Chapter 4 - The Ghost Brother
Dante had buried Vincent Marino twelve years earlier.
At least, he had buried a coffin.
Now he wondered what had been inside it.
The photograph changed everything.
Vincent had supposedly been killed during a territorial dispute.
His body had been burned beyond recognition.
Dental records confirmed his identity.
Dante had never questioned it.
Until now.
Marco investigated.
The dentist who signed the identification disappeared eleven years ago.
His wife received $500,000 through one of Sal’s shell companies.
Vincent had staged his death.
But why?
Leo provided another clue.
“Dad called him the architect.”
Dante looked at him.
“What does that mean?”
“I don’t know.”
Leo tapped his temple.
“Sometimes memories get loud. Dad said the architect built everything underneath everything.”
Emily gently touched her brother’s shoulder.
“No pressure.”
Dante noticed how her entire personality changed around Leo.
The sarcastic armor disappeared.
She became patient.
Soft.
Protective.
And Dante realized something uncomfortable.
He wanted that softness directed toward him.
He buried the thought immediately.
They returned to Chicago under heavy security.
Dante moved Emily and Leo into his penthouse.
Emily objected.
“I have an apartment.”
“You also have people trying to abduct your brother.”
“My landlord finally fixed the dishwasher.”
“You’re staying.”
“You are unbelievably controlling.”
“I run a criminal organization.”
“That isn’t a personality excuse.”
Leo laughed.
Dante looked at him.
Then Emily.
Then, against his will, the corner of Dante’s mouth lifted.
Marco witnessed it.
He looked genuinely disturbed.
The investigation accelerated.
Sal finally talked.
Vincent had never wanted Dante dead.
He wanted Dante broken.
Their father had chosen Dante as successor.
Vincent believed the empire belonged to him.
So he disappeared and quietly built a network inside Dante’s organization.
Clara discovered it.
She died for that discovery.
But Sal insisted Vincent was not merely alive.
He was close.
“Closer than you think,” Sal whispered.
That evening, Emily worked alone in Dante’s study.
She noticed the framed photograph on his desk.
Clara.
Emily felt an unexpected sting of guilt.
Dante entered.
“You don’t need to hide it.”
“Hide what?”
“That you wonder whether laughing with me betrays her.”
He stopped.
Emily looked at Clara.
“She loved you. The recording proves that.”
Dante’s voice became rough.
“I spent nine years punishing myself for her death.”
“And if you spend nine more?”
He said nothing.
“She still doesn’t come back.”
Dante approached.
“You make everything sound simple.”
“No. I make complicated things sound survivable.”
Their eyes met.
Something shifted.
Dante reached toward her face.
Emily did not move.
His fingers almost touched her cheek.
Then the lights went out.
A gunshot cracked downstairs.
Dante pulled Emily behind him.
“Stay here.”
Naturally, she followed.
They found a guard dead beside the elevator.
The penthouse security system had been disabled from inside.
Marco appeared.
“Leo’s safe.”
Dante checked the surveillance room.
One camera had remained operational.
The intruder appeared for less than three seconds.
Gray hair.
Tall frame.
A scar across the left cheek.
Dante stared.
He knew that face.
Older.
Harder.
But unmistakable.
Vincent.
Alive.
Then Emily noticed something else.
Vincent looked directly into the camera.
He smiled.
And raised a photograph.
It showed Emily sleeping in her apartment.
Written across it:
ASK HER WHO REALLY PAID FOR LEO.
Emily went pale.
Dante slowly turned toward her.
May you like
Because suddenly the eight-thousand-dollar payments were no longer bookkeeping.
They were a message.
