Chapter 6 - The Last Secret
Dante stood between Lorenzo and Elena.
"Put the gun down."
Lorenzo smiled.
"You still give orders like they matter."
"They matter here."
"This building belongs to me."
"Not anymore."
Smoke rolled across the ceiling.
Marco remained near the server.
Rose stood beside Elena.
Victor lay motionless near the doorway.
Lorenzo looked at him without emotion.
"Disloyal men are expensive."
Elena stared at the envelope.
"What happened when I was born?"
Rose stepped forward.
"Nothing you need from him."
Lorenzo laughed.
"Still protecting her?"
"I'm done protecting her with lies."
"Are you?"
Rose's face tightened.
Lorenzo tossed the envelope onto the floor.
It slid toward Elena.
Dante kept his eyes on the gun.
"Don't."
Elena looked at him.
"It's mine."
"It could be anything."
"It's still mine."
Dante understood.
He nodded.
Elena picked it up.
Inside was another birth record.
This one listed Michael Marin as her father.
Attached was a hospital photograph.
Rose holding newborn Elena.
Nothing strange.
Then Elena saw the corner.
A second baby lay in another bassinet.
She frowned.
"Who is that?"
Rose closed her eyes.
Lorenzo smiled.
"Ask your mother."
Elena turned.
"Mom?"
Rose whispered, "You had a sister."
The room became silent.
"A twin?"
"Yes."
Elena stared.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know."
Lorenzo laughed.
"That's not entirely true."
Rose's eyes filled.
"Lorenzo took her."
Elena stumbled backward.
Dante caught her.
She didn't pull away.
"Why?"
Rose cried.
"To control me."
Lorenzo said, "Rose had copied my records. She wanted to run. I needed insurance."
Dante stared at his father with disgust.
"You stole a newborn child?"
"I protected an asset."
Dante's expression changed.
Even Lorenzo saw it.
"Careful, son."
Dante stepped closer.
Marco warned, "Dante."
Lorenzo raised the gun.
Dante stopped.
Elena asked, "Is she alive?"
Lorenzo smiled.
"Yes."
"Where?"
"Safe."
"Where?"
"You give me the ledger and I'll tell you."
Rose shouted, "Don't believe him."
Elena looked at Dante.
He held the ledger.
Then smiled.
Lorenzo frowned.
"What's funny?"
"The ledger doesn't matter anymore."
Marco said, "The transfer completed."
For the first time Lorenzo looked afraid.
Dante continued.
"Every file in this archive is already with federal prosecutors."
Lorenzo's gun shifted toward Marco.
Dante moved.
The shot fired.
Dante hit Lorenzo before he could fire again.
They crashed into a cabinet.
The gun slid away.
Lorenzo struck Dante across the face.
Dante barely felt it.
Years of rage were in his hands.
But Lucia's words returned.
Don't become him.
Dante pinned Lorenzo against the floor.
He could kill him.
Easily.
Lorenzo knew it.
"Do it," Lorenzo whispered.
Dante stared at him.
Then released his throat.
"No."
Lorenzo laughed weakly.
"Coward."
Dante stood.
"No. Witness."
Sirens sounded outside.
Lorenzo's expression changed.
Dante smiled.
"Evelyn Shaw moves fast."
Federal agents stormed the building minutes later.
Lorenzo was arrested.
Marco received medical treatment for a bullet graze.
Rose stayed beside Elena.
Dante believed the nightmare was ending.
Then Evelyn Shaw arrived personally.
She was in her fifties, sharp-eyed, direct.
"Where is Isabella Rizzo?"
Dante looked toward Marco.
"Gone."
Evelyn swore.
"She has Stefan?"
"Probably."
Evelyn shook her head.
"Then this isn't over."
Elena approached.
"My sister."
Evelyn looked at her.
"What sister?"
Dante explained.
Evelyn's face went still.
"Do you have the photograph?"
Elena handed it over.
Evelyn stared at the second baby.
Then she looked at Rose.
"You never told me."
"I couldn't prove she survived."
Evelyn turned the photograph over.
A hospital identification number had been written in tiny print.
Evelyn pulled out her phone.
"I can trace this."
Elena waited.
Five minutes felt like five hours.
Finally Evelyn looked up.
"The infant record was transferred."
"To where?" Elena asked.
"A private clinic."
"Name?"
"St. Agnes."
Rose gasped.
"Isabella worked there."
Evelyn nodded.
"Under another name."
