Chapter 5 - THE PRICE OF PROTECTION
Dante arrived at the cottage twenty-three minutes after Marco called.
The first thing he saw was the broken porch light.
The second was Eleanor standing beside an ambulance.
The third was Isabella.
She was sitting on the back step, wrapped in a blanket, one hand pressed against her stomach.
Dante stopped several feet away.
"Isabella."
She looked up.
For one terrible moment, he saw the woman he had married.
Then her expression hardened.
"What are you doing here?"
"Are you hurt?"
"I'm fine."
He took a step toward her.
She immediately stood.
"Don't."
Dante stopped.
His eyes moved to her stomach.
"How's the baby?"
"That's not your concern."
The words landed like a physical blow.
He looked down.
"I deserve that."
"You deserve much more than that."
"I know."
"No, Dante. You don't."
Her voice began to shake.
"You left me alone on our wedding night. I called you because I wanted to tell you that we were going to have a child. I had those little socks in a box. I had rehearsed what I was going to say because I knew you would pretend not to be emotional."
Dante closed his eyes.
"And you didn't answer."
"I know."
"I waited. I kept telling myself you were busy. That you would come back. That you would eventually choose me."
She laughed bitterly.
"But you had already chosen."
Dante looked at her.
"I was wrong."
"Being wrong doesn't make you a victim."
"I didn't say it did."
She turned away.
Marco approached them.
"Boss, we need to leave. The men who came here are connected to Richard Hale."
Dante's expression changed.
"Did they touch her?"
"No. Eleanor called the local police before they could get inside."
Isabella looked between them.
"Who are they?"
Dante hesitated.
"People looking for something your mother left behind."
She stared at him.
"You know about the photograph?"
"Yes."
"Then tell me what you know."
He explained what his father had said.
A missing brother.
A family secret.
A photograph that connected the Morettis and Russos long before their marriage.
Isabella listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she looked down at her hands.
"My mother kept a box. My father said it contained family papers."
"Where is it?"
"At my father's house."
"Then we need to get it."
She shook her head.
"No."
"Isabella—"
"You don't get to decide what happens next."
Dante swallowed.
"You're right."
It was the first time he had said those words without adding an argument.
She looked surprised.
He continued.
"I can arrange security. I can have Marco take you somewhere safer. But you decide where you go."
"And you?"
"I'll find out who threatened you."
"Without turning this into another war?"
Dante didn't answer immediately.
"I'll try."
She almost smiled.
Almost.
Then her expression returned to seriousness.
"There's something else."
"What?"
"At the clinic, I had genetic testing done. The results came back yesterday."
Dante looked at her.
"Is something wrong?"
"No. The baby is healthy."
His shoulders relaxed.
"Thank God."
"But I also requested a family history review because of something my mother once told me."
"What?"
"She said the Moretti family had been hiding a child for years."
Dante stared at her.
"Your brother?"
"Possibly."
Before he could respond, Marco's phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
Then his face went pale.
"Boss."
"What?"
"Richard Hale has been found dead."
The next morning, Dante returned to Chicago.
He left Isabella with Eleanor and a security detail selected by Marco, not his own household staff.
Before leaving, he placed his phone on the kitchen table.
"One number," he said. "You call it if you need anything. I'll answer."
Isabella didn't touch it.
"You can't fix this by buying me another phone."
"I know."
"And you can't fix what happened."
"I know that too."
He looked at her for a long moment.
"I wish I'd answered."
Her eyes filled.
"So do I."
He walked out.
At noon, Antonio Moretti received a package at his office.
There was no return address.
Inside was a silver key and a handwritten note.
The girl has the photograph. The boy is alive. Stop protecting the wrong person.
Antonio immediately called his private secretary.
"Get my car."
"Where are you going?"
"To see Dante Russo."
But before he could leave, another call came through.
An unknown number.
He answered.
A woman's voice spoke softly.
"Hello, Antonio."
He recognized it instantly.
May you like
And the next sentence made him grip the desk.
"Your daughter isn't the only one carrying a Russo secret."
