Chapter 3 - Vanessa’s Second Secret
By sunrise, Dante had turned an unused hospital conference room into a command center.
Elena learned that from Maria, not from him.
He had respected her order.
He had not entered her room.
He had not called.
He had not sent flowers.
The only thing he sent was breakfast from the hospital cafeteria because her doctor had cleared her to eat.
Not her favorite restaurant.
Not some ridiculous chef.
Toast, eggs, fruit.
Ordinary.
Elena almost hated him more for remembering she couldn’t tolerate coffee during pregnancy.
At nine, Maria entered.
“Vanessa Vale is downstairs.”
Elena’s fork stopped.
“Why?”
“She says the photograph changes everything.”
“Tell her to leave.”
“She says the person watching you is the reason she got close to Dante.”
Elena looked up.
“What?”
Ten minutes later, Vanessa stood inside the room wearing yesterday’s black dress beneath a winter coat.
No silver scarf.
No arrogance.
She looked exhausted.
Elena gestured toward a chair.
Vanessa remained standing.
“I owe you the truth.”
“You owe me considerably more than that.”
“Yes.”
The answer disarmed Elena.
Vanessa placed a phone on the table.
“Six weeks ago I received this.”
A photograph showed Vanessa entering Moretti headquarters.
The message beneath it read:
Get close enough to Dante Moretti to access his private files or your brother dies in prison.
Elena stared at her.
“Your brother?”
“Elliot. He’s serving twelve years at Rockview.”
“For what?”
“Armed robbery.”
“Did he do it?”
“Yes.”
That surprised Elena too.
Vanessa continued.
“I’m not going to pretend he’s innocent. But he’s my brother.”
She opened another message.
A photograph of Elliot in a prison yard.
A red circle around his head.
Elena felt cold.
“So you seduced Dante.”
Vanessa’s eyes dropped.
“At first, I tried to gain access.”
“At first?”
Vanessa swallowed.
“Then it stopped being only that.”
There it was.
The uglier truth.
“You developed feelings for him.”
“Yes.”
“And Dante?”
“You should ask him.”
“I did. He lied.”
Vanessa flinched.
Good, Elena thought.
She wanted somebody else to hurt.
Then hated herself for it.
“What files were they after?”
“A shipping ledger from 2001.”
Elena frowned.
Dante had been a teenager in 2001.
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
The door opened.
Dante entered.
Elena’s entire body tightened.
He stopped immediately.
“Maria said you wanted me.”
“I didn’t.”
Maria appeared behind him.
“I did.”
Elena gave her a look.
Maria did not apologize.
“You both need the same information.”
Dante’s gaze landed on Vanessa.
“You have thirty seconds.”
Vanessa showed him the messages.
His expression barely changed.
But Elena knew him.
The stiller Dante became, the more dangerous his thoughts were.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked.
“I tried.”
“When?”
“The first night I kissed you.”
Elena looked between them.
Vanessa continued.
“You had just received the port report. I came into your office intending to tell you everything. Then you said Elena had been getting threatening calls you hadn’t told her about.”
Elena turned sharply toward Dante.
“Threatening calls?”
He said nothing.
“How many secrets were you planning to reveal today?”
“I was trying to identify the source.”
“Without telling me.”
“Yes.”
“Because apparently lying is your preferred security system.”
“Elena.”
“No.”
Her voice cracked.
That silenced the room.
“I can understand danger,” she said. “I can understand enemies. What I cannot understand is why every decision you made required me to be stupid.”
Dante’s face changed.
“You were never stupid.”
“You made me live like I was.”
He looked down.
Vanessa spoke quietly.
“He’s telling the truth about one thing.”
Elena almost laughed.
“What a recommendation.”
“He didn’t sleep with me.”
“Stop.”
“He kissed me. I kissed him. It happened four times.”
“Vanessa.”
“I’m not protecting myself. I’m telling you because you deserve the exact truth.”
Elena stared at Dante.
“Four?”
His eyes met hers.
“Yes.”
Four choices.
Not one mistake.
That mattered.
Dante did not call them mistakes.
“I wanted the escape,” he said.
Elena’s face hardened.
“From what?”
“Fear.”
She stared.
“I wake up every night checking whether you’re breathing.”
Vanessa looked away.
Dante continued.
“Since you got pregnant, every enemy I’ve ever made has become something I imagine standing over your crib. I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t tell you because I knew what you’d say.”
“That we should leave this life.”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t want to.”
“No.”
There was the answer.
Not flattering.
Not romantic.
True.
“So instead you kissed another woman.”
“Yes.”
Elena’s eyes burned.
Dante’s voice became rough.
“I don’t have an explanation that makes me better than what I did.”
Before Elena could answer, an older man entered behind Maria.
Dante instantly straightened.
Elena recognized him.
Salvatore Moretti.
Dante’s uncle.
The man who had raised him after his father died.
Salvatore placed the old hospital photograph on the table.
“I know who took this.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Who?” Dante asked.
Salvatore’s face seemed to age ten years.
“Your brother.”
Dante went completely still.
“My brother died twenty-two years ago.”
Salvatore shook his head.
“No.”
Elena felt the room tilt.
Dante stared at the man who had raised him.
May you like
Salvatore whispered the words that changed the Moretti family forever.
“Matteo is alive.”
