Chapter 6 - The Ghost at the Head of the Table
The name was Vittorio Moretti.
Dante's father.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Dante laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
“My father has been dead six years.”
Crane nodded.
“I know.”
“You're saying he ordered Gabriel's death?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Gabriel discovered the north-dock operation.”
Dante stared at him.
Crane continued.
“Your father built it. Marco managed it.”
Dante felt the architecture of his entire life collapsing.
His father had taught him loyalty.
Family.
Discipline.
All while running an operation Gabriel had threatened to expose.
“Why kill his own son?”
Crane looked ashamed.
“Because Gabriel wasn't supposed to die.”
Dante's eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“The order was to frighten him. Damage the brakes enough to force him off the road before he reached you.”
“That's insane.”
“Yes.”
“Someone tampered with a car and expected control?”
“Marco's mechanic went further than instructed.”
Dante turned toward Marco's financial records spread across the desk.
“So Marco covered it up.”
“Yes.”
“And my father?”
“Learned Gabriel was dead the next morning.”
Dante remembered that morning.
His father standing in the hospital corridor.
Silent.
Cold.
Dante had thought it was strength.
Maybe it had been guilt.
“My mother knew.”
Crane nodded.
“She suspected.”
“That is why she hid Sofia.”
“Yes.”
Dante sat.
For the first time in decades, he looked exhausted.
Elena appeared at the study doorway.
Sofia tried to stop her.
Dante lifted a hand.
“It's okay.”
Elena walked over.
She looked at him carefully.
“Bad day?”
The question nearly broke him.
“Yes.”
She opened her arms.
Dante stared.
“Five minutes?”
She nodded.
He lifted her.
This time there was no hesitation.
He held her close.
Crane looked away.
Sofia cried silently.
Dante closed his eyes.
Gabriel was gone.
His mother was gone.
His father was gone.
Nothing could repair what had happened.
But Elena was here.
Gabriel's daughter.
His niece.
His family.
And she was offering him the same comfort she'd once asked from him.
Five minutes.
Maybe healing began in ridiculous measurements.
The next morning Dante made a decision that stunned everyone.
He shut down the north-dock operations.
Every questionable contract was suspended.
Independent attorneys were hired.
Records were turned over for review.
Marco Bellini disappeared before investigators reached his home.
Lucian voluntarily returned the money he had diverted and agreed to cooperate.
For two weeks, the Moretti estate existed under a strange quiet.
Then Elena returned to school.
Dante insisted on driving her.
Sofia stared at the black sedan.
“You have people for this.”
“I know.”
“You have work.”
“I know.”
“You don't have to—”
“I know.”
Elena appeared in her uniform.
“Are you coming?”
Dante looked at Sofia.
“Apparently.”
At school, parents stared.
Teachers stared.
Children stared.
Dante ignored all of them.
Elena reached the entrance.
Then turned.
She ran back and hugged him.
“Five minutes?” Dante asked.
“No. I have class.”
He almost smiled.
She whispered, “Thank you, Uncle Dante.”
Everything inside him stopped.
She had never called him that before.
Sofia froze too.
Elena looked worried.
“Is that okay?”
Dante crouched.
“Yes.”
His voice was rough.
“That is very okay.”
She ran inside.
Sofia stood beside him.
“Gabriel would have liked this.”
Dante watched Elena disappear through the doors.
“I hope so.”
“He loved you.”
“I know.”
“He was angry with you sometimes.”
“I know that too.”
Sofia smiled.
“You two sound like brothers.”
They returned home.
For the first time, Dante entered Gabriel's old bedroom.
It had remained untouched for eight years.
He opened curtains.
Dust floated through sunlight.
On the shelf sat photographs of two brothers who had believed there would always be more time.
Dante picked one up.
“I found her,” he whispered.
The room gave no answer.
“I was late.”
His eyes burned.
“But I found her.”
He placed Gabriel's letter beside the photograph.
Then his phone rang.
Adrian.
“We found Marco.”
Dante's expression hardened.
“Where?”
“Airport.”
“Trying to leave?”
“No.”
Adrian paused.
“He was waiting for someone.”
“Who?”
“A woman.”
“Name?”
“We're checking.”
Dante walked toward the window.
Then Adrian sent a photograph.
Dante opened it.
The woman beside Marco was in her late sixties.
Gray hair.
Dark coat.
Familiar face.
Dante knew her.
Everyone in the family did.
Her name was Evelyn Bellini.
Marco's older sister.
She had been his father's private secretary for twenty-seven years.
And in her hand was a black leather ledger.
Dante recognized it.
His father had carried it everywhere.
It had disappeared the week he died.
Adrian called again.
“We opened the ledger.”
“And?”
“There's a section about Gabriel.”
Dante's grip tightened.
“What does it say?”
Adrian hesitated.
“It says Gabriel's death wasn't the only family secret Vittorio Moretti paid Marco to hide.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“What else?”
“Elena.”
Dante went completely still.
“The first entry mentioning her was written before Gabriel died.”
Which meant Vittorio Moretti had known about Sofia's pregnancy.
He had known about Elena before Elena was even born.
May you like
And whatever secret remained had begun before Gabriel's car ever left the road.
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