Chapter 6 - A Traitor Under Dante’s RoofDaniel survived.
Barely.
Dante placed him in a private clinic under an assumed name with guards outside every entrance.
Rosa wanted to stay.
Daniel, conscious for less than two minutes after surgery, asked one question.
“Is Sophia safe?”
Rosa cried after that.
Not because she had forgiven him.
Because forgiveness was complicated when love had spent four years disguised as abandonment.
Dante waited outside the room.
When Rosa emerged, he handed her coffee.
She took it.
“You put sugar in this.”
“Three.”
“How did you know?”
“I notice things.”
“That sounds threatening when you say it.”
“It usually is.”
She laughed despite herself.
Then silence returned.
“Dante?”
He looked at her.
It was the first time she had used his first name.
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For finding him.”
“I haven’t finished.”
The flash drive revealed why.
Victor Falcone had stolen millions from Dante’s companies, but money was the smallest part.
He had been building a rival organization using Dante’s infrastructure.
Carmela discovered it.
Daniel documented it.
And someone inside Dante’s estate had repeatedly given Victor access.
Security codes.
Schedules.
Staff information.
Even Sophia’s visits.
Dante gathered his senior household employees.
Nobody was allowed to leave.
Rosa watched him transform.
The man Sophia called Mister Grumpy disappeared.
In his place stood the Dante Falcone whispered about across the city.
Calm.
Controlled.
Dangerous.
“You all know why you’re here,” he said.
Nobody answered.
“Someone in this house gave information to Victor Falcone.”
His gaze traveled across twenty faces.
“I will discover who.”
Rosa stood near the staircase with Sophia.
The child whispered, “Why everybody scared?”
“Because Mr. Falcone is working.”
“He always looks like that.”
Rosa almost laughed.
Dante heard.
His eyes flicked toward them.
For half a second, his expression softened.
That tiny reaction saved a life.
Because Rosa noticed someone else watching it.
Marina.
Not jealousy.
Fear.
Rosa found her later in Carmela’s sitting room.
“You know something.”
Marina turned.
“No.”
“You looked frightened when Dante looked at Sophia.”
“I’m frightened all the time lately.”
“Not like that.”
Marina sat slowly.
Then whispered, “Carmela told me something before she died.”
“What?”
“She said if anything happened to her, I should watch Dante carefully when he started caring about someone again.”
Rosa frowned.
“Why?”
“Because Victor doesn’t attack power.”
Marina looked toward the doorway.
“He attacks love.”
That evening, Dante ordered Rosa and Sophia moved to a guest suite beside his.
Rosa objected.
He ignored her.
At midnight, Sophia woke crying.
Rosa found her sitting in bed.
“Bad dream?”
Sophia nodded.
“The bad man.”
“What bad man?”
“The one from Mommy’s house.”
Rosa froze.
“What about him?”
“He said Uncle.”
Her heartbeat changed.
“When?”
“When he broke the door.”
Rosa knelt.
“What exactly did he say?”
Sophia squeezed her stuffed rabbit.
“He talked on his phone.”
“What did he say?”
“Uncle Victor.”
Rosa ran.
Dante was still awake.
Of course he was.
She entered without knocking.
He stood instantly.
“What happened?”
“The intruder in my apartment spoke to Victor.”
“We assumed that.”
“No. Sophia heard him.”
Dante frowned.
Rosa continued.
“She heard something else. He said, ‘She still has Daniel’s box. Uncle Victor wants it tonight.’”
Dante’s expression changed.
“Uncle?”
“Yes.”
“Victor isn’t that man’s uncle.”
Rosa understood.
“Then he was talking to someone who calls Victor uncle.”
There were only three people who did.
Dante.
His cousin Luca.
And Marina.
Dante stared toward the hallway.
“No.”
Rosa’s stomach dropped.
“Marina?”
“She loved Carmela.”
“So did Victor once.”
“No.”
He left the room.
They found Marina in the sitting room.
She was crying before Dante even asked.
“I didn’t know he would kill her.”
Dante stopped.
Rosa felt the air leave the room.
Marina looked at him.
“I swear.”
Dante’s voice was barely audible.
“What did you do?”
“Victor told me Carmela was planning to leave you.”
Dante’s face hardened.
“He said Daniel was helping her disappear. He asked where she would be that evening.”
Marina sobbed.
“I told him.”
Dante looked as though she had stabbed him.
“You gave Victor her route.”
“I thought he would stop her!”
“He murdered her.”
“I know!”
“You stood beside me at her grave.”
Marina covered her face.
“I was twenty-four. I was stupid. I was jealous of Daniel because Carmela trusted him more than me. I didn’t know.”
Dante turned away.
Rosa could see the violence in his clenched hands.
Then Marina said something that stopped him.
“There’s more.”
Dante looked back.
“Victor contacted me yesterday.”
“Why?”
“He knows Daniel survived.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
Marina swallowed.
“He wants the flash drive.”
“And?”
“I told him I could get it.”
Dante’s eyes narrowed.
Marina wiped her tears.
“I thought maybe I could finally fix what I did.”
Rosa understood first.
“You arranged a meeting.”
Marina nodded.
“Tomorrow night.”
Dante stared at her.
“Where?”
“The old Falcone chapel.”
Then every light in the estate went out.
A second later, an alarm screamed.
Dante reached for Rosa.
Gunfire erupted downstairs.
May you like
And from the darkness came Sophia’s terrified cry.
“Mommy!”
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