Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Alessandra Marino stood at the top of the stairs.
Older.
Thinner.
Alive.
Dante could not move.
Elena had seen her only in photographs.
The resemblance was undeniable.
Dante finally whispered, “You died.”
Alessandra descended one step.
“No. Your father made the world believe I did.”
“Why?”
“To keep me alive.”
Sabrina stared.
“From whom?”
Alessandra looked at her.
“Your father.”
Sabrina shook her head immediately.
“No.”
“Adrian Cross betrayed this family years ago.”
Dante’s voice hardened.
“Proof.”
Alessandra almost smiled.
“You sound like your father.”
“My father is dead.”
“Yes. Because Adrian discovered he was trying to expose him.”
Sabrina stepped forward.
“You’re lying.”
Alessandra reached into her coat.
Dante raised his weapon.
She stopped.
“Photographs.”
She slowly removed an envelope.
Inside were images of Adrian meeting men associated with rival criminal organizations.
Dates went back years.
One photograph showed Luca confronting Adrian.
Another showed Maria nearby.
The final photograph showed Adrian wearing a silver ring.
Sabrina sat down heavily.
“No.”
Elena looked at Alessandra.
“Why the baby shoes?”
Alessandra’s expression changed.
“I didn’t place them.”
“Maria?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer bothered Elena.
Someone had engineered the entire confrontation.
Sabrina.
The robe.
The shoes.
The letters.
Michael’s arrival.
All of it had forced secrets into the open.
But Maria claimed she hadn’t arranged everything.
Alessandra claimed the same.
“Where is Adrian?” Dante asked.
“I’ve been searching for him.”
Sabrina’s phone vibrated.
A message.
FROM DAD.
Her hands shook as she opened it.
SABRINA, DON’T BELIEVE A WORD ALESSANDRA SAYS. COME ALONE TO PIER 19.
Dante read it.
“It’s a trap.”
Sabrina’s eyes filled.
“He’s my father.”
“And he may have murdered my brother.”
“I need to hear him say it.”
Elena understood.
Truth from strangers rarely defeated love.
Sometimes betrayal needed the betrayer’s voice.
They went to Pier 19 with Dante’s men positioned several blocks away.
Adrian stood inside an abandoned warehouse.
He looked exhausted.
“Sabrina.”
She approached.
“Did you kill Luca?”
Adrian closed his eyes.
“No.”
“Did you betray the Marinos?”
“Yes.”
The answer hit her visibly.
“But not the way Alessandra claims.”
Dante stepped from the shadows.
Adrian looked unsurprised.
“I knew you’d come.”
“Explain.”
Adrian looked at Elena.
“This began before you married him.”
Elena said nothing.
“Luca discovered a trafficking network using Marino shipping routes.”
Dante’s expression darkened.
“We never trafficked people.”
“You didn’t. Someone else used your containers.”
“Who?”
“Your uncle Vittorio.”
Silence.
Dante stared at him.
Adrian continued.
“Luca found out. Maria helped him trace the accounts. Your father confronted Vittorio.”
“And my father died.”
“Three days later.”
Dante’s voice dropped.
“You told me it was a heart attack.”
“I lied.”
“Why?”
“Because Vittorio had Sabrina.”
Sabrina looked at him.
“What?”
Adrian’s face broke.
“He threatened you.”
Sabrina stepped back.
“All these years?”
“I did what he demanded.”
“You let everyone believe Maria killed Luca.”
“Yes.”
“You let Dante believe his nephew was dead.”
“I thought Michael was dead.”
Dante grabbed Adrian by the collar.
“You destroyed six years of his life.”
“I know.”
“You destroyed mine.”
“I know.”
Elena stepped closer.
“Where is Maria?”
Adrian looked at her.
“Vittorio has her.”
Dante released him.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
A gunshot cracked.
Adrian jerked.
Sabrina screamed.
He fell.
Dante pulled Elena behind a steel column.
More shots.
Dante’s men returned fire.
The shooter escaped.
Adrian was alive, hit in the shoulder.
As paramedics worked on him, he grabbed Elena’s wrist.
“Your baby.”
She froze.
“What about my baby?”
“Vittorio knows.”
“Knows what?”
“He knows Dante will surrender everything for you.”
Elena’s blood chilled.
Adrian shoved a key into her palm.
“Safe-deposit box 317.”
“What’s inside?”
“Insurance.”
“Against Vittorio?”
Adrian nodded.
Then his eyes shifted toward Dante.
“And against someone worse.”
He lost consciousness.
Hours later, Elena and Dante opened box 317.
Inside was a flash drive and another photograph.
Elena picked it up.
It showed Vittorio.
Beside him stood the doctor who had been managing Elena’s pregnancy.
Dr. Samuel Hayes.
Dante went rigid.
Elena turned the photograph over.
A handwritten sentence covered the back.
THE BABY WAS ALWAYS THE TARGET.
Her phone rang.
Dr. Hayes.
Dante said, “Don’t answer.”
Elena did.
“Doctor?”
A familiar voice replied.
“Elena, listen carefully. You need to leave Dante immediately.”
“Why?”
“Because the child you’re carrying isn’t safe with him.”
Elena looked at her husband.
May you like
Then Hayes said the words that made Dante reach for the phone.
“Your husband was never supposed to know what we changed in your medical records.”
