Chapter 9 - THE FATHER WHO NEVER CAME HOME
Dante barely slept that night.
He kept the photograph on his desk.
His father had been alive for seven years.
Somewhere in the world, Alessandro Moretti had been breathing, eating, sleeping, and watching his son build an empire without him.
Dante couldn't decide whether he felt relief or rage.
Daniel entered the study shortly after sunrise.
“Did you find anything?”
“Nothing useful.”
Daniel placed a small envelope on the desk.
“I found this in my hospital records.”
Inside was a photograph of a chapel.
The same chapel mentioned in Alessandro's letter.
Dante studied it.
“When was this taken?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Who gave it to you?”
“A nurse. She said someone had left it for me.”
Dante looked at the photograph again.
A black sedan was parked outside the chapel.
Its license plate belonged to a company registered under Salvatore's name.
“Your uncle has been there.”
Daniel nodded.
“Which means he knows your father is alive.”
Dante called Marco.
Within an hour, three vehicles were ready.
Sophia insisted on coming.
Daniel tried to persuade her to stay.
“Please,” he said. “I can't lose you again.”
She took his hand.
“Then don't ask me to spend another day waiting for someone else to decide what happens to my family.”
Daniel looked at Dante.
Dante nodded.
“We'll keep her protected.”
The chapel stood on a wooded hill outside Albany.
Snow covered the surrounding trees.
A single light glowed behind the stained-glass windows.
Dante entered first.
The building was empty except for an elderly man sitting in the front pew.
His back was turned.
“Dad?”
The man slowly looked over his shoulder.
Alessandro Moretti was alive.
For a moment, Dante forgot every question he had prepared.
He simply stood there.
His father rose.
“Dante.”
Dante approached him.
Then stopped.
“Why?”
Alessandro lowered his eyes.
“I was afraid.”
“Of Salvatore?”
“Of what he would do to you.”
“So you let me bury you?”
“I believed it was the only way.”
Dante laughed bitterly.
“You let me stand at your grave.”
Alessandro's eyes filled.
“I know.”
“You let me believe I had no family left.”
“I know.”
“You let me build this empire thinking I had to become you.”
Alessandro stepped closer.
“I never wanted that for you.”
Dante turned away.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Then Sophia approached with Daniel.
Alessandro looked at Daniel.
“You survived.”
Daniel nodded.
“Barely.”
Alessandro's expression hardened.
“I'm sorry.”
Daniel looked at him.
“You could have helped my wife.”
“I tried.”
“You failed.”
The older man accepted the accusation without defending himself.
Then he revealed the final piece of the story.
Salvatore had not acted alone.
Richard Hale had managed the finances, but the person who originally arranged the illegal shipping operation was a senior family associate named Victor Russo.
He had been Alessandro's closest adviser.
He had also been the man who recommended Daniel for the audit.
“He knew everything,” Alessandro said. “And he knew that I was trying to expose him.”
Dante felt his stomach tighten.
“Where is he?”
“Dead.”
“Since when?”
Alessandro looked at him.
“According to the records, three years ago.”
Dante frowned.
“Then why are you afraid?”
Alessandro reached into his coat and produced a photograph.
It showed Victor Russo standing beside a woman outside a New York hotel.
Dante recognized the woman immediately.
It was Isabella, his former fiancée.
She had disappeared after their engagement ended five years earlier.
He had believed she had moved to Europe.
But the photograph was dated three weeks ago.
“That's impossible,” Dante whispered.
Alessandro shook his head.
“She was never in Europe.”
Sophia studied the picture.
“Who is the woman standing beside her?”
Dante looked again.
His face went pale.
The second woman was Victoria.
His mother.
Alive and recovering in the hospital.
But the photograph had been taken three weeks ago.
Before the shooting.
Before the grave.
Before any of them knew what Daniel had buried.
Dante turned toward his father.
“What's going on?”
Alessandro's voice dropped.
“Your mother has been hiding something far more dangerous than Salvatore's money.”
Then a gunshot shattered the chapel window.
Daniel threw himself over Sophia.
Dante reached for his weapon.
And a familiar voice called from the doorway.
“Family reunion's over.”
May you like
Isabella stepped inside.
Smiling.
