Chapter 5 - The Family Table
Emergency lights flickered on.
Dante lifted one hand.
“No one moves.”
Isabella held Luca against her chest.
Marco stood near the hidden room.
Gabriel watched the locked door.
Cecilia stared at the baby monitor.
The voice came again.
“You always were impatient.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
“I know that voice.”
Cecilia whispered, “No.”
Dante turned toward her.
“You know it too.”
She said nothing.
The speaker crackled.
“Come downstairs.”
Dante stepped toward the monitor.
“Show yourself.”
“Midnight dining room.”
“Why would I?”
“Because Isabella’s sister is sitting at the table.”
Isabella’s body went cold.
“No.”
Dante turned.
Marco was already calling his protection team.
No answer.
He tried again.
Nothing.
“Jammed.”
Isabella stepped toward the door.
Dante blocked her.
“Move.”
“No.”
“My sister—”
“Could be a recording.”
“And if it isn’t?”
Dante had no answer.
Isabella handed Luca to Cecilia.
Cecilia looked startled.
“If something happens to me—”
“Nothing will.”
“If it does, you take him out.”
Dante grabbed Isabella’s hand.
“You are not walking downstairs alone.”
“Then come with me.”
They did.
The dining room lights were on.
Twenty-four chairs surrounded the long table.
Only three were occupied.
Alessandro Moretti sat at one end.
Isabella’s sister, Sophie, sat near the middle.
Her hands were free.
She looked terrified but unharmed.
And at the opposite end sat Father Sebastian.
Dante stopped.
“Father?”
The priest looked sick.
“I’m sorry.”
Dante’s face emptied.
Isabella looked between them.
The baby monitor voice had belonged to Father Sebastian.
Almost.
But not quite.
A recording.
Alessandro smiled.
“Welcome.”
Dante took one step forward.
“Let Sophie go.”
“Certainly.”
Alessandro nodded.
Sophie stood and ran toward Isabella.
Isabella caught her.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“A man picked me up outside work. He said you sent him.”
Dante looked toward Alessandro.
“You’re done.”
Alessandro laughed.
“You still think this is about me.”
The far doors opened.
An elderly man walked in.
Isabella had never seen him.
Dante had.
Every trace of color left his face.
“Impossible.”
The man smiled.
“My nephew.”
Cecilia appeared behind them carrying Luca.
When she saw the elderly man, she nearly collapsed.
“Enzo.”
Dante turned.
His supposedly dead uncle.
Enzo Moretti removed his wet coat.
“I expected a warmer reunion.”
Dante stared.
“You died in Sicily.”
“No.”
“My father attended your funeral.”
“A closed coffin is useful theater.”
Cecilia’s voice shook.
“You were supposed to stay gone.”
Enzo looked at her.
“And let you destroy everything?”
“You destroyed it first.”
He smiled.
“History depends on who survives.”
Dante moved subtly in front of Isabella.
Enzo noticed.
“And there she is.”
His gaze settled on Isabella.
“The Grant girl.”
“My name is Moretti now,” Isabella said.
Dante looked at her.
So did everyone else.
She surprised herself.
Enzo laughed.
“A legal trick.”
“Still legal.”
“Do you know what you married?”
Isabella looked at Dante.
“A man who lies too much.”
Dante almost smiled.
Enzo’s amusement disappeared.
“You think this is a romance?”
“No.”
She tightened her jaw.
“I think this is a custody dispute with terrible catering.”
Sophie made a strangled sound that might have been a laugh.
Dante definitely smiled then.
Enzo did not.
He gestured toward Alessandro.
“For years, my brother Vittorio treated weakness as a moral awakening. He built an empire, then became ashamed of it.”
Dante said nothing.
“He wanted records destroyed.”
“Instead you kept them.”
“I improved them.”
“The Mercy Ledger.”
“Yes.”
“You ordered the attacks on me.”
“Yes.”
“Elena?”
Enzo’s expression did not change.
“She became inconvenient.”
Dante lunged.
Marco caught him from behind.
“Boss!”
Dante struggled once.
Then stopped.
His face was terrifyingly calm.
“You killed her.”
