Chapter 6 - Twenty-Four Hours
They had until midnight.
Thomas designed the original protocol years ago.
If the trust activated, evidence would transfer to federal prosecutors.
Someone had modified it.
Now it would publish everything online.
Isabella.
If she could not control the Moretti empire, she would burn every person connected to it.
Dante mobilized his people.
Thomas contacted federal agents.
Evan worked from the hospital.
Lia refused to be sidelined.
The system required three keys.
Thomas possessed one.
Dante's father had possessed another.
The third belonged to the trust beneficiary.
Lia.
“But I don't have a key.”
“Yes, you do,” Thomas said.
“The ring.”
She looked down.
The wedding ring.
Dante stared.
“My father designed that?”
“He commissioned it twenty-two years ago.”
Lia almost laughed.
“My wedding ring is older than I am?”
“Yes.”
“That's disturbing.”
Inside the ring was a microscopic encrypted chip.
One key.
Thomas had another.
The final key had disappeared with Alessandro.
Dante remembered Saint Michael's.
The photograph.
They returned to the church.
Behind Alessandro's memorial they discovered a second compartment.
Empty.
Someone had beaten them there.
Security footage identified Margaret.
Lia called her.
This time, she answered.
“Mom, where are you?”
Silence.
Then:
“With Elena.”
“Where?”
“We have the key.”
“Bring it.”
“We can't.”
“Why?”
“Because Isabella has us.”
The line disconnected.
A location arrived.
Moretti Tower.
Dante's corporate headquarters.
The enemy was inside his own building.
They arrived with federal tactical teams.
Isabella had taken the top floor.
Margaret and Elena were hostages.
The final key was with Elena.
Lia, Dante, Thomas, and Marco entered through a service elevator.
Evan insisted on joining remotely through surveillance.
“Left corridor,” he guided them.
They moved.
“Two guards.”
Marco handled them.
“Camera ahead.”
Thomas disabled it.
They reached the executive floor.
Isabella's voice filled the speakers.
“Lia.”
Lia stopped.
“You've been very inconvenient.”
“Release them.”
“Come upstairs.”
Dante shook his head.
Lia ignored him.
“I'll come.”
“No,” he whispered.
“She wants me.”
“She wants control.”
“Same thing right now.”
They reached the boardroom.
Isabella stood beside the windows.
Margaret and Elena sat bound to chairs.
Elena Moretti looked at Dante.
For the first time in ten years, mother and son faced each other.
“Hello, Dante.”
His face broke for half a second.
“Mother.”
Isabella held the key.
“Touching.”
Lia stepped forward.
“Give it to me.”
“Why?”
“Because you lost.”
Isabella smiled.
“You think this was about Moretti Holdings?”
“What else?”
“Your father never understood.”
She looked at Thomas.
“You thought evidence could destroy power.”
Thomas said nothing.
“Power survives evidence.”
“Not always,” Lia said.
Isabella's smile faded.
“You're twenty-one.”
“And you're losing to me.”
Dante almost smiled.
Isabella raised her gun.
He stopped smiling.
“Careful.”
Lia's heart hammered.
The countdown showed thirty-two minutes.
Isabella wanted a trade.
The key for access to the trust's accounts.
Lia pretended to agree.
Dante understood immediately.
He began entering credentials.
Isabella watched him.
Thomas edged toward Margaret.
Marco moved toward Elena.
Lia kept talking.
“You drugged me.”
“Yes.”
“Why not kill me?”
“Because dead beneficiaries create probate problems.”
Lia stared.
“That may be the least human sentence I've ever heard.”
“You'll learn.”
“No.”
Lia stepped closer.
“I think that's the difference between us.”
Isabella's eyes narrowed.
“You think Dante is good?”
“No.”
Dante glanced at her.
Lia continued.
“I think he's trying to be better than what he inherited.”
Silence.
“And you?”
Lia looked directly at Isabella.
“You became exactly what hurt you.”
Isabella fired.
