Chapter 8 - THE LAST THING ALESSIA LEFT BEHIND
Dante became terrifyingly quiet.
That frightened Clare more than rage.
“Where is Leo?”
Luca laughed through the phone.
“You know what I want.”
“The card is useless now.”
“Not the card.”
Dante looked at Marco.
“What?”
“The original files.”
“There are no originals.”
“Alessia had them.”
Dante stopped.
Luca continued.
“Your wife was smarter than you ever knew.”
The call ended.
Leo’s crying disappeared.
Dante lowered the phone.
For several seconds he seemed unable to breathe.
Clare touched his arm.
“Look at me.”
He didn’t.
“Dante.”
His eyes finally found hers.
“We’ll get him back.”
“I failed him.”
“No.”
“I left him.”
“To rescue my daughter.”
“I should have—”
Clare grabbed his face.
“Guilt is arrogant, remember?”
His eyes closed.
She repeated his own promise.
“We’re getting him back.”
They searched everything Alessia had left.
Jewelry.
Letters.
Photographs.
Clothes.
Nothing.
Then Clare remembered the framed photograph on Dante’s airplane.
The same portrait had been beside him when Leo finally stopped crying.
Why carry a framed photograph onto a flight?
Dante answered.
“Alessia made me promise Leo would always see her face.”
Marco examined the frame.
Hidden behind the backing was a key.
A number engraved into it.
A private bank vault in Rome.
Inside they found Alessia’s final insurance policy.
Documents.
Recordings.
Financial ledgers.
Evidence linking Luca to bribery, extortion and the bombing.
But there was something else.
A letter.
For Dante.
He read it alone.
Then he handed it to Clare.
Alessia had discovered Anthony’s betrayal shortly before her death.
She had intended to tell Dante after gathering proof.
Her final lines were not about revenge.
They were about Leo.
If anything happens to me, don’t teach our son to inherit your enemies. Give him something better to inherit.
Dante sat silently.
For his entire adult life, power had meant making enemies afraid.
Now his dead wife was asking him to imagine another kind.
Clare sat beside him.
“What will you do?”
“What I should have done years ago.”
He sent copies of everything to prosecutors in Italy and the United States.
Marco stared at him.
“That exposes our financial network too.”
“Yes.”
“You could lose everything.”
Dante looked toward Clare.
“No.”
For the first time, he understood the difference between everything and possessions.
A message arrived from Luca.
An address.
An abandoned villa overlooking Lake Bracciano.
COME ALONE.
Dante prepared to leave.
Clare blocked the doorway.
“No.”
“This time I am not negotiating.”
“Neither am I.”
“Leo is my son.”
“And you helped bring Maya home.”
“Clare—”
“You don’t have to do everything alone.”
Dante stared at her.
Nobody had ever offered to share danger with him without wanting something.
Marco stepped forward.
“She’s right.”
Dante looked betrayed.
Marco shrugged.
“I’m enjoying being alive. Apparently honesty is part of that.”
The plan was simple.
Dante would enter.
Police would remain outside the property until Leo’s location was confirmed.
Clare stayed in the surveillance vehicle with Maya.
At least, that was the plan.
Dante entered the villa.
Luca waited beside a fireplace.
Leo was nowhere visible.
“Where is my son?”
“Safe.”
“Show me.”
Luca smiled.
“You sent the files to police.”
“Yes.”
“Then you’ve killed him.”
Dante lunged.
A cry came from upstairs.
Leo.
Dante stopped.
Luca raised his weapon.
“You were always too emotional about family.”
Dante almost laughed.
“You murdered the mother of your child.”
“Elena was a liability.”
A voice came from the doorway.
“No.”
Luca turned.
Clare stood there.
She had left the surveillance van.
Behind her, hidden beneath her coat, her phone streamed audio directly to police.
“You were the liability,” she said.
Luca aimed at her.
Dante moved between them.
“You came alone,” Luca said.
“I lied.”
The windows shattered.
Police entered.
Luca fired.
Dante pushed Clare down.
Marco came through the side entrance.
Another shot.
Then silence.
Luca lay wounded.
Alive.
Arrestable.
Dante ran upstairs.
He found Leo in a crib.
His son was screaming.
Dante lifted him.
“It’s okay.”
Leo screamed harder.
Then Clare entered.
The baby heard her voice.
“Hey, sweetheart.”
Leo turned.
His crying softened.
Dante laughed through tears.
“You’re embarrassing me.”
Clare touched Leo’s cheek.
“You’re doing fine.”
Dante looked at her.
“No.”
May you like
He kissed her forehead.
“We are.”