Enzo lifted one shoulder.
“I gave Alessandro instructions.”
Dante looked at Alessandro.
Alessandro suddenly looked less confident.
“You told me she had betrayed the family.”
“She had.”
“She was pregnant.”
Enzo smiled.
“That complicated things.”
Isabella felt sick.
Dante took another step.
Enzo raised a remote.
A red light flashed.
“Careful.”
Dante stopped.
“What is that?”
“Insurance.”
Enzo gestured upward.
“This house has old bones.”
Cecilia understood first.
“You wired the estate.”
“Only the eastern foundations.”
Luca cried.
Every adult looked toward him.
Enzo’s eyes settled on the infant.
“There is Vittorio’s future.”
Dante stepped directly into his line of sight.
“No.”
Enzo smiled.
“You can’t block blood.”
“I can block you.”
“Can you?”
He looked at Isabella.
“Thomas Grant understood the problem.”
“My father understood you were a coward,” Isabella said.
Enzo’s smile thinned.
“Thomas was useful.”
“You killed him too?”
Silence.
That was enough.
Isabella’s eyes filled.
Dante reached for her hand without looking.
She let him.
Enzo continued.
“Thomas stole the only complete copy of my ledger.”
“Where is it?” Alessandro asked.
Enzo glanced at him with contempt.
“You still don’t know?”
Alessandro went pale.
Isabella suddenly understood.
Enzo did not have the ledger.
He had been chasing it too.
Thomas had hidden it.
Elena had left clues.
And everyone believed Isabella could find it.
“What happens if the ledger becomes public?” Isabella asked.
Enzo looked at her.
“Hundreds of people fall.”
“Including you.”
“Yes.”
“Then why keep everyone here?”
“Because you will give me its location.”
“I don’t know it.”
“You do.”
“No.”
Enzo looked at Luca.
“Thomas left you one final message.”
Isabella froze.
“What message?”
Enzo nodded toward Father Sebastian.
The priest slowly removed a small cassette tape from his pocket.
“I kept this for Thomas,” he said.
“Why didn’t you give it to me?”
“He told me not to until you entered this house as family.”
Isabella stared at him.
“You knew?”
“Only the instruction.”
Dante took the cassette.
A player was brought from a cabinet.
The tape hissed.
Then Isabella heard her father’s voice.
Her knees nearly gave out.
“Bella.”
She covered her mouth.
“If you’re hearing this, I’m sorry.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“I promised I would keep this life away from you. I failed.”
Dante squeezed her hand.
Thomas continued.
“The ledger is not in a vault.”
Enzo leaned forward.
“It is not in a bank.”
Alessandro looked toward him.
“It has been in plain sight since the day Luca was born.”
Everyone looked toward the baby.
Isabella’s heart pounded.
Thomas’s voice continued.
“Elena understood the safest hiding place was not a place.”
The tape clicked.
Silence.
Then:
“It was a person.”
Isabella stared at Luca.
Enzo smiled.
“Search the child.”
Dante moved instantly.
“No one touches him.”
Cecilia backed away.
Enzo raised the remote.
“Then everyone dies with your pride.”
Isabella looked at the baby’s blanket.
The hospital bracelet.
The music box.
The child.
Not inside him.
On him.
She suddenly remembered something.
The stuffed bear from Rocco.
The one delivered shortly after Luca came home.
No.
Earlier.
The infant’s christening blanket.
Hand-stitched.
Elena’s initials sewn into the corner.
Isabella looked at Cecilia.
“Where is Luca’s original christening blanket?”
Cecilia’s eyes widened.
“The chapel.”
Enzo stood.
Isabella already knew.
She turned toward Dante.
But before either could move, a bell rang somewhere beneath the estate.
Once.
Twice.
Then every light in the dining room turned red.
Marco looked at his phone.
“Security breach.”
“Where?” Dante asked.
Marco stared at the screen.
“The chapel.”
Dante turned toward the doors.
They opened before he reached them.
A guard stumbled inside.
“Boss.”
“What happened?”
The man pointed toward the courtyard.
“Someone took the blanket.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“Who?”
May you like
The guard swallowed.
“Mrs. Bell.”
