Chapter 7 - The Night Dante Rossi Fell
Lorenzo didn’t attack Dante with bullets.
He attacked him with paperwork.
Search warrants.
Federal subpoenas.
Frozen accounts.
Weapons charges.
Murder accusations.
By sunrise, every news station in New York was showing Dante’s photograph.
The evidence looked overwhelming.
Too overwhelming.
Someone had spent years preparing it.
“This is what Lorenzo wanted,” Sofia said.
Dante watched television without expression.
“He couldn’t kill me without raising questions.”
“So he destroys you legally,” I said.
“Yes.”
Detective Hall entered the penthouse with federal agents.
Dante didn’t resist.
I stepped between them.
“No.”
“Elena.”
Dante’s voice was gentle.
“Move.”
“They’re working for Lorenzo.”
“Some are.”
“Then don’t go.”
He approached.
For once, there was no command in his face.
Only something quiet and unbearably intimate.
“If I run, everything they’re saying becomes true.”
“You are a mafia boss.”
His mouth almost curved.
“Thank you for the reminder.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do.”
Hall handcuffed him.
My throat tightened.
Dante looked at me.
“Remember my promise.”
“How exactly are you protecting me from jail?”
His eyes softened.
“The promise wasn’t that I’d always be standing beside you.”
He leaned closer.
“It was that you’d never stand alone.”
Then they took him.
For two days, the Rossi organization collapsed.
Banks froze accounts.
Businesses closed.
Men disappeared.
Lorenzo appeared publicly as the respectable uncle returning to “stabilize” family companies.
The press loved him.
I hated him.
On the third morning, Lorenzo came to see me.
I was at Vespers.
Marcus was rebuilding.
I had insisted on returning.
The broken windows had been boarded over.
The piano was gone.
But the bar still smelled like home.
Lorenzo sat across from me.
“Bourbon.”
“I’m not serving you.”
He smiled.
“You look like your father.”
“That’s not an insult.”
“No.”
He studied me.
“Tomaso was always stubborn.”
“What do you want?”
“The original ledger.”
“Don’t have it.”
“You’re a poor liar.”
“And you’re a poor uncle.”
His smile disappeared.
Good.
I continued.
“You killed your brother.”
“Careful.”
“You framed Dante.”
“Dante framed himself years ago.”
“That doesn’t make him guilty of your crimes.”
Lorenzo leaned closer.
“You think you know him because he kissed you?”
My blood chilled.
He knew.
“Dante Rossi has killed men.”
“I know.”
“He has destroyed families.”
“I know.”
“He isn’t some wounded prince waiting for the right bartender to save him.”
“I know.”
That answer surprised him.
I leaned forward.
“I don’t need Dante to be innocent of everything. I need him to be innocent of what you’re framing him for.”
Lorenzo stared at me.
Then smiled.
“You really are Tomaso’s daughter.”
He left one minute later.
I had gotten what I needed.
A recording.
Sofia had sewn a microphone into my vest.
But Lorenzo hadn’t confessed enough.
We needed more.
Daniel Keene finally reappeared that night.
The supposed accountant.
The undercover FBI agent.
He looked exhausted.
“I can prove Hall is dirty.”
“How?”
“Bank transfers.”
Hall had received payments through shell corporations connected to Lorenzo.
There was one problem.
The evidence was stored on a server inside Rossi Tower.
Now controlled by Lorenzo.
“So we steal it,” Sofia said.
Keene stared at her.
“That’s your plan?”
She shrugged.
“I grew up around criminals.”
I almost smiled.
We entered Rossi Tower during Lorenzo’s charity reception the following night.
Sofia wore diamonds.
I wore a black evening dress.
Keene entered as catering staff.
The plan was ridiculous.
Which meant it had a chance.
I reached the server room.
Downloaded the records.
Then the door locked behind me.
Lorenzo’s voice came through the speaker.
“Elena.”
I froze.
“You disappoint me.”
Security guards entered.
I was taken upstairs.
Lorenzo waited in Dante’s former office.
“Where’s Sofia?”
I said nothing.
“Where is Keene?”
Nothing.
He sighed.
“You know, Dante’s father made the same mistake.”
“What?”
“Believing silence made him brave.”
I looked toward the desk.
A red light blinked beneath it.
Security camera.
Recording.
So I pushed.
“You murdered Antonio because he discovered you were stealing.”
Lorenzo smiled.
“I murdered Antonio because he lacked vision.”
There.
My heartbeat exploded.
“Then you framed his son.”
“Dante was always useful. Angry boys are easy to manipulate.”
He came closer.
“I taught him violence. Taught him suspicion. Then when he became inconvenient, I simply used the monster I helped create against him.”
I prayed the camera had audio.
Lorenzo reached for me.
The office door exploded inward.
Marco entered first.
Sofia behind him.
Then federal agents.
Real ones.
Lorenzo’s face changed.
Keene walked in last.
“Thank you,” he said. “That was remarkably comprehensive.”
Lorenzo stared at the camera.
Understanding arrived.
For the first time, I saw fear.
Exactly what I wanted.
Hall was arrested that night.
Lorenzo followed.
The evidence against Dante began unraveling.
Forty-eight hours later, he walked out of federal custody.
I waited outside.
He stopped when he saw me.
Neither of us spoke.
Then he crossed the distance.
I expected a kiss.
Instead, he touched his forehead to mine.
“You stood alone.”
“No.”
I smiled.
“I had people.”
His eyes closed.
When they opened, they were wet.
“You kept your promise,” I whispered.
Dante shook his head.
“No, Elena.”
His hand covered mine.
“You did.”
But our victory lasted less than six hours.
May you like
Because Lorenzo Rossi escaped federal custody before sunrise.
And the first person he kidnapped was Sofia.
