Chapter 6 - THE WOMAN WHO KEPT THE SECRET
Celia told us everything.
Seven years earlier, her younger brother had disappeared.
A man named Victor Hale had taken him.
Celia was ordered to infiltrate Dante's life.
She obeyed because she believed her brother would be killed.
But she couldn't betray Dante.
Instead, she slowly became his closest ally.
Then she fell in love with him.
“I knew he didn't love me,” she whispered.
Dante said nothing.
“I knew there was someone else before he even met you.”
I looked at her.
“Who?”
Celia smiled sadly.
“Your mother.”
My heart stopped.
Dante turned toward her.
“What?”
“Your mother knew Dante's father.”
I stared.
Celia explained.
My mother had discovered the financial scheme.
Dante's father had planned to expose it.
But someone betrayed both of them.
That person was not Isabella.
Not Victor.
Not Celia.
Someone else.
“Who?” Dante demanded.
Celia shook her head.
“I never learned the name.”
Then Gabriel arrived.
His face was grim.
“We found Victor.”
Dante immediately stood.
“Where?”
“He wants to meet.”
“Trap?”
“Probably.”
Dante looked at me.
“You stay here.”
I crossed my arms.
“No.”
His expression softened.
“Eleanor.”
“You're not leaving me behind again.”
“You don't belong in this world.”
“I know.”
I stepped closer.
“But I'm already in it.”
Dante stared at me.
Then, unexpectedly, he took my hand.
“All right.”
We met Victor at an old train station.
He looked older than the photographs.
Tired.
Not monstrous.
Just exhausted.
He looked at me.
“You have your mother's eyes.”
I swallowed.
“What happened to her?”
“She disappeared because she trusted the wrong person.”
“Who?”
Victor looked toward Dante.
“His father.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“My father?”
“Your father was not the mastermind.”
“Then who?”
Victor smiled bitterly.
“Your grandmother.”
Dante froze.
Isabella.
Victor explained that Dante's grandmother had controlled the financial empire behind the family.
She used Dante's father as a public face.
When my mother discovered the money laundering, she threatened to expose everything.
Dante's grandmother ordered her disappearance.
But my mother escaped.
She changed her name.
She married my father.
And for years, they lived quietly.
Then she became ill.
Before she died, she told my father one thing.
“Protect Eleanor.”
Victor looked at me.
“Your father did.”
My eyes burned.
“Why did he never tell me?”
“Because telling you would have put you in danger.”
Then Dante asked the question that mattered.
“Where is my grandmother now?”
Victor looked at him.
“Dead.”
Dante exhaled.
“But someone inherited her network.”
“Who?”
Victor's eyes moved toward Gabriel.
Silence.
Gabriel's face changed.
Then he slowly reached for his gun.
Too late.
Gunfire erupted.
Victor dropped.
Dante pulled me behind cover.
Gabriel fired toward the attackers.
Celia screamed.
Then everything went silent.
Victor was dead.
Dante knelt beside him.
A small envelope lay beside Victor's hand.
Dante picked it up.
Inside was one photograph.
Gabriel.
Standing beside Dante's grandmother twenty years earlier.
On the back:
THE BOY WHO SURVIVED WILL FINISH WHAT SHE STARTED.
Dante looked at Gabriel.
Gabriel raised his gun.
May you like
“I'm sorry.”
Then he fired.
