Chapter 7 - A Daughter of the Enemy
Dante survived the stabbing.
The blade had missed his vital organs, but the blood loss required surgery and two days in the hospital.
Emma remained nearby.
Not because she owed him anything.
Because, against every expectation, she had begun to care about the brother she had only just discovered.
On the second morning, Dante woke to find her asleep in a chair beside his bed.
A paperback rested on her lap.
A half-finished coffee sat on the windowsill.
He watched her quietly.
She looked like their mother.
Not exactly.
Elena had dark hair and a narrower face.
But Emma possessed the same stubborn set of the jaw.
The same habit of folding her hands when she was worried.
The same refusal to abandon someone who needed help.
Dante closed his eyes.
For twenty-five years, he had believed he was alone.
Now he had a sister.
And he had almost lost her before learning who she was.
The DNA results arrived that afternoon.
The independent laboratory confirmed a biological sibling relationship between Dante and Emma.
Emma read the report three times.
Then she handed it to him.
“So it's true.”
Dante nodded.
“Yes.”
She laughed once.
A small, disbelieving sound.
“I spent my entire life wondering why my mother never talked about my father.”
Dante looked at her.
“Now you know.”
“Not all of it.”
“No.”
Emma sat beside him.
“Dante, the man at the estate said Salvatore wasn't your real father.”
Dante's expression darkened.
“I remember.”
“Do you believe him?”
“I don't know.”
Emma hesitated.
“Then we find out.”
He looked at her.
“We?”
She smiled faintly.
“You're stuck with me now.”
For the first time since the dinner at Bellaforte, Dante laughed.
Their investigation led to an old family physician named Dr. Harold Mercer.
He was eighty-one and living in a retirement community in Wisconsin.
Mateo located him through hospital records.
Dante and Emma traveled there three days after Dante's discharge.
Mercer greeted them in a small sitting room filled with medical journals.
When he saw Emma, his face changed.
“Elena?”
Emma shook her head.
“Her daughter.”
The doctor sat heavily.
“I never thought I'd see this day.”
Dante leaned forward.
“Then you know why we're here.”
Mercer nodded.
“You want the truth about your family.”
“Yes.”
The doctor looked toward the window.
“Your mother was a remarkable woman.”
Dante waited.
“She married Salvatore Romano because she believed he could become better than the world that raised him.”
“Was he my father?”
Mercer looked at him.
“Yes.”
Dante exhaled.
“But the man at the estate—”
“Was lying,” Mercer said firmly.
Emma frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Vincent has spent decades spreading different versions of the same story.”
“What story?”
“That Salvatore was weak. That Elena was unfaithful. That Dante was illegitimate. That Rose was a thief.”
Mercer's eyes filled with anger.
“He wanted everyone to doubt everyone else.”
Dante leaned back.
“Divide the family.”
“Exactly.”
The doctor opened a drawer.
Inside was a sealed envelope.
“I kept this because I was afraid someone would destroy the originals.”
Dante accepted it.
The envelope contained medical records.
Birth certificates.
And a signed statement from Elena Romano.
Mercer explained that Elena had asked him to preserve evidence of her poisoning.
He had collected blood samples and documented suspicious medication changes.
But before he could report his findings, his medical license was threatened.
His wife received anonymous calls.
His children were followed.
He left Chicago.
“I was a coward,” Mercer whispered.
Emma shook her head.
“You're helping now.”
He looked at her.
“Your mother said the same thing.”
Emma froze.
“Rose?”
Mercer nodded.
“She visited me six years ago.”
“Before she died?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She wanted to know whether it was safe to tell you the truth.”
Emma's eyes filled.
“What did you tell her?”
Mercer lowered his head.
“That Vincent was still powerful.”
Emma looked away.
Her mother had been dying.
And even then, she had been trying to protect her daughter.
Back in Chicago, Rebecca Shaw uncovered the first major financial breakthrough.
Vincent had used a network of shell companies to divert profits from the Elena Romano Trust.
The money had funded acquisitions, political influence, and private security operations.
But the most shocking discovery involved a company called Blackwater Holdings.
Its original ownership documents listed Elena Romano as the majority shareholder.
After her death, those documents had been replaced.
The new shareholder was Vincent.
Rebecca found evidence that Elena's signature had been forged.
She also discovered that Blackwater Holdings controlled valuable waterfront property and a shipping business.
The company's records connected Vincent to several unexplained deaths.
Dante examined the evidence.
“Can we take this to the authorities?”
Rebecca nodded.
“With the right witnesses.”
“Who?”
“Someone who handled the original transactions.”
Mateo entered the room.
“I may have found one.”
Dante looked up.
“Who?”
“A former accountant named Samuel Price.”
“Where is he?”
“Living under another name in Indiana.”
Emma stood.
“Then we should talk to him.”
Mateo hesitated.
“There's a problem.”
Dante frowned.
“What?”
“Price contacted us first.”
“And?”
“He says he'll testify.”
Dante waited.
“But only if Emma comes alone.”
That evening, Emma stood on the balcony of the safe house where they had moved after the fire.
Chicago glittered in the distance.
Dante joined her.
“You're not going alone.”
Emma sighed.
“I knew you'd say that.”
“It's a trap.”
“Maybe.”
“Definitely.”
She turned.
“Dante, you can't protect me by keeping me in a locked room.”
“I can try.”
She gave him a look.
He almost smiled.
Emma rested her hands on the railing.
“I've spent my whole life being told what I can't do because I don't have money or connections.”
Dante listened.
“I couldn't go to culinary school because we couldn't afford it. I couldn't take unpaid internships because Mom needed help. I couldn't even take a day off when she was sick.”
Her voice trembled.
“But I made decisions. They were mine.”
Dante looked down.
“And now?”
“Now I have a brother who owns half of Chicago and thinks that gives him the right to decide everything.”
He winced.
“Fair.”
Emma smiled faintly.
“I don't need you to control my life.”
“What do you need?”
She looked at him.
“To stand beside me.”
Dante nodded slowly.
“I can do that.”
The next morning, Samuel Price called again.
This time, Dante answered.
“Emma won't meet you alone.”
Price sounded frightened.
“Then I can't help you.”
Dante leaned forward.
“Why?”
A long pause.
Then Price whispered:
“Because Vincent isn't the person giving the orders anymore.”
Dante went still.
“What?”
“Someone else has the ledger.”
“Who?”
Price began crying.
“The woman who was supposed to be dead.”
The call disconnected.
Emma stared at Dante.
May you like
He looked back at her.
And for the first time, both wondered whether Elena Romano's death had been exactly what everyone believed.
