Chapter 5 - THE SECRET DEAL
The room became unbearably quiet.
Sophia looked at Victoria.
“You saw my husband?”
Victoria nodded.
“Four months ago.”
“Where?”
“At a private medical facility in Connecticut.”
Sophia gripped the back of a chair.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because he asked me not to.”
A painful laugh escaped Sophia.
“He was alive, and you let me believe he was dead?”
Victoria's eyes filled.
“He believed you were being watched. He thought the safest way to protect you was to keep you away from him.”
“He left me alone while I was pregnant!”
“He didn't know about the baby.”
Sophia looked down at her stomach.
Daniel had never known.
The realization hurt more than she expected.
Dante stepped between them.
“Mother, tell us everything.”
Victoria took a deep breath.
Daniel had survived the crash, but not without serious injuries. Someone had forced his car off the road and left him inside the burning vehicle.
A passing truck driver had pulled him out before the fire spread.
Daniel spent months recovering under an assumed identity.
When he regained consciousness, he discovered that his apartment had been searched and that Sophia had been told he was dead.
He believed someone was trying to use her as leverage.
Victoria eventually found him through a private investigator.
“She agreed to help him,” Victoria explained. “In exchange, he gave her the phone and the evidence.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“Why bury it?”
“Because he said someone in the house was searching for it. He didn't trust the security system. He asked me to hide it until he could find a safe way to recover it.”
“And you agreed?”
“Yes.”
“Then why did you force Sophia to dig it up?”
Victoria looked horrified.
“I didn't know it was there.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I was trying to frighten her into leaving.”
Sophia stared at her.
“Why?”
Victoria hesitated.
Then she revealed the truth.
Daniel had told her that if the evidence reached Dante, the family would discover that Victoria had secretly transferred millions of dollars to an offshore account.
She had done it to protect her son.
Years earlier, Salvatore had threatened to have Dante killed unless Victoria helped him secure control of the shipping empire.
She had agreed to move the money.
But she had never known that Salvatore was using it to finance the illegal shipments.
“I was afraid,” she whispered. “I thought I could control him.”
Dante looked at her with disgust.
“You funded him.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“You helped him destroy my father.”
Victoria began crying.
Sophia turned away.
She couldn't bear listening anymore.
Daniel had been alive.
He had been close enough for Victoria to see him.
And no one had told her.
Dante approached Sophia.
“We'll find him.”
She shook her head.
“You can't promise that.”
“I can promise I'll try.”
Before she could answer, Marco rushed into the room.
“Boss, we found a location connected to Daniel's hospital records.”
“Where?”
“An abandoned rehabilitation center near Stamford.”
Dante immediately reached for his jacket.
Sophia stood.
“I'm coming.”
“No.”
“Dante—”
“You're not risking your health.”
“I'm not staying behind while you search for my husband.”
He looked at her.
The determination in her eyes was unmistakable.
Finally, he nodded.
“You stay in the vehicle. You do not leave it under any circumstances.”
They arrived just before midnight.
The building stood behind a rusted iron fence, its windows dark.
Two guards entered first.
Dante followed.
The reception area smelled of dust and disinfectant.
A chair had been overturned.
There were fresh footprints on the floor.
“Someone's been here,” Marco whispered.
They searched the rooms.
In the last bedroom, Dante found a hospital bracelet.
DANIEL BENNETT.
Sophia took it with trembling fingers.
“He was here.”
A small envelope lay beneath the mattress.
Inside was a handwritten message.
Sophia, if you found this, I failed to reach you. I'm sorry. Don't trust the man who says he is protecting you.
Dante read it twice.
Then he heard a noise behind him.
A door slammed.
Marco drew his weapon.
“Boss!”
A figure appeared at the far end of the corridor.
A man in a dark coat.
He raised his hands.
“Don't shoot.”
Dante stepped forward.
“Who are you?”
The man looked directly at Sophia.
Then he said:
“I'm the one who helped your husband escape the first time.”
Sophia's breath caught.
“Where is Daniel?”
The stranger lowered his eyes.
“He's alive.”
A beat passed.
“But he wasn't the person who arranged his death.”
May you like
He looked toward Dante.
“It was you.”