Dante moved.
The bullet struck the desk.
Marco tackled Isabella.
Elena kicked the gun away.
Thomas freed Margaret.
Federal agents stormed the room.
Within seconds, Isabella was restrained.
Lia grabbed the key.
Fourteen minutes.
They inserted all three.
The system rejected them.
INVALID SEQUENCE.
Thomas stared.
“No.”
“What?”
“Someone changed the sequence.”
Isabella laughed from the floor.
“You'll never stop it.”
Twelve minutes.
Thomas tried again.
Rejected.
Dante studied the interface.
“What did our fathers say?”
Lia remembered the photograph.
IF OUR CHILDREN EVER FIND THIS, WE FAILED THEM BOTH.
Failed them both.
“Children.”
Thomas looked at her.
“What?”
“It's not three adults.”
She looked at Dante.
“It’s us.”
Their fathers had designed the system around their children.
Dante inserted Alessandro's key.
Lia placed the ring against the reader.
Thomas removed his.
The system changed.
TWO HEIRS VERIFIED.
A final question appeared.
WHAT IS POWER FOR?
Dante stared.
Thomas smiled.
“Alessandro.”
“What?”
“He used to ask that.”
“What was his answer?”
Thomas shook his head.
“He never had one.”
Seven minutes.
Lia looked at Dante.
“What do you think?”
He thought.
“To protect family.”
Rejected.
Five minutes.
“To protect people who cannot protect themselves.”
Rejected.
Three minutes.
Lia remembered her father.
Trust evidence, not fear.
She typed:
TO GIVE AWAY.
The screen paused.
PROTOCOL TERMINATED.
Silence.
Then every encrypted file transferred directly to federal servers.
Isabella stopped smiling.
Federal agents led her away.
The nightmare was ending.
Not completely.
But ending.
Dante approached Elena.
Ten years separated them.
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Elena touched his face.
“You became better than we feared.”
Dante swallowed.
“You could have told me you were alive.”
“I know.”
He stepped back.
Forgiveness would take time.
Lia understood that.
She had a father and brother to forgive too.
Outside, dawn began approaching.
They returned to the penthouse.
Lia stood near the bed where she had awakened two mornings earlier.
It seemed impossible.
Dante entered.
“The guest room is ready.”
She looked at him.
“You're kicking me out?”
“Of my bedroom.”
“Why?”
“Because waking beside me once was traumatic enough.”
She laughed.
He smiled.
Then she became serious.
“What happens now?”
“Isabella faces federal charges.”
“The network?”
“Raids are happening in six states.”
“The company?”
“You control forty-one percent.”
“I don't know anything about shipping.”
“You'll learn.”
She looked at him.
“And us?”
Dante's smile disappeared.
“You don't owe me a marriage.”
“We're legally married.”
“That's paperwork.”
“You're surprisingly unromantic.”
“I'm trying not to exploit a bizarre situation.”
She walked closer.
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I don't want to stay because of a trust.”
His breathing changed.
“Lia—”
“I want a choice.”
“You have one.”
“Then here's mine.”
She removed the ring.
Dante's expression went still.
She placed it in his palm.
“I want a real beginning.”
He closed his fingers around it.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you ask me out.”
“You're divorcing me?”
“Eventually.”
He stared.
“Then you want me to date my ex-wife?”
“Technically current wife.”
“This is absurd.”
“Scared?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The elevator chimed.
Marco entered.
His expression immediately destroyed the moment.
“What happened?” Dante asked.
Marco handed him a tablet.
Isabella had escaped federal custody during transport.
Dante stared.
“How?”
“Inside help.”
Lia looked at the screen.
A traffic camera showed Isabella entering a car.
The driver turned toward the camera.
Thomas dropped his coffee.
Margaret covered her mouth.
Dante went silent.
Lia stared at the driver.
She had seen his face in childhood photographs.
A man supposedly dead for twenty-two years.
May you like
Alessandro Moretti.
Dante's father was alive.
