Chapter 4 - The Man Who Was Supposed To Be Dead
The phone slipped from my hand onto the hospital floor. "Clara." When Dante Marino returned, he found me holding my father's old photograph with tears in my eyes. But the message on my screen showed only one sentence: "I am waiting where your father hid the truth." Dante realized someone from my past had just reopened a war he thought was finished.
I couldn't move.
I couldn't breathe.
For eleven months, I had lived with one truth.
My father was gone.
I had watched him become weaker.
I had held his hand during his final days.
I had heard his last heartbeat.
But now...
his voice had come back.
Not in a memory.
Not in a dream.
On my phone.
I stared at the screen until the words blurred.
I am inside the Marino estate.
My first thought was impossible.
My second thought was terrifying.
Someone was pretending to be him.
That had to be it.
Because the alternative meant my entire life had been built on a lie.
The hospital door opened.
Dante walked in.
One look at my face and he knew something had happened.
"What happened?"
I didn't answer.
I handed him the phone.
He read the message.
His expression changed immediately.
Not confusion.
Not surprise.
Recognition.
"You know this number?"
I shook my head.
"No."
"But you know the voice."
I looked at him.
"Dante..."
My voice broke.
"It was my father."
The silence that followed felt heavier than anything before.
Dante didn't react the way I expected.
He didn't tell me I was wrong.
He didn't say grief could make people imagine things.
He simply stared at the phone.
"Your father contacted you?"
"Yes."
"After eleven months?"
I nodded.
Dante walked slowly toward the window.
His mind was moving faster than I could follow.
"You need to leave."
The words shocked me.
"What?"
"This hospital isn't safe."
"You think my father is dangerous?"
"No."
He turned around.
"I think whoever knows your father is alive is dangerous."
That sentence made my blood run cold.
Because Dante wasn't protecting himself.
He was protecting me.
A few minutes later, Dante called his security team.
The room filled with movement.
Guards entered.
Doctors were informed.
A private exit was prepared.
Everything happened quickly.
Too quickly.
"Dante."
He looked at me.
"What?"
"Tell me the truth."
His face became serious.
"I am trying."
"No."
I shook my head.
"Tell me everything you know about my father."
For a moment, he said nothing.
Then he sat down.
And for the first time, Dante Marino told me a story he had spent years hiding.
"Twenty-seven years ago, my father was murdered."
I listened.
"My mother was supposed to die with him."
I frowned.
"But she survived."
"Because someone warned her."
"Who?"
Dante looked at the photograph.
"Your father."
I felt a strange pain in my chest.
"My father saved your mother?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I don't know."
That answer bothered me.
Because it was the same answer he gave before.
Dante Marino didn't like mysteries.
But my father...
was one.
"My father worked for your family?"
"No."
"Then what was he?"
Dante looked at me.
"Someone my father trusted."
The room became quiet.
"Trusted enough to know secrets."
I looked down.
"Secrets about what?"
Dante didn't answer immediately.
Finally:
"The Marino family wasn't attacked by outsiders."
My eyes lifted.
"What do you mean?"
"The person who betrayed us was someone close."
A cold feeling moved through me.
"Someone inside the family."
Dante nodded.
"And your father found out."
The pieces started connecting.
The photograph.
The symbol.
The warning.
The fear in my father's eyes.
"He was trying to protect you."
Dante's voice softened.
"But from who?"
Neither of us had an answer.
That was the most frightening part.
The drive back to the Marino estate felt different.
Before, I had entered that property as an employee.
Now...
I was entering a place filled with secrets connected to my father.
The gates opened.
Security doubled.
Every guard watched me.
Not suspiciously.
Carefully.
Like they knew something had changed.
Rosa was waiting in the main room.
The moment she saw me, her expression changed.
"You know."
I stopped.
"What?"
She looked at Dante.
Then back at me.
"You found out about him."
My heart dropped.
"You knew?"
Rosa closed her eyes.
For a moment, she looked exhausted.
"I hoped you would never have to."
Anger replaced confusion.
"Never have to know what?"
She reached for my hand.
"That your father died protecting you."
I pulled my hand back.
"But he isn't dead."
Rosa froze.
Dante looked at me.
"You told her?"
"No."
I looked between them.
"He called me."
Nobody moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then Rosa whispered:
"Impossible."
The word sounded like fear.
Not disbelief.
Fear.
"You know he's alive?"
Rosa looked away.
That was my answer.
I stood.
"All of you knew something."
"Clara..."
"No."
My voice became stronger.
"I spent my entire life believing my father abandoned me by dying."
My eyes filled with tears.
"And now I find out everyone knew there was another story?"
Rosa looked devastated.
"We were trying to protect you."
"From what?"
She couldn't answer.
That hurt more than anything.
Then Dante's security chief entered the room.
His face was serious.
"Boss."
Dante immediately turned.
"What?"
"We found something."
He handed him an envelope.
Dante opened it.
Inside was a handwritten note.
I watched his expression change.
"What is it?"
He didn't answer.
"Dante."
Slowly, he handed me the paper.
The handwriting was familiar.
Too familiar.
My father's handwriting.
The note contained only one sentence.
Clara, if you are reading this, they already know you found the truth.
My fingers started shaking.
There was more underneath.
Another line.
Do not trust the person standing closest to Dante.
I looked up.
Everyone in the room became suspicious.
The guards.
The family.
Even Rosa.
But Dante noticed something else.
Something on the envelope.
"What?"
He picked it up.
His face went pale.
"What is it?"
He turned the envelope over.
There was a symbol stamped into the paper.
The same black circle.
The same mark from my father's belongings.
But underneath it...
there was a name.
A name that made Dante step backward.
Because it belonged to someone he thought was dead.
"That's impossible."
I looked at him.
"Who is it?"
Dante stared at the name.
Then he whispered:
"My brother."
Before I could ask another question...
the lights inside the Marino estate suddenly went out.
A second later, every security alarm started screaming.
And from the darkness...
a man's voice came through the speakers.
"Hello, Dante."
The voice paused.
May you like
Then:
"Did you miss me?"
