Chapter 6 - The Man Bianca Buried
Bianca’s father had been dead for fourteen years.
She knew because she had identified his body.
Or believed she had.
Anthony Ferraro had supposedly died in a warehouse fire on the South Side when Bianca was seventeen.
The remains had been badly burned.
Her aunt handled the identification.
Bianca remembered the sealed casket.
Suddenly, every memory felt contaminated.
Dante watched her.
“You don’t have to go.”
“Yes, I do.”
“Bianca.”
“My father’s name is on this now.”
“That may be exactly what they want.”
“I know.”
Her voice cracked.
“But if there is even a chance…”
She couldn’t finish.
Dante took her hand.
This time she let him.
They drove to the old Ferraro house after midnight.
Not alone.
Bianca agreed to enter alone only if Dante’s men remained within thirty seconds.
Dante hated every second of it.
The house had been abandoned for years.
Bianca walked through the front door.
Dust covered the floor.
A light burned in the kitchen.
She followed it.
A man sat at the table.
Gray hair.
Older face.
Scar across one cheek.
Bianca stopped breathing.
“Dad?”
Anthony Ferraro looked up.
“My little Bee.”
Her knees nearly gave out.
Only her father called her that.
She backed away.
“No.”
Anthony stood.
Bianca raised a hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Tears filled his eyes.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re dead.”
“I had to be.”
Bianca laughed once.
It sounded broken.
“Apparently everybody in Chicago had to be.”
Anthony lowered his head.
“I was working for Vittorio Costa.”
She froze.
“What?”
“Not willingly at first.”
“Explain.”
Anthony told her.
He had been an accountant for several businesses connected to organized crime.
When he discovered Vittorio’s money laundering, he copied records.
Vittorio learned.
Instead of killing him, he forced Anthony into hiding and threatened Bianca if he returned.
“You abandoned me.”
“To keep you alive.”
“No.”
The word exploded from her.
“You left me with a funeral. You left me believing I was alone.”
Anthony flinched.
“I watched from a distance.”
“That makes it worse.”
“I know.”
Bianca’s eyes burned.
She thought of Dante.
Of Sofia.
Of Elena.
Different families.
Same poison.
Men deciding silence was love.
“Where is Leo?”
Anthony looked toward the basement.
Bianca’s heart stopped.
“Leo?”
A small voice answered.
“Bia?”
She ran.
Leo was sitting on the basement stairs.
Unhurt.
Bianca dropped to her knees.
He threw himself into her arms.
“Bia!”
She sobbed once.
Not from fear.
From relief.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“Did anyone touch you?”
He shook his head.
Anthony came downstairs.
“Vittorio left him with me.”
“Why?”
“Because he wants the meeting.”
“What meeting?”
“Tomorrow. At the old Union Stockyards property.”
Bianca’s face tightened.
“With who?”
“Every major family.”
“Why?”
Anthony looked at Leo.
“He intends to present Leo as the heir connecting Costa and Bellini.”
Bianca felt sick.
“He’s four.”
“Vittorio doesn’t see a child.”
“He sees leverage.”
Anthony nodded.
“Rafael wants Leo too, but for a different reason.”
“What?”
“To destroy Dante’s claim to leadership.”
Bianca held Leo tighter.
“So everybody wants to use him.”
“Yes.”
A voice came from upstairs.
“Not everybody.”
Dante.
Bianca looked up.
He came down the stairs slowly.
“You were supposed to wait.”
“You stopped answering.”
Bianca checked her phone.
No signal in the basement.
Dante saw Leo.
Relief washed over him.
He crouched.
Leo ran to him.
“Uncle.”
Dante caught him.
For a moment, the feared man simply held the child.
Then he looked at Anthony.
“You’re Bianca’s father.”
“Yes.”
“Give me one reason not to break your jaw.”
“Dante.”
Bianca’s warning stopped him.
Anthony almost smiled.
“She has her mother’s voice.”
Bianca’s face changed.
“Don’t.”
He nodded.
Dante stood.
“We take Leo home.”
Anthony shook his head.
“You can’t.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
“Watch me.”
“If Vittorio believes you removed him, he will expose everything he has tomorrow.”
“I don’t care.”
“You should.”
“Why?”
“Because he has judges, police commanders, and two federal investigators on his payroll.”
