Chapter 6 - The Last Lie
Dante read the message twice.
“My son?”
Elena stared at him.
Michael was Luca’s child.
They had proof.
So why had Alessandra called him Dante’s son?
They raced back to Manhattan.
Marco contacted the penthouse guards.
No response.
Security cameras were offline.
When they arrived, the front doors stood open.
Inside, Michael sat safely on the sofa.
Alessandra stood behind him.
She held no weapon.
Dante entered first.
“Move away from him.”
Michael ran to Maria.
Alessandra let him go.
Elena watched carefully.
“You sent the message.”
“Yes.”
“You put the shoes under the bed.”
“Yes.”
“You brought Sabrina there.”
“Yes.”
Dante’s anger rose.
“You terrorized my pregnant wife.”
“I forced you to look at the truth.”
“You could have called me.”
“And said what? Hello, Dante, I’m your dead mother?”
“You endangered Michael.”
“I saved Michael.”
Maria stepped forward.
“You used him.”
Alessandra’s face softened.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena asked the only question that mattered.
“Why call Michael Dante’s son?”
Alessandra looked at her.
“To get him home quickly.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“Another manipulation.”
“Yes.”
“Are there any truths left?”
Alessandra placed a thick folder on the table.
“One.”
Inside was evidence against Vittorio.
Bank records.
Audio recordings.
Photographs.
Orders connected to Luca’s murder.
Proof of Adrian’s coercion.
Everything needed to destroy Vittorio’s remaining network.
Dante stared.
“You had this?”
“I spent six years collecting it.”
“You let me believe you were dead for twelve.”
“Your father sent me away first.”
“Why?”
“Because Vittorio threatened you and Luca.”
Dante looked broken.
“You could have come back after Father died.”
“I tried.”
“No. You watched.”
Alessandra said nothing.
“You watched Luca die. You watched me bury him. You watched me become the thing Father wanted to save me from.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I was afraid.”
Dante’s voice cracked.
“So was I.”
Elena had never heard him sound like that.
Alessandra looked at her son.
“I cannot recover those years.”
“No.”
“But I can give you the truth.”
She pushed the folder toward him.
Dante didn’t touch it.
Elena did.
Because someone needed to end this.
Over the next forty-eight hours, the evidence was delivered to federal prosecutors through Dante’s attorneys.
Vittorio’s organization collapsed.
Corrupt officials were arrested.
Dr. Hayes agreed to testify.
Adrian survived surgery and gave a full statement.
Sabrina stayed at the hospital with him.
Maria and Michael were moved into a protected residence.
For the first time in days, Elena and Dante were alone.
They stood in the master bedroom.
The robe was gone.
The baby shoes sat on the dresser.
Dante looked at them.
“I’m sorry.”
Elena didn’t answer immediately.
“For Sabrina?”
“For everything.”
“You humiliated me.”
“I know.”
“You ordered your pregnant wife out of her bedroom without explanation.”
“I know.”
“You decided protecting me meant controlling what I was allowed to know.”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t protection.”
“I know that now.”
Elena looked at him.
“Do you?”
Dante nodded.
“I was raised to believe information was dangerous. My father hid things from my mother. My mother hid things from me. I did the same thing to you.”
“And look where it brought us.”
He looked down.
“I love you.”
“That doesn’t automatically fix what you did.”
“I know.”
It was the right answer.
Elena picked up Michael’s tiny shoes.
“You want our son to grow up differently?”
“More than anything.”
“Then it starts now.”
Dante nodded.
“No more secrets.”
“No more making decisions for me.”
“Yes.”
“No more throwing me into guest rooms while mysterious brunettes wear my clothes.”
Despite herself, Elena almost smiled.
“That seems especially reasonable.”
She finally laughed.
Dante did too.
The sound felt strange after so much fear.
Then Elena winced.
Dante immediately became serious.
“What?”
“Nothing.”
“Elena.”
She pressed a hand to her stomach.
Another pain came.
Longer.
Dante went pale.
“Is it the baby?”
“I think—”
Her water broke.
Dante stared at the floor.
Then at her.
Elena almost laughed again.
“The feared Dante Marino,” she whispered. “Terrified by childbirth.”
He picked her up.
“I’m calling the hospital.”
“No Hayes.”
“Obviously.”
Hours later, Elena was admitted to a private maternity unit under heavy security.
Labor progressed normally.
Dante never left her side.
Near dawn, a nurse entered.
“Mr. Marino?”
Dante looked up.
“There’s someone asking for you.”
“Who?”
“She wouldn’t give her name.”
Elena and Dante exchanged a look.
Not again.
Dante stepped into the hallway.
At the far end stood Sabrina.
Her face was pale.
She carried an envelope.
Dante approached.
“What happened?”
“My father woke up.”
“And?”
“He remembered something.”
She handed Dante the envelope.
“He said this was the one thing Vittorio was desperate to destroy.”
Dante opened it.
Inside was a photograph of his father.
Luca stood beside him.
Between them was another man.
Dante recognized him immediately.
His hand tightened.
Sabrina whispered:
“He’s still alive.”
May you like
Dante looked toward Elena’s hospital room.
The man in the photograph had been standing inside this same hospital less than an hour earlier.
