly.
“That sounds worse.”
“I was feeding him false information.”
Isabella nodded.
“He was.”
Claire looked at her.
“You trust Marco?”
“No.”
Marco almost smiled.
“Good.”
“But he saved Luca twice.”
Dante stared.
“When?”
“Three years ago, Adrian ordered someone to stage a traffic accident near Claire's apartment.”
Claire froze.
“What?”
Marco looked down.
“I intercepted the driver.”
Claire remembered that night.
A car had run a red light seconds after she and Luca crossed.
She had thought it was chance.
“Another time?” Dante asked.
Isabella answered.
“Last year. Playground.”
Claire's stomach turned.
“The man with the camera.”
Marco nodded.
“You saw him?”
“I thought he was photographing birds.”
“He wasn't.”
Claire walked away.
She needed air.
Instead there was only the apartment.
Six years of believing she had protected Luca.
All while strangers watched from the shadows.
Dante followed.
“Claire.”
“I failed him.”
“No.”
“I didn't know.”
“You weren't supposed to know.”
“That doesn't make it better.”
Dante stood behind her.
“I failed both of you.”
She turned.
“Why didn't you come to me three years ago?”
“I told you.”
“Tell me the full truth.”
Dante looked away.
Claire waited.
Finally he spoke.
“I was afraid you'd look at me the way you're looking at me now.”
She stared.
“That was it?”
“No.”
“What else?”
“I thought Luca was better without me.”
Claire's anger returned.
“You decided that for him.”
“Yes.”
“You decided it for me.”
“Yes.”
“You always decide alone.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
The admission stopped her.
He wasn't defending himself anymore.
“I thought sacrifice made me honorable,” he said. “It made me arrogant.”
Claire's eyes burned.
“I hated you.”
“I know.”
“I told Luca you didn't know about him because I couldn't tell a child his father knew and stayed away.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“I know.”
“No. You don't.”
She stepped closer.
“You didn't hear him ask why everyone else's dads came to school events.”
Dante's eyes filled.
“You didn't sit beside him when he drew Father's Day cards for nobody.”
“Claire.”
“You didn't hear him ask whether he had done something wrong.”
Dante broke.
Not dramatically.
His face simply collapsed.
“I am sorry.”
Claire had waited six years for those words.
They couldn't fix anything.
But they mattered.
Luca stood in the doorway.
“Dad?”
Both adults froze.
It was the first time he had said it.
Dante slowly turned.
Luca held the dinosaur Band-Aid.
“You forgot this.”
Dante knelt.
This time pain nearly brought him down.
Claire rushed forward instinctively.
He steadied himself.
Luca placed the Band-Aid on Dante's hand.
“There.”
Dante's voice cracked.
“Perfect.”
Luca hugged him.
Dante stopped breathing.
Then wrapped both arms around his son.
Claire turned away, crying silently.
Isabella spoke from behind them.
“We still have to go to the memorial.”
Claire wiped her face.
“No.”
Isabella looked toward Dante.
“The safe beneath the chapel contains the original will and your mother's evidence.”
“Evidence of what?” Claire asked.
“That Adrian ordered every attack.”
“Then call federal agents.”
Keller laughed quietly.
“Which ones?”
Isabella produced a number.
“One.”
Dante frowned.
“Who?”
“Special Agent Samuel Hayes.”
Claire stared.
“Nora's brother?”
“Yes.”
“She said he disappeared.”
“He did.”
“Where is he?”
Isabella looked toward the clock.
“He'll be at the chapel.”
Dante stared.
“You're asking us to walk into Adrian's memorial surrounded by his people.”
“Yes.”
“With Luca?”
“No.”
Claire answered instantly.
“Definitely no.”
Luca stayed with Mrs. Alvarez under federal protection arranged through Hayes.
Claire insisted on going.
Dante argued.
He lost.
By afternoon, the Moretti estate was filled with black cars.
Claire stood beside Dante inside the old stone chapel.
His surgical wound had been reinforced.
He looked pale.
But upright.
Adrian Moretti stood near the altar.
He was younger than Dante by three years.
Same dark eyes.
Different soul.
He smiled when he saw them.
“Brother.”
Dante said nothing.
Adrian looked at Claire.
“Dr. Callahan.”
She felt the hatred immediately.
“You've caused an enormous amount of trouble.”
Dante stepped in front of her.
Adrian smiled.
“Still doing that?”
“What?”
“Protecting people who don't understand what you are.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“Where is our mother's safe?”
Adrian's smile faded.
“So you know.”
People began moving toward the doors.
Marco noticed.
“Dante.”
The chapel doors slammed shut.
Locks clicked.
Claire's heart pounded.
Adrian took a small remote from his pocket.
“You were always Father's favorite.”
Dante looked around.
“And you were always jealous.”
“No.”
Adrian smiled again.
“I was patient.”
A section of chapel floor opened near the altar.
A steel safe appeared beneath it.
Adrian held up a key.
“The problem is the safe requires two things.”
Dante stared.
“What?”
“The key.”
Adrian pointed toward Claire.
“And blood from the heir.”
Claire went cold.
Adrian's smile widened.
“Which is why your son was never supposed to stay at Mrs. Alvarez's house.”
Claire reached for her phone.
No signal.
Dante grabbed Adrian by the collar.
“Where is Luca?”
Adrian laughed.
Then Claire's phone suddenly received one delayed message.
It was from Mrs. Alvarez.
May you like
Only four words.
They took him, Claire.