Dante went still.
Anthony continued.
“He can bury the Costa family legally before sunrise.”
Dante smiled without humor.
“He thinks paperwork scares me?”
“No. Prison should.”
Bianca stepped between them.
“What do we do?”
Anthony looked at her.
“Let him believe the plan is working.”
Dante immediately objected.
“No.”
Bianca looked at him.
“Listen.”
Anthony explained.
Vittorio expected Bianca to bring Leo to the Stockyards.
He believed her anger at Dante had made her vulnerable.
He had underestimated her.
Again.
Anthony had copied Vittorio’s current financial records.
Real records.
Names.
Payments.
Evidence.
Everything Michael had died trying to expose.
“If we get this to federal prosecutors before the meeting,” Anthony said, “Vittorio loses his protection.”
Dante frowned.
“Which prosecutor?”
Anthony named one.
Dante knew her reputation.
Untouchable.
Clean.
Maybe.
Bianca looked at him.
“We do it.”
Dante looked at Leo.
Then at Bianca.
“I can send someone else.”
“No.”
“Of course you can’t.”
She almost smiled.
“I’m going to that meeting.”
Dante stared at her.
“Beside me?”
Bianca nodded.
“Beside you.”
It was the first promise between them that felt equal.
By dawn, Anthony’s files were delivered through three independent channels.
Elena remained hospitalized but stable.
Leo slept in a secure safe house with Marco.
Bianca changed clothes.
Dante waited outside the room.
When she emerged, she wore black trousers, a cream blouse, and the silver bracelet Leo made.
No armor.
No disguise.
Just herself.
“You ready?” Dante asked.
“No.”
“Good.”
She looked at him.
“That’s encouraging.”
“People who say yes to that question are usually lying.”
Bianca smiled.
They drove to the Stockyards.
The meeting was held inside a restored industrial hall.
Dozens of men waited.
Bellini stood on one side.
Vittorio Costa stood on the other.
He was seventy, silver-haired, impeccably dressed.
He smiled when he saw Bianca.
“Miss Ferraro.”
Dante stepped forward.
Vittorio lifted a hand.
“No threats.”
Dante ignored him.
“Where is your army?”
Vittorio chuckled.
“Everywhere.”
Bianca walked into the center.
“You wanted me.”
Vittorio’s eyes moved over her.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because Dante has a weakness.”
Bianca laughed.
The sound surprised everyone.
“No.”
Vittorio frowned.
“You think I’m his weakness?”
“You are.”
Bianca shook her head.
“I’m the person who taught him having something to lose isn’t weakness.”
Dante looked at her.
Vittorio’s smile disappeared.
Bellini stepped forward.
“Enough philosophy.”
He held up legal papers.
“I want my son.”
Bianca faced him.
“Do you know his favorite breakfast?”
Bellini stared.
“What?”
“Do you know which side of the bed he sleeps on when he has nightmares?”
“This is irrelevant.”
“Do you know why he taps three times and then twice?”
Bellini’s face hardened.
Bianca continued.
“You don’t want Leo.”
She stepped closer.
“You want what his last name can buy you.”
Bellini reached for her arm.
Dante moved.
Faster.
He knocked Rafael’s hand away.
“Touch her again.”
Vittorio sighed.
“There. That is the problem.”
“No,” Dante said.
“That is the solution.”
Sirens sounded outside.
Everyone turned.
Vittorio’s face changed.
Anthony entered through the main doors.
Behind him came federal agents.
Bianca exhaled.
It worked.
Vittorio stared at Anthony.
“You.”
Anthony smiled.
“Me.”
Agents spread through the hall.
A woman in a dark federal jacket approached.
“Vittorio Costa, Rafael Bellini, you are being detained pending federal charges involving conspiracy, financial crimes, obstruction—”
Bellini backed away.
Vittorio did not.
He looked at Dante.
“You think this ends because police walked through a door?”
Dante said nothing.
Vittorio smiled.
Then he looked at Bianca.
“Ask your father what really happened the night your mother died.”
Bianca froze.
Anthony went pale.
Vittorio was handcuffed.
He laughed as agents led him away.
Bianca turned slowly toward her father.
“Dad?”
May you like
Anthony could not look at her.
And Bianca realized the worst secret in the room had not been exposed yet.
