Chapter 4 - The Father Who Never Died
Dante fired once at the lock.
The bullet sparked against reinforced steel.
"Stop," Isabella snapped.
He aimed again.
"Those doors are ballistic."
"Everything breaks eventually."
"So will your leg."
Dante ignored her.
Mara stepped between him and the door.
"Give me the gun."
His eyebrows lifted.
"Excuse me?"
"You are bleeding through the bandage again."
"My father is alive."
"I noticed."
"He has my wife."
"I noticed that too."
"And you want my gun?"
"I want you to sit down before the orthopedic surgeon has to rebuild your leg from scratch."
Dante stared at her.
For several seconds Mara thought she had pushed too far.
Then Isabella said softly, "Listen to her."
Dante looked at his sister.
"You're not currently in a position to give advice."
Marco hid a smile.
Dante sat.
Mara knelt beside his leg.
The bleeding wasn't catastrophic.
Yet.
She reinforced the dressing.
"What happens now?" Marco asked.
Isabella moved toward the computer.
"We find another exit."
"Is there one?"
"Yes."
Dante looked up.
"You built this place?"
"Lucia found it. It's an abandoned surgical service level."
Mara frowned.
"My mother knew about a secret floor beneath the hospital?"
"She knew everything about this building."
Dante watched Mara.
"Your mother was more interesting than you thought."
"Apparently everyone knew my mother except me."
Bitterness slipped into her voice.
Dante noticed.
"You were the thing she was protecting."
Mara looked up.
His tone had softened.
"Protection doesn't make secrets hurt less."
"No."
He understood that better than anyone.
Isabella found a hidden panel.
Behind it was a narrow maintenance passage.
Marco entered first.
The others followed.
Dante tried to use the crutches.
Mara took one.
"Put your arm around me."
"No."
"Then enjoy staying here."
He stared.
She stared back.
Eventually he put his arm around her shoulders.
He weighed more than she expected.
She adjusted.
"Don't get sentimental."
Dante muttered, "I was about to propose."
"Try surviving the hallway first."
Isabella looked back.
For the first time, she smiled.
The passage ended behind a supply closet on level B1.
Hospital alarms still sounded.
Dante's security team had locked down the building.
Marco checked his phone.
"Forty-seven missed calls."
"From?"
"Everyone."
Dante took the phone.
One name appeared repeatedly.
VITTORIO.
Dante pressed call.
Speakerphone.
Vittorio answered immediately.
"Dante."
"Uncle."
"Thank God. We've been trying to reach you."
"Have you?"
"Someone attacked your men."
"I heard."
"You need to leave the hospital."
"Why?"
A pause.
"We believe the crash wasn't accidental."
Dante looked at Isabella.
"Interesting."
"Where are you?"
"In my room."
Mara admired how effortlessly he lied.
"Stay there. I'm coming."
"No."
"Dante—"
"I said no."
Another pause.
Vittorio's voice became softer.
"You're upset."
"Should I be?"
"Tell me what's happened."
Dante smiled without warmth.
"I found something."
Isabella shook her head sharply.
Vittorio said nothing.
Dante continued.
"A memory card."
Silence.
There.
The reaction.
Almost invisible.
But audible.
"What kind of memory card?"
"Small. Black. Hidden in my brace."
Vittorio's breathing changed.
"Don't open it."
Dante's eyes hardened.
"Why?"
"It could contain malware."
Marco almost laughed.
Dante said, "Thank you for your concern."
"Where are you?"
"I told you."
"Stay there."
The line disconnected.
Isabella grabbed Dante's arm.
"Why did you tell him?"
"Because now he moves."
"That can get people killed."
"He was already killing people."
Marco looked at his phone.
"Three vehicles just entered the underground garage."
Dante straightened.
"Vittorio?"
"Registered to Vescari Foundation security."
Isabella cursed.
Dante handed the crutch to Mara.
"You were right."
"About?"
"I don't need this."
She watched him reach beneath his shirt and check his pistol.
"That is absolutely not what I meant."
They moved toward an unused ambulance bay.
Dante had ordered two trusted men to bring a vehicle.
Neither arrived.
Marco checked messages.
"Nothing."
Dante's face hardened.
"Names?"
"Rafael and Nico."
"Call."
No answer.
Then headlights appeared beyond the garage entrance.
A black SUV entered.
Mara's pulse jumped.
Marco raised his weapon.
The driver's window lowered.
Rafael.
"Boss!"
Dante relaxed slightly.
"Where's Nico?"
Rafael's face changed.
"Taken."
Dante approached.
"By whom?"
"Vittorio's men."
"Why are you here?"
"Nico made me leave."
Rafael opened the rear door.
"Get in."
Mara hesitated.
Dante looked at her.
"You're coming."
"I have a shift."
Five people stared at her.
She sighed.
"That sounded more reasonable before I said it."
They climbed inside.
