Chapter 6 - The Truth Beneath Bennett Ridge
Sophie woke to the smell of wine.
For one confused second, she thought she was back in Dante’s study.
Then cold concrete pressed against her cheek.
She opened her eyes.
Wooden barrels surrounded her.
Old barrels.
Dusty.
Familiar.
Her heart stopped.
Bennett Ridge.
Seven years after her father’s death, Sophie had returned to the abandoned winery where she grew up.
Her wrists were bound.
Judge Charles Whitmore sat across from her.
“You look like Thomas.”
Sophie forced herself upright.
“You don’t.”
Whitmore smiled.
“You remember me.”
“I remember my father trusting you.”
“That was his mistake.”
“Apparently he had several.”
Whitmore’s smile faded.
There she was.
The Sophie who joked when terrified.
Her father had done the same thing.
Whitmore leaned forward.
“Where is the card?”
“Somewhere you won’t find it.”
“I don’t need the card anymore.”
“Then why kidnap me?”
“Because Dante does.”
Sophie understood.
She wasn’t evidence.
She was leverage.
Whitmore wanted Dante.
“What do you want from him?”
“The Romano organization.”
She laughed despite herself.
“You’re a federal judge.”
“And Dante Romano controls half the people who control this city.”
“You sound jealous.”
Whitmore slapped her.
Pain flashed across her cheek.
Sophie slowly looked back at him.
“Touchy.”
Whitmore stood.
“Your father was exactly like this.”
“You murdered him.”
“I offered him everything.”
“He said no.”
“He embarrassed me.”
“So you killed him?”
“I protected thirty years of work.”
There.
A confession.
Sophie kept her face blank.
What Whitmore didn’t know was that Dante had insisted she wear a necklace containing an emergency transmitter.
She had called it paranoid.
She now considered sending him an apology basket.
If the transmitter still worked.
Whitmore walked toward the barrels.
“Thomas discovered that Victor Romano and I were using wine imports to wash money. Victor was crude. Your father thought removing him would solve everything.”
“But you were above him.”
“Yes.”
“And Dante’s father?”
Whitmore smiled.
“Giovanni Romano discovered us after Thomas died. I expected him to expose me.”
“He didn’t.”
“No. He destroyed evidence to protect Dante from inheriting a war.”
Sophie’s anger shifted.
Dante had spent days believing his father was part of the conspiracy.
“He protected his son.”
“In his way.”
Headlights swept across the winery windows.
Whitmore smiled.
“Right on time.”
Dante arrived alone.
At least he appeared alone.
He entered through the old tasting room, hands visible.
Sophie’s heart slammed.
Whitmore pressed a gun against her temple.
Dante stopped.
His eyes went to the red mark on her cheek.
Something terrifying entered his expression.
Sophie shook her head slightly.
Not now.
Whitmore tossed papers onto a barrel.
“Sign.”
Dante looked down.
Transfer documents.
Companies.
Properties.
Accounts.
Control.
“You think paperwork gives you my organization?”
“No. Your death does. Paperwork simply makes the aftermath cleaner.”
Dante looked at Sophie.
She tried to communicate with her eyes.
Transmitter.
Backup.
Wait.
He seemed to understand.
“Let her go.”
“Sign.”
“No.”
Whitmore cocked the gun.
Dante’s voice became dangerously quiet.
“If you hurt her, you won’t leave this building.”
“You came alone.”
Dante looked around.
“Did I?”
A sound came from outside.
Then another.
Whitmore’s men shouted.
Lights shattered.
Chaos erupted.
Luca.
Romano security flooded the vineyard from three entrances.
Whitmore grabbed Sophie and dragged her backward.
Dante moved.
A gunshot cracked.
Sophie screamed.
Dante staggered.
Blood appeared at his shoulder.
Something inside Sophie snapped.
She drove her heel down on Whitmore’s foot, threw her head backward into his face and twisted away.
The gun fired again.
Dante tackled Whitmore.
They crashed through a table.
Sophie grabbed the fallen weapon.
Her bound hands made it difficult.
Whitmore rolled on top of Dante and reached for a knife.
Sophie raised the gun.
“Stop!”
Whitmore looked at her.
He smiled.
“You won’t.”
Sophie’s hands shook.
He was right about one thing.
She didn’t want to become him.
Sirens sounded outside.
Not Romano cars.
Police.
Federal agents.
Luca had sent Thomas Bennett’s files to three separate law-enforcement agencies and two newspapers before the rescue began.
There would be no burying this one.
Whitmore looked toward the windows.
For the first time, fear entered his face.
Dante used the distraction to disarm him.
Minutes later, Whitmore was on his knees in handcuffs.
Sophie stood motionless.
Dante approached, bleeding.
“You’re hurt.”
“So are you.”
“This is a scratch.”
“You were shot.”
“A dramatic scratch.”
Despite everything, Sophie laughed.
Then she cried.
Dante cut the restraints from her wrists.
She threw her arms around him.
He froze.
Only for a second.
Then his arms closed around her.
Strong.
Careful.
Sophie pressed her face against his chest.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I’m difficult to kill.”
“Arrogant.”
“Yes.”
“Expensive.”
“Apparently.”
She laughed against him.
Then Dante whispered, “Sophie.”
She looked up.
His eyes dropped to her mouth.
The world seemed to become very quiet.
He leaned closer.
She did too.
Then paramedics burst through the door.
“Sir! Step away!”
Sophie closed her eyes.
Dante stared at the ceiling.
One paramedic looked between them.
“Bad timing?”
“The worst,” Sophie muttered.
But as they took Dante toward the ambulance, Whitmore called after her.
“Sophie!”
She turned.
The judge smiled through bloody lips.
“You think this is finished?”
Dante stopped.
Whitmore continued.
“Ask Romano who owns Bennett Ridge now.”
Sophie’s expression changed.
She looked at Dante.
He went still.
That was answer enough.
“You own it?”
Dante said nothing.
Sophie’s heart dropped.
“Dante.”
“I can explain.”
Her face hardened.
May you like
Those were exactly the words she had spoken after he caught her stealing his wine.
Only this time, nobody was laughing.
