Chapter 8 - THE LAST PROMISE
Dante didn't accuse Marco immediately.
He waited.
He watched.
He gave the man who had stood beside him for fifteen years one opportunity to tell the truth.
It came the following afternoon.
Marco entered the office and placed a key on the desk.
"Gabriel is in Indiana."
Dante looked up.
"How long have you known?"
"Three weeks."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because he asked me not to."
Dante stood.
"He's my brother."
"And he's terrified of you."
The words stopped Dante.
Marco continued.
"Gabriel believes you're exactly like your father. He thinks you're going to take whatever he has left and call it family business."
Dante looked away.
"Is that what you think?"
"I think you've spent too long believing fear is the same thing as respect."
Dante picked up the key.
"Take me to him."
Gabriel lived in a small house outside South Bend.
He was thirty-five, three years older than Dante, and had the same dark eyes as their mother.
When Dante stepped inside, neither man spoke.
Gabriel studied him.
"So you're the famous Dante Russo."
Dante nodded.
"And you're the brother I was told never existed."
Gabriel laughed quietly.
"Sounds like something our father would say."
Dante looked around the house.
There were photographs on the walls.
A woman.
Two little girls.
A dog.
An ordinary life.
"Are those your daughters?"
Gabriel nodded.
"Emma and Sophie."
"How old?"
"Eight and five."
Dante swallowed.
He had two nieces.
He had spent years building an empire without knowing they existed.
"I'm sorry," he said.
Gabriel looked surprised.
"For what?"
"For everything."
Gabriel walked toward the kitchen.
"That's a pretty big apology."
"I know."
"Does your father know I'm here?"
"No."
"Does Isabella?"
"Yes."
Gabriel stopped.
"She's the one who called you?"
"Yes."
A small smile appeared on Gabriel's face.
"Your mother would've liked her."
Dante looked at the photographs again.
"Tell me what happened."
Gabriel explained that their mother had discovered Vittorio was using the family business to conceal illegal transfers and hide ownership of several properties.
She had intended to expose everything.
Before she could, she was killed in a staged accident.
Gabriel had been placed with another family and given a different surname.
His mother had tried to reach him.
But she never got the chance.
"There's something else," Gabriel said.
"What?"
"Your father wasn't the only person involved."
He opened a drawer and removed an envelope.
Inside was a photograph of three people.
Vittorio.
Antonio.
And Richard Hale.
All standing beside a fourth man whose face had been scratched out.
Gabriel tapped the picture.
"That man arranged everything."
"Who is he?"
"Your grandfather's lawyer. He controlled the inheritance documents. He was the one who decided which child would receive the empire."
Dante looked closer.
A name was written beneath the photograph.
Samuel Greco.
Valentina's grandfather.
Back at the cottage, Isabella received another surprise.
Eleanor was preparing dinner when she noticed Isabella staring at her phone.
"Something wrong?"
"I think my father has been lying to me."
Eleanor put down the knife.
"About what?"
"Everything."
Isabella explained the photograph and the recording.
Eleanor listened carefully.
Then she opened a drawer and removed a small velvet pouch.
"I was supposed to give you this when you got married."
Isabella stared.
"What's inside?"
"Your mother's engagement ring."
"Why would you have it?"
"She left it with me. She said one day you might need to understand why she never married Daniel Moretti."
Isabella opened the pouch.
Inside was a gold ring with a small emerald.
Beneath it was a folded note.
If my daughter ever marries a Russo, make sure she knows the truth about the first wedding.
Isabella looked up.
"First wedding?"
Eleanor nodded slowly.
"Your mother and Vittorio Russo were engaged before he married Dante's mother."
Isabella felt the room tilt.
"That's impossible."
"Your mother was young. Vittorio promised her the world. Then she discovered what kind of man he really was."
"Why did she marry Antonio?"
"Because he helped her escape."
Isabella stared at the ring.
"Then the Russo and Moretti families weren't connected through business."
Eleanor shook her head.
"They were connected through love. And betrayal."
Isabella's phone vibrated.
A message from Dante.
I've found Gabriel. He's alive. I need you to hear the rest of the truth from me.
She looked at the message for a long time.
Then she typed:
I will listen. But listening doesn't mean coming home.
Dante replied almost immediately.
I understand.
For the first time, Isabella believed he might actually mean it.
But when Eleanor turned on the evening news, both women froze.
May you like
The headline announced that Vittorio Russo had been arrested.
And the man standing beside the police officers was Antonio Moretti.