The search moved rapidly.
Government databases.
Archived records.
Adoption files.
False identities.
By dawn, they found a woman born on the same day as Elena.
Same blood type.
Same hospital transfer number.
Her name was Anna Rizzo.
Elena stopped.
"Rizzo."
Evelyn nodded.
"Adopted daughter of Isabella Rizzo."
Dante felt sick.
Isabella had raised Rose's stolen daughter.
"Where is Anna?"
Evelyn looked at the screen.
"Current address unknown."
Marco walked in.
"I might know."
Everyone turned.
"Stefan has a sister."
Dante stared.
"You've met her?"
"Once. Years ago."
"What did she look like?"
"Red hair."
Elena sat down.
Rose began crying.
Dante crouched beside Elena.
"She's alive."
Elena stared at him.
"You don't know that."
"No."
He didn't lie.
"But now we know who we're looking for."
Elena squeezed his hand.
Later that morning, Dante returned to Blackthorn House.
Federal teams searched every room.
Sofia and Lucia waited in the kitchen.
For the first time in twelve years, Dante sat at a table with his mother and sister.
Nobody knew how to behave.
Sofia finally said, "I hated lying to you."
Dante looked at her.
"But you did."
"Yes."
"Why didn't you trust me?"
"I trusted you. I didn't trust what Dad could do to you."
Dante considered that.
"I need time."
"I know."
"But you're my sister."
Sofia cried.
He reached across the table.
She took his hand.
Lucia watched them, crying silently.
Elena stood in the doorway.
Dante looked at her.
"You should sleep."
"So should you."
"I own the beds."
"That doesn't mean you use them."
Sofia laughed.
The sound startled everyone.
Then Dante laughed too.
Briefly.
For one strange minute, they were almost normal.
Elena later returned to the guest suite.
Dante brought her tea.
She sat near the window.
"You're making me tea now?"
"Don't tell anyone."
"Your reputation?"
"Ruined."
She smiled.
Then looked at her wrist.
The bruises were fading.
"What will happen to Victor?"
"He survived."
Her smile disappeared.
"Federal custody."
"Good."
Dante sat across from her.
"I won't let him reach you."
Elena looked at him.
"You can't promise that."
He corrected himself.
"Then I'll do everything legally possible to keep you safe while respecting your decisions."
She raised an eyebrow.
"That sounded painful."
"It was."
She laughed.
Dante liked the sound.
More than he should have after knowing her only one day.
But trauma could create false closeness.
He knew that.
He would not exploit it.
So he stood.
"Sleep."
"Dante."
He stopped.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"For asking who hurt me instead of why I was where I wasn't supposed to be."
He looked at her.
"That was the easiest decision I made all day."
She watched him leave.
Three hours later, Dante woke on his study sofa when Marco entered.
"We found Anna."
Dante stood immediately.
"Where?"
"An apartment outside the city."
"Alive?"
"Yes."
"Does Elena know?"
"Not yet."
Dante exhaled.
"Good news."
Marco didn't smile.
"What?"
"Agents went to retrieve her."
"And?"
"Apartment was empty."
Dante's jaw tightened.
"You said you found her."
"We found where she had been."
Marco handed him a photograph.
Anna.
Copper-red hair.
Same eyes as Elena.
Behind her stood Stefan Rizzo.
Marco pointed to a timestamp.
Taken that morning.
Dante looked at him.
"Where are they going?"
"We don't know."
Then Dante noticed something in Anna's hand.
A newspaper.
Today's.
On the front page was a photograph of Blackthorn House.
A circle had been drawn around the private hot spring.
Underneath it, someone had written:
4:17 PM.
TODAY.
Dante looked toward the window.
The clock read 4:09.
He ran.
When he reached the terrace, Elena was already there.
She stood beside the hot spring.
Alone.
"Dante?"
He crossed toward her.
Then a phone began ringing from beneath the water.
Elena stared.
Dante reached into the hot spring and pulled it out.
Waterproof case.
Unknown caller.
He answered.
A woman's voice said, "Elena?"
Elena stepped closer.
"Anna?"
The voice began crying.
"Please help me."
Then Stefan spoke in the background.
"Eight minutes."
The call ended.
Dante looked at the clock.
4:12.
Elena whispered, "Where is she?"
A section of the old stone wall beside the hot spring clicked.
Dante turned.
A hidden door slowly opened.
May you like
Cold darkness waited behind it.
And from somewhere below them, Anna screamed.
