Chapter 5 - The Call From Home
Dante was in the SUV before Gabriel could stop him.
Cara followed.
“If this is about Eleanor—”
“It is.”
“You don't know that.”
“Vanessa's phone said Mom.”
“That could mean her mother.”
“Her mother died six years ago.”
Cara said nothing.
The convoy raced toward Eleanor's estate.
Nathan repeatedly called her.
No answer.
Security cameras were offline.
Gate controls unresponsive.
Dante's jaw remained clenched so tightly Cara worried he'd break a tooth.
“She knew Nathan was alive,” he said.
“She knew about me.”
“Yes.”
“And Vanessa?”
“I don't know.”
Cara studied him.
“You're preparing yourself to believe the worst.”
“My mother lied for fifteen years.”
“That doesn't make her a murderer.”
Dante looked out the window.
“I hope you're right.”
They reached the estate twenty-eight minutes later.
The gates stood open.
No guards.
No lights.
Gabriel ordered Cara to remain in the SUV.
She ignored him within thirty seconds.
Inside, the house was empty.
Then they heard movement from the library.
Dante entered first.
Eleanor sat in a chair.
Vanessa stood behind her.
A pistol pressed against Eleanor's shoulder.
Cara stopped.
Vanessa looked exhausted.
Nothing like the elegant woman from Bellamonte.
“Close the door.”
Dante obeyed.
“Let her go.”
Vanessa laughed.
“You think I'm controlling this?”
“You tried to kill me.”
“I tried to survive.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Explain.”
Vanessa looked toward Cara.
“Renner told me Alessandro had another child. He said if you both controlled the trust, everything we'd built would collapse.”
“We?”
“Me. Miles. Renner. Others.”
“Who ordered the crash?”
Vanessa's eyes filled with fear.
“The same person who ordered your father's death.”
Eleanor whispered, “Vanessa, don't.”
Cara looked at her.
“You know.”
Eleanor closed her eyes.
Dante's voice became dangerously calm.
“Mother.”
Vanessa lowered the pistol slightly.
“She always knew.”
“Knew what?”
“That Alessandro discovered who was stealing from the company.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Who?”
Vanessa looked at Eleanor.
“Tell him.”
Eleanor shook her head.
“Not like this.”
“Then when?”
Eleanor began crying.
Cara realized those weren't tears of fear.
They were grief.
Old grief.
“Your father trusted someone more than anyone,” Eleanor said.
“Nathan?”
“No.”
“Charles?”
“No.”
Eleanor looked at Dante.
“Gabriel's father.”
Gabriel Knox stood in the doorway.
He froze.
“My father died when I was sixteen.”
Eleanor nodded.
“Because Alessandro confronted him.”
Gabriel's father, Marcus Knox, had served as Moretti security director.
He built the earliest laundering routes, using company transports to move money and contraband.
Alessandro discovered it.
Marcus poisoned him before he could expose the operation.
Nathan uncovered enough evidence to confront Marcus.
Weeks later Marcus died.
Officially suicide.
Actually murdered by his own partners.
Gabriel stared at Eleanor.
“You knew.”
“Yes.”
“And you hired me.”
“You were sixteen when your father died. You were not responsible for his crimes.”
Gabriel looked shaken.
Dante asked, “Then who continued the network?”
Eleanor swallowed.
“Marcus had a partner.”
“Who?”
Before she could answer, the library lights went out.
Gunfire erupted in the hallway.
Gabriel dragged Dante behind a stone column.
Cara dropped beside Eleanor.
Vanessa screamed.
Windows shattered.
Security returned fire.
Someone had attacked the estate.
Cara crawled toward Vanessa.
“Give me the gun.”
Vanessa stared at her.
“Why?”
“Because you're shaking.”
Vanessa handed it over.
Cara had never fired a gun.
She immediately passed it to Gabriel.
“Good decision,” he said.
Dante almost smiled.
Attackers entered through the rear of the house.
Gabriel's team pushed them back.
Nathan appeared from another corridor, bleeding from his forehead.
“They're after Eleanor.”
“Why?” Dante shouted.
“Because she's the last person who knows the partner's identity.”
Eleanor looked at Nathan.
“You know too.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
Nathan froze.
Eleanor whispered, “Alessandro told you.”
Nathan's face changed.
Cara saw it.
A memory.
Or recognition.
“Tell us!” Dante shouted.
Nathan shook his head.
“I never understood what he meant.”
“What did he say?”
Nathan looked at Dante.
“Before your father died, he said, ‘The serpent isn't beside me. It's above me.’”
Dante frowned.
“Above him?”
“Alessandro answered to only one person.”
Cara looked at Eleanor.
“The chairman?”
Dante stared.
Moretti Global's chairman at the time had been Alessandro's older brother.
Vittorio Moretti.
Dante's uncle.
Vittorio was seventy-three now.
Retired.
Living in Italy.
Or supposedly.
Eleanor whispered, “Vittorio started everything.”
Dante looked devastated.
His father's own brother.
Cara understood why Eleanor had hidden the truth.
The Moretti empire had been poisoned at its roots.
A security guard shouted.
“We have movement outside!”
Gabriel checked the cameras.
The attackers retreated.
Too quickly.
“They weren't here to win,” Cara said.
Nathan looked at her.
“What?”
“They wanted something.”
Everyone looked toward Eleanor.
She touched her neck.
A gold chain had vanished.
“My key.”
Dante frowned.
“What key?”
Eleanor whispered, “Alessandro's vault.”
Nathan went pale.
“What was inside?”
“The original evidence.”
Dante cursed.
Gabriel deployed teams.
Cara moved toward the broken window.
Outside, one attacker ran toward a waiting vehicle.
Something fell from his jacket.
A black envelope.
Cara pointed.
Gabriel retrieved it.
Inside was a photograph of Alessandro Moretti.
A date had been written beneath it.
Tomorrow.
And a location.
Moretti Tower.
Dante stared.
“That's the annual shareholders meeting.”
Cara looked at him.
“Why would Vittorio go there?”
Nathan answered.
“Because if Dante and Cara are both dead tomorrow, the trust dissolves.”
Dante shook his head.
“He'll never get near us.”
Nathan looked toward the photograph.
“That's not what he's planning.”
Dante's phone vibrated.
A message arrived from his company security system.
AUTHORIZED EXECUTIVE ACCESS GRANTED.
USER: VITTORIO MORETTI.
LOCATION: MORETTI TOWER—SUBLEVEL ARCHIVE.
Cara whispered, “He's already there.”
Then the second message arrived.
FIRE SUPPRESSION SYSTEM DISABLED.
Nathan's face changed.
“The archive.”
“What about it?”
“Alessandro's original records are stored there.”
Dante grabbed his coat.
Gabriel stopped him.
“Sir.”
“What?”
Gabriel showed him the live security feed.
A woman had entered the archive with Vittorio.
Cara recognized her immediately.
May you like
Her mother.
Laura Fields.
