Chapter 5 - The Woman at His Side
Three days later, Sophie entered Chicago’s most exclusive charity gala on Dante Romano’s arm.
She hated the plan.
Mostly because it was a good one.
The shooter believed Sophie was hidden and frightened.
Dante wanted the opposite.
Visibility.
Hundreds of witnesses.
Cameras.
Security.
And, more importantly, every surviving figure connected to Victor Romano’s old network gathered in one ballroom.
“If someone reacts to seeing you,” Dante had explained, “we learn something.”
“If someone shoots me?”
“They won’t.”
“That confidence feels statistically irresponsible.”
Now Sophie walked beneath crystal chandeliers wearing an emerald gown Dante’s stylist had delivered that afternoon.
She had protested the price.
Then she discovered it was borrowed.
She protested slightly less.
Dante’s hand rested lightly against her back.
“You’re tense.”
“I’m surrounded by people who may have helped murder my father.”
“Half of them are senators and bankers.”
“That didn’t improve the sentence.”
He almost smiled.
The ballroom changed when Dante entered.
Conversations softened.
Men watched him.
Women watched him.
Everyone watched Sophie.
She heard the whispers.
Who is she?
His maid.
Impossible.
Dante Romano brought his maid?
Sophie lifted her chin.
“People are staring.”
“Let them.”
“Easy for you. You enjoy terrifying strangers.”
“I enjoy efficiency.”
“That is exactly what a terrifying person would say.”
Then Sophie saw Luca.
He stood beside the bar.
Alive.
Calm.
Waiting.
Dante stopped.
Security moved subtly around them.
Luca raised both hands.
“I came voluntarily.”
“You disappeared,” Dante said.
“Because someone planted my cuff link.”
Sophie studied him.
“Can you prove that?”
Luca looked at her.
“I haven’t worn those cuff links in two years.”
“Convenient.”
“I have security footage from my apartment.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?”
“Because whoever framed me has access to our internal network.”
That landed hard.
Luca looked at Sophie.
“I knew your father.”
“I know.”
“He saved my life.”
Sophie’s expression changed.
Luca explained.
Seven years ago, Victor Romano had been building a private empire inside the Romano organization. Luca, only twenty-six, discovered it and secretly contacted Thomas Bennett.
Thomas agreed to help expose the laundering network.
But Victor learned someone was investigating.
“Your father told me to disappear,” Luca said. “I did.”
“And he died.”
Luca’s eyes lowered.
“Yes.”
“You let everyone call it an accident.”
“I was a coward.”
Sophie said nothing.
No excuse.
No elaborate defense.
Just coward.
That sounded more believable than innocence.
“Why did you recognize me?” she asked.
“I saw photographs on Thomas’s desk.”
“And you hired me?”
“No.”
“Who did?”
Luca looked toward Dante.
“Household applications go through Elena Marconi.”
Dante’s face changed.
Elena had managed Romano properties for twenty years.
She had served Dante’s father.
She had known Victor.
Sophie whispered, “Where is she?”
Across the ballroom, a silver-haired woman watched them.
Elena.
The instant Sophie met her eyes, Elena turned.
Dante spoke into his cuff.
“Stop Marconi.”
Two guards moved.
Elena walked faster.
Then ran.
The ballroom erupted.
She shoved through a service door.
Dante pursued.
Sophie followed.
“Stay back!”
“You should know by now that doesn’t work!”
They entered the hotel kitchen.
Elena overturned a cart behind her.
Dante jumped it.
Sophie went around.
Elena reached an exit.
Luca appeared from the opposite corridor.
He blocked her.
Elena stopped.
For a moment, nobody moved.
Then she laughed.
“You’re all so late.”
Dante approached.
“You planted the bottle.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elena looked at Sophie.
“Because Thomas wanted his daughter to finish what he started.”
Sophie froze.
“You knew my father?”
“I loved him.”
The words stunned everyone.
Elena reached slowly into her handbag.
Dante’s guards raised weapons.
“Easy,” Elena said.
She removed an envelope.
Inside was a letter.
Thomas Bennett’s handwriting.
Sophie’s knees nearly gave out.
Elena explained that she and Thomas had secretly worked together to gather evidence. Thomas suspected Victor Romano, but after his death Elena realized Victor had not acted alone.
Someone else had inherited the operation.
Someone powerful enough to hide it for seven years.
“Who?” Dante asked.
Elena looked at him.
“Your father.”
Silence.
Dante’s face emptied.
“My father died five years ago.”
“And spent his final two years cleaning Victor’s records.”
“No.”
“He protected the Romano name.”
Dante stepped backward as though struck.
Elena continued.
“But he wasn’t the one who killed Thomas.”
Sophie gripped the letter.
“Then who did?”
Elena looked toward the ballroom.
“The man currently drinking champagne beside the mayor.”
They returned.
Sophie followed Elena’s gaze.
An elegant man in his sixties stood beneath the chandeliers.
Federal Judge Charles Whitmore.
One of Chicago’s most respected legal figures.
A family friend of the Romanos.
Sophie recognized him.
Not from television.
From childhood.
He had visited Bennett Ridge.
Her father called him Uncle Charlie.
Her blood went cold.
Whitmore saw Sophie looking at him.
His smile remained perfectly calm.
Then he raised his champagne glass.
A toast.
To her.
Sophie whispered, “He knows.”
Dante stepped closer.
“Knows what?”
“That we found him.”
At that exact moment, every light in the ballroom went black.
Screams erupted.
Dante reached for Sophie.
But another hand found her first.
A cloth covered her mouth.
May you like
An arm locked around her waist.
The last thing Sophie heard before darkness took her was Dante roaring her name.
