Chapter 12 - The Father's Final Confession
Dante didn't sleep that night.
He sat alone in his father's old study, surrounded by photographs, business records, and documents he had never allowed himself to examine.
Elena entered just after midnight.
She found him holding an old family photograph.
His father stood in the center.
Sofia stood beside him.
Dante was on the other side, seventeen years old, smiling like a boy who still believed his family was invincible.
"Richard is lying," Elena said.
Dante looked up.
"I want to believe that."
"Then prove it."
He handed her an old medical report.
His father's death certificate listed cardiac arrest.
But a second document, hidden inside a locked drawer, revealed a different story.
There had been traces of a rare medication in his blood.
A medication used to control severe heart conditions.
Given in an incorrect dosage, it could cause fatal complications.
Elena read the physician's name.
Dr. Anthony Rossi.
Her blood turned cold.
"Rossi?"
Dante nodded.
"Your family name."
Elena looked at him.
"My father?"
"Not necessarily. There were several physicians with that surname."
She searched the document again.
The signature belonged to a doctor who had treated Dante's father during his final hospitalization.
Dr. Anthony Rossi.
Elena's uncle.
The man she had not seen since childhood.
Her father had always told her that her uncle moved overseas after a disagreement over money.
"Why would he be involved with your father?"
Dante stood.
"Because he was our family's private physician."
Elena felt sick.
She had spent years believing her uncle was simply an absent relative.
Now his name was connected to a murder.
Dante called his investigators.
Within hours, they discovered that Dr. Anthony Rossi was still alive.
He was living under a different name in Connecticut.
But the most disturbing discovery came from an old hospital recording.
The recording showed Dante entering his father's hospital room shortly before the older man's death.
He was carrying a small medicine bottle.
Elena watched the footage twice.
"That's impossible."
Dante stared at the screen.
"I remember that night."
"What happened?"
"My father was conscious. He asked me to bring him his medication. I gave it to him. Then I left."
"Did you know what was inside?"
"No."
He looked away.
"Richard told me it was his heart medication."
Elena took his hand.
"Then you didn't murder him."
"But I may have been used to do it."
A message arrived on Dante's phone.
A photograph of Dr. Anthony Rossi sitting in a restaurant.
Underneath it was an address.
And a warning.
Come alone if you want to know what really happened to your family.
Dante looked at Elena.
"I have to go."
"No."
"Elena—"
"You're not walking into another trap alone."
He hesitated.
Then he kissed her forehead.
"I love you."
She held his face.
"Then come home."
Dante left with a small security team.
Two hours later, Elena received a call from an unknown number.
She answered.
A familiar voice whispered.
"Elena? It's Uncle Anthony."
She froze.
"Where is Dante?"
A long silence followed.
Then her uncle said:
"Your husband is alive. But if you want him to stay that way, you must give me the original hospital records."
Elena's stomach dropped.
"Why?"
"Because the man who ordered your father's death is not Richard Coleman."
A door slammed somewhere in the background.
May you like
Her uncle whispered his final words.
"It's Matteo's grandfather."