Isabella sat beside Dante.
Mara sat opposite him and checked his leg.
The SUV accelerated through the service exit.
"Where are we going?" Mara asked.
"My house," Dante said.
Isabella immediately objected.
"No."
"It's secure."
"It's compromised."
"Then where?"
Mara touched the key around her neck.
"The safe-deposit box."
Isabella stared at her.
Dante noticed.
"Where is it?"
Isabella hesitated.
"Lucia's apartment."
Mara frowned.
"My mother's apartment was sold."
"Not that apartment."
"What are you talking about?"
"Your mother owned another property."
"Where?"
"South Belladonna."
Mara shook her head.
"She was a nurse. She didn't own a second apartment."
"She didn't buy it."
"Who did?"
Isabella looked at Dante.
"Elena."
The SUV crossed town.
South Belladonna had once been industrial.
Old warehouses had become lofts.
Lucia's secret apartment was above a closed pharmacy.
Mara stood outside the door.
Unit 3C.
Her mother's key fit.
Inside, everything remained untouched.
A coat hung beside the entrance.
Mara recognized it.
Her mother had worn it every winter.
She touched the sleeve.
For the first time that night, the danger disappeared and grief took its place.
Dante watched quietly.
"I'm sorry."
Mara nodded.
She couldn't speak.
Isabella led them to a bedroom.
Behind a dresser was a wall safe.
Mara inserted the key.
The safe opened.
Inside were three envelopes.
One labeled MARA.
One labeled DANTE.
One labeled ELENA.
Mara took hers.
Her hands trembled.
She opened it.
Lucia's handwriting.
My darling Mara,
If you are reading this, then the secret I tried to keep away from you has reached you anyway.
Mara swallowed.
She read silently.
Her mother described Isabella.
Elena.
The hidden patients.
The false medical records.
Then one paragraph stopped her.
There is something I never told you because I wanted you to have an ordinary life. The Bellini name was mine, but not yours when you were born.
Mara frowned.
She continued.
Your biological father was a man named Alessandro Vescari.
The letter fell from her hands.
Nobody moved.
Dante stared at her.
"No."
Mara backed away.
"No."
Isabella picked up the letter.
Her face changed.
Dante whispered, "You're my sister."
Half-sister.
Mara's stomach turned.
Her entire life shifted in one sentence.
"This isn't possible."
Isabella kept reading.
"Lucia had an affair with Father before Mother died."
Dante looked sick.
Mara shook her head.
"My father was Carlo Bellini."
"Lucia says Carlo raised you," Isabella replied. "He knew."
Mara sat on the bed.
Dante looked at her as though seeing her for the first time.
The surname recognition.
The strange pull.
Everything suddenly had another meaning.
"No," Mara said again.
Dante crouched despite his leg.
"Mara."
"Don't."
He stopped.
Same boundary.
Again.
She looked at him.
"This means the man holding your wife is my biological father."
Dante's face became cold.
"Yes."
"And he may have killed my mother."
"Yes."
The room went silent.
Then Rafael shouted from the living room.
"Boss!"
Gunfire shattered the front window.
Everyone dropped.
Marco returned fire.
Dante dragged Mara behind the bed.
Isabella moved toward the hallway.
Another shot.
Glass exploded.
Dante covered Mara with his body.
"Stay down."
"Your leg—"
"Stay down."
Marco shouted, "Back stairs!"
They moved.
Isabella grabbed the remaining envelopes.
Rafael covered the hallway.
The back stairwell led to an alley.
A second SUV waited.
Not theirs.
A man stood beside it.
Dante raised his weapon.
The man lifted both hands.
"Elena sent me."
Dante stopped.
"What?"
The stranger reached slowly into his jacket.
He removed a photograph.
Elena stood in front of a church.
The photograph had today's date printed on the back.
Dante's hands trembled.
"Where is she?"
The man looked toward Mara.
"She said the nurse would know."
Mara stared.
"I've never met her."
"She said you'd understand when you saw the back."
He handed her the photograph.
Four words were written there.
WHERE LUCIA STOPPED TIME.
Mara's breath caught.
Her mother used to say that phrase whenever she talked about one place.
The old clock tower.
At the edge of Belladonna Harbor.
Mara turned toward Dante.
"I know where."
The stranger suddenly jerked.
A red stain appeared across his shirt.
A gunshot echoed from a rooftop.
He collapsed.
Marco pulled everyone behind the SUV.
Dante looked upward.
Another shot struck the pavement.
Mara grabbed the photograph.
On the roof across the alley, a sniper shifted position.
Then Mara saw the face beside him.
Vittorio Vescari raised a phone to his ear.
Dante's phone rang.
He answered.
Vittorio spoke calmly.
"Bring me the memory card, nephew."
Dante stared at the rooftop.
"And if I don't?"
May you like
Vittorio smiled from across the street.
"Then Elena dies before you reach the clock tower."
