Chapter 4 - The Woman Who Was Supposed to Be Dead
Dante could not move.
The woman stepped into the light.
Isabella Moretti had aged.
Her hair was silver at the temples.
Her face carried lines that did not exist in Dante's memories.
But she was unmistakably his mother.
He remembered those eyes.
“Impossible.”
“I know.”
Dante's anger arrived before relief.
“You let me believe you were dead.”
Isabella lowered her head.
“I had no choice.”
“Everyone has a choice.”
“Not when the alternative is watching your children die.”
Sofia appeared behind Dante.
She had followed them.
When she saw Isabella, she collapsed against the wall.
“Mom?”
Isabella's composure broke.
“My beautiful girl.”
Sofia crossed the warehouse and embraced her.
Dante remained still.
He wanted to join them.
He wanted to leave.
He wanted eight stolen years with Chiara and more than twenty stolen years with his mother returned to him.
Instead he asked:
“Where is the second tape?”
Isabella released Sofia.
“Safe.”
“Give it to me.”
“First you need to understand what Chiara discovered.”
The conspiracy had begun decades earlier.
Antonio Moretti had inherited businesses tangled with criminal alliances. Over time, he tried to dismantle the most violent parts while keeping the legitimate companies alive.
One partner refused.
Vittorio Carbone.
A trusted family adviser.
A man Dante had known as Uncle Vittorio.
Vittorio used Moretti shipping routes for illegal financial transfers and threatened Antonio when he tried to stop him.
Isabella discovered it.
Vittorio attempted to kill her.
Antonio staged her death and sent her away.
Years later, Chiara discovered the same network.
“And Vittorio poisoned her?”
Isabella shook her head.
“We believed so.”
“Believed?”
“The second tape proves someone else administered the poison.”
Dante's stomach tightened.
“Who?”
Isabella reached inside her coat.
Empty.
Her face changed.
She searched another pocket.
“The tape.”
Gabriel stepped forward.
“You had it.”
“It was here.”
A small tear in Isabella's inner pocket showed where someone had cut the lining.
Dante looked around.
Someone had been close enough to steal it.
Then Marco's phone rang.
He answered.
His face went white.
“Dante.”
“What?”
“Elena and Mia are gone.”
Dante stared at him.
Marco continued.
“The mansion cameras show Elena leaving through the east gate twenty minutes ago.”
“Alone?”
“No.”
Marco turned the phone around.
The image showed Elena holding Mia.
May you like
Beside them walked Vittorio Carbone.
And Mia was carrying the second cassette.
