Chapter 13 - Why Daniel Chose Rosa“Tell me.”
Rosa’s voice was quiet.
Daniel wished she had shouted.
Dante stood across the library with both hands braced against his desk.
Marina remained near the door.
Nobody moved.
Daniel looked at Rosa.
“When I met you, it wasn’t an accident.”
The sentence landed softly.
The damage did not.
Rosa blinked.
“What?”
“I was already working for the Falcones.”
“I know that.”
“No.”
Daniel swallowed.
“I mean I was watching someone.”
“Who?”
“Your father.”
Rosa laughed once.
It contained no humor.
“My father died when I was seventeen.”
“That’s what you were told.”
Silence.
Rosa stepped backward.
Dante moved toward her.
She lifted one hand.
“Don’t.”
He stopped.
Her eyes remained on Daniel.
“Start at the beginning.”
Daniel did.
Rosa’s father had called himself Thomas Bennett.
That was not his birth name.
His real name had been Thomas Voss.
Elias Voss’s younger brother.
Rosa sat down.
For twenty-nine years, she had believed her father was an ordinary warehouse supervisor who died after a heart attack.
According to Daniel, Thomas had spent years laundering money for Elias before trying to leave.
“He disappeared with records,” Daniel said. “Your mother changed your surname after he died.”
“Why?”
“To keep Elias from finding you.”
Rosa stared at him.
“And you?”
“Carmela learned Thomas had a daughter.”
“You.”
Daniel nodded.
“She asked me to make sure you weren’t involved.”
Rosa’s face changed.
“So you followed me.”
“Yes.”
“You met me because you were investigating me.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
Daniel’s eyes filled.
“Then I fell in love with you.”
Rosa stood.
“Don’t.”
“It’s true.”
“You built our entire relationship on a lie.”
“I stopped reporting on you after three weeks.”
“How generous.”
“Rosa—”
“Did Carmela know?”
“Yes.”
“Did Dante?”
“No,” Dante said.
Rosa turned toward him.
His face told her he was telling the truth.
That should have helped.
It did not.
She felt as if every safe memory of her life had been opened and rearranged by strangers.
Her father.
Daniel.
Carmela.
Voss.
Even her mother had apparently died carrying secrets.
Rosa walked out.
Dante followed her into the garden.
“Rosa.”
“Not now.”
“I’m not going to defend him.”
“Good.”
“I’m also not going to let you disappear inside this.”
She turned.
“I was investigated before I was loved.”
“No.”
“You heard him.”
“He was sent to investigate you.”
Dante stepped closer.
“That is not why he loved you.”
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
Dante’s voice softened.
“But I know why I do.”
Rosa’s anger cracked.
He continued.
“I did not notice you because of your father.”
She looked away.
“I barely noticed you at all.”
That almost made her laugh.
Dante touched her face.
“I noticed you because your daughter humiliated me in my own hallway.”
Rosa gave him a wet, unwilling smile.
“Very romantic.”
“I have improved.”
“Debatable.”
He kissed her forehead.
“You are not Elias Voss’s niece before you are Rosa.”
She closed her eyes.
“I don’t even know who Rosa is anymore.”
“I do.”
She looked at him.
Dante said simply:
“My wife.”
That evening, they searched Carmela’s belongings again.
The second box was not in the sitting room.
Not in the bank.
Not inside any property registered to Carmela.
Then Sophia wandered into the library carrying a photograph album.
“Mommy, you were squishy.”
Rosa looked over.
Sophia was pointing at a baby photograph.
“That’s me.”
“You had no hair.”
“Thank you.”
Sophia turned another page.
Dante glanced at the album.
Then stopped.
“Where did you get that?”
“Grandma box.”
Rosa frowned.
“What grandma box?”
“The one Marina gave me.”
Marina entered at that exact moment.
Her face changed.
“Oh.”
Dante stood.
“What?”
Marina looked embarrassed.
“I found several boxes belonging to Carmela. Old family photographs. I gave Sophia one because she likes pictures.”
Dante held out his hand.
Sophia hugged the album.
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“It’s mine.”
“We need to look at it.”
“You always take evidence.”
Rosa covered a smile.
Eventually they negotiated temporary custody of the album in exchange for chocolate ice cream.
Halfway through, Daniel found a photograph of Carmela and Rosa’s father.
Thomas Bennett—Thomas Voss—stood beside Carmela at a charity event.
On the back was an address.
An abandoned Catholic school in Queens.
Dante looked at Daniel.
“Did Carmela ever mention this?”
“No.”
They went that night.
The school had been closed for twelve years.
Dust covered everything.
Inside the old administrative office, Dante found scratches beneath a wooden cabinet.
They moved it.
Behind it was a wall safe.
Rosa stared.
“How do we open it?”
Daniel examined the keypad.
“Four digits.”
Dante tried Carmela’s birthday.
Nothing.
Wedding anniversary.
Nothing.
Sophia’s birthday was impossible; Carmela had died before Sophia was born.
Then Rosa looked at Dante.
“Four o’clock.”
He entered 1600.
The lock clicked.
Inside was a red leather ledger.
And one photograph.
Rosa picked it up.
Her father stood beside Elias Voss.
Between them was another man.
Dante recognized him immediately.
His own father.
Antonio Falcone.
Written beneath the photograph were six words:
THEY BUILT IT TOGETHER. DESTROY IT TOGETHER.
Then headlights swept across the broken windows.
Several vehicles had arrived outside.
Dante closed the safe.
Daniel reached for his weapon.
May you like
Rosa heard footsteps filling the hallway.
Voss had found them.
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