Chapter 6 - What Dante Never Knew
Dante was halfway to the elevator before Rosie finished showing him the photograph.
Noah called.
Rosie answered immediately.
“Where are you?”
“In the bathroom.”
“Lock the door.”
“I did.”
“Stay there.”
“He keeps saying he wants to help.”
“Do not open it.”
Dante took the phone.
“Noah. Listen to me. Adrian is downstairs. I'm calling him now.”
They reached the estate seventeen minutes later.
Matteo was sitting calmly in the drawing room.
Noah stood behind Adrian.
Rosie ran to her brother.
Matteo rose.
He was sixty-two, silver-haired, elegant, and utterly composed.
“You frightened the boy.”
“You entered his room.”
“I was looking for you.”
“In his bedroom?”
Matteo sighed.
“Dante, this has gone far enough.”
Dante dropped the ledger onto the table.
For the first time Matteo's composure cracked.
Barely.
But Rosie saw it.
“So you found Margaret's records.”
“You knew her.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Voss.”
“Yes.”
“You knew what happened to Elena.”
Matteo looked at his nephew.
“I knew more than you did.”
Dante stepped closer.
“Then start talking.”
Matteo told them Victor Castellano had financed Voss's early facility believing it was a legitimate rehabilitation program.
When evidence of abuse surfaced, Victor wanted out.
Matteo handled the financial separation.
But Voss had evidence implicating Victor.
So Matteo paid him.
Again.
And again.
“What about Elena?” Dante asked.
“She discovered the payments.”
“You killed her?”
Matteo's face twisted.
“No.”
“Then who drove the car?”
Matteo looked at Rosie.
“Gregory Vale.”
Rosie went cold.
Vale had been there from the beginning.
Matteo said Elena confronted Voss and Vale.
Samuel Keene tried to help her.
They arranged to meet authorities.
They never arrived.
Vale forced Elena into a car.
Samuel followed.
Titan followed Samuel.
There was a crash.
Samuel survived.
Elena didn't.
Titan attacked Vale while protecting Samuel.
That was how blood ended up on Titan.
The report was rewritten.
Titan became the killer.
Vale disappeared from the investigation.
“And you?” Dante asked.
“I covered it up.”
Dante's eyes became empty.
“Why?”
“To protect you.”
“Don't.”
“You were twenty-eight and already carrying your father's companies. If Victor's involvement became public—”
“You buried my sister.”
“I protected what remained of the family.”
Dante stepped back.
Rosie saw something break inside him.
Not rage.
Trust.
Matteo continued.
“I have regretted it every day.”
“That doesn't make Elena less dead.”
“No.”
“Or Samuel less imprisoned.”
“No.”
“Or Titan less blamed.”
“No.”
Dante pointed toward the door.
“Leave.”
Matteo nodded.
Then looked at Rosie.
“Vale will come for the ledger.”
“He can try.”
“He won't come personally.”
Rosie frowned.
“He already has people around you.”
Her eyes moved toward Elias.
Matteo shook his head.
“Not him.”
“Who?”
“I don't know.”
Rosie almost laughed.
Everyone in this nightmare knew half of everything.
Dante ordered the estate cleared of unnecessary staff.
Rosie refused to let Noah out of sight.
By evening, the house felt like a fortress.
Yet Rosie felt less safe than ever.
Titan followed her everywhere.
At midnight, she found Dante sitting alone in the kitchen.
No guards.
No jacket.
Just a man staring into untouched coffee.
She sat opposite him.
“My mother lied to me too.”
Dante looked up.
“About your accident?”
“About everything.”
“Maybe she wanted to protect you.”
Rosie gave him a sad smile.
“Sound familiar?”
Dante looked away.
“Point taken.”
She reached across the table.
Not dramatically.
Just placed her hand beside his.
He looked at it.
Then her.
“You shouldn't trust me.”
“My mother wrote that.”
“She may have been right.”
“Maybe.”
Dante's expression changed.
“You agree?”
“I don't trust you.”
He almost smiled.
“Good.”
“I trust what I've seen.”
“And what's that?”
“You listened when I said no.”
He became serious.
“You protected Noah.”
“Yes.”
“You believed me about Titan.”
“Yes.”
“You didn't ask me to hand over the ledger.”
“No.”
Rosie leaned back.
“So I'm collecting evidence.”
“Like a scientist?”
“Like someone who's been burned by powerful men before.”
Dante nodded.
“Fair.”
Titan lay beneath the table.
Rosie nudged him gently with her shoe.
“And he likes you.”
Dante looked down.
Titan's head rested on his boot.
“He has questionable judgment.”
Rosie laughed.
Dante looked at her.
This time neither looked away quickly enough.
Something shifted.
Quiet.
Dangerous in an entirely different way.
Dante reached toward her.
Then stopped before touching her face.
“May I?”
Rosie stared at him.
That one question mattered more than he knew.
She nodded.
His fingers gently moved a loose strand of hair away from her good ear.
No kiss.
No dramatic declaration.
Just tenderness.
Rosie's heart did something deeply inconvenient.
Then Titan stood abruptly.
The moment shattered.
The dog walked toward the kitchen door.
Growled.
Dante rose.
“What is it?”
Titan moved down the hall.
Rosie followed.
He stopped at the security office.
The door was open.
Adrian's chair was empty.
Three monitors were black.
The fourth showed Noah's bedroom.
Empty.
Rosie ran upstairs.
“Noah!”
No answer.
His window stood open.
On the bed lay his phone.
And beneath it was a handwritten note.
BRING THE LEDGER TO PIER 17.
May you like
COME ALONE.
OR YOUR BROTHER LEARNS WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR MOTHER.
