Chapter 5 - A Warning From a Dead Woman
Vincent Caruso had been stabbed beneath a parking garage camera that mysteriously stopped recording twelve seconds before the attack.
He was alive.
Barely.
Dante arrived at St. Catherine's Hospital before noon.
Mara stayed with Arya at the mansion under protest.
Dante insisted.
She accused him of being controlling.
He agreed.
The argument ended there.
Vincent lay beneath white hospital sheets surrounded by machines.
Age fifty-eight, silver-haired, always immaculate, he had been a fixture in Dante's life since childhood.
He had taught Dante to drive.
Had stood beside him when Dante buried his father.
Had placed a hand on Dante's shoulder at Vivien's funeral and told him he would never be alone.
Now Dante stood beside his bed wondering whether every memory had been manufactured.
Vincent opened his eyes.
"You look terrible," he whispered.
Dante pulled up a chair.
"You've looked better."
A faint smile.
"Did they find him?"
"Who?"
"The man who did this."
"No."
Vincent studied Dante.
"You think I arranged it."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
Dante leaned forward.
"Why did Vivien warn me about you?"
Vincent's smile vanished.
"Where did you find that?"
Dante felt the answer like confirmation.
"You knew."
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Dante."
"Did you kill her?"
"No."
The answer came instantly.
"Emily Ellison?"
"No."
"Did you know her?"
"Yes."
"Did Vivien?"
"Yes."
Dante leaned closer.
"You have ten seconds to explain why you lied to me for four years."
Vincent opened his eyes again.
"Because Vivien asked me to."
Dante's fist tightened.
"Nine."
"She was investigating Gabriel."
Dante stopped.
"Eight."
"Your cousin had begun using foundation transport contracts."
"For what?"
"Children."
Dante's voice lowered.
"What children?"
"The ones nobody would immediately look for."
Dante stood.
Vincent grabbed his wrist surprisingly hard.
"Listen to me."
"You're telling me my cousin trafficked children through my wife's charity and you kept it secret?"
"I helped her collect proof."
"Why not tell me?"
"Because Gabriel knew you better than anyone."
"So?"
"He knew exactly how you'd react."
Dante stared.
Vincent continued.
"You would have killed him."
"Yes."
"Immediately."
"Yes."
"And then everyone connected to the network would have disappeared with the evidence."
Dante said nothing.
"Vivien didn't want revenge," Vincent whispered. "She wanted every child found."
Dante slowly sat again.
"Room 314."
Vincent looked toward the door.
"What about it?"
"You took Arya inside."
His face changed.
"You remember?"
"Arya does."
Vincent swallowed.
"Vivien was dying."
"You had no right."
"I know."
"What did she tell you?"
Tears unexpectedly filled Vincent's eyes.
Dante had never seen him cry.
"She told me Gabriel knew she'd found the transport ledgers."
Dante stared.
"Then she gave Arya the star box."
"Why Arya?"
"Because nobody would search a grieving four-year-old."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Vivien made me swear."
"Why?"
Vincent looked at him.
"Because she didn't know how deep the betrayal went."
Dante's blood cooled.
"Meaning?"
"Gabriel wasn't working alone."
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Dante rose.
"Not good enough."
"That's the truth."
"And Mara?"
Vincent closed his eyes.
"Emily's sister."
"You destroyed her career."
"I protected her."
Dante laughed once, without humor.
"Interesting definition."
"She was accessing records Gabriel was monitoring. If she continued, she'd die like Emily."
"So you made her look unstable."
"I made her unemployable in the system."
"You ruined her life."
"I kept her alive."
The door opened.
Luca entered.
"Dante."
"Not now."
"Now."
Something in Luca's tone made him turn.
"Mara called."
Dante's chest tightened.
"Arya?"
"Fine."
"Then what?"
"She found another note."
Dante stared.
"What does it say?"
Luca handed him a photograph sent from Mara's phone.
It was another unfolded star.
Vivien's handwriting:
When Vincent tells Dante he protected Mara, ask him what happened to child 27.
Dante looked toward the bed.
Vincent had gone pale.
"What happened to child twenty-seven?"
Vincent turned toward the window.
"Vincent."
No answer.
Dante stepped closer.
"Who was child twenty-seven?"
Vincent whispered something.
"What?"
"Emily."
Dante froze.
"Emily wasn't a child when this happened."
"No."
Vincent looked at him.
"Not Emily Ellison."
He swallowed.
"Emily Romano."
Dante stared.
"I don't have—"
Then memory struck him.
His father's younger sister.
Emily Romano.
She had vanished when Dante was six.
The family told everyone she ran away.
Dante had almost forgotten her.
"What are you saying?"
Vincent's monitor accelerated.
"The network didn't start with Gabriel."
"Who started it?"
Vincent looked terrified.
A man who had faced guns without blinking suddenly looked like a child.
"Your father."
Dante stepped backward.
"No."
"Salvatore Romano built the first pipeline thirty years ago."
"No."
"Vivien discovered it."
Dante's breathing changed.
"You're lying."
"I wish I were."
The Romano empire had been built on smuggling long before Dante took control.
He knew that.
Alcohol.
Weapons.
Cash.
Eventually drugs, though Dante had ended that part after taking over.
But children?
"No."
Vincent struggled upright.
"Your father used residential facilities to move undocumented children and runaways. Emily Romano found out."
"What happened to her?"
Vincent's eyes filled again.
"Salvatore had her killed."
Dante stared at the man he had trusted most.
"And you knew?"
"I learned years later."
"You knew my father murdered his own sister."
"Yes."
"And said nothing."
"What would it have changed?"
"Everything!"
The shout echoed through the hospital room.
Vincent flinched.
Dante turned away.
His father had died believing his son respected him.
Dante had inherited his businesses.
His enemies.
His reputation.
Maybe his sins.
A nurse rushed toward the door.
Luca stopped her.
Dante lowered his voice.
"Why did Vivien marry me if she knew?"
"She didn't know at first."
"When did she discover it?"
"After Arya was born."
Dante closed his eyes.
"Why didn't she leave?"
Vincent's answer came quietly.
"Because she believed you weren't your father."
Dante opened his eyes.
Something painful moved across his face.
Vincent continued.
"She believed the only person powerful enough to destroy what Salvatore built was you."
Dante looked at him.
"So she used me."
"No."
Vincent shook his head.
"She loved you."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
"No."
They sat in silence.
Then Vincent whispered, "There's something else."
Dante almost laughed.
"Of course there is."
"Gabriel wasn't the only one who inherited Salvatore's network."
"Who?"
Vincent looked toward Luca.
Luca frowned.
Then Vincent said, "The person who arranged Vivien's crash is still inside your inner circle."
Dante turned.
"Name."
"I never learned it."
"You expect me to believe—"
"The code name was Shepherd."
Dante became still.
Luca's eyes changed.
"What?" Dante asked.
Luca looked reluctant.
"What?"
"I've heard that name."
"Where?"
"The missing Calumet shipment."
Luca removed his phone.
"The rerouting authorization used an old internal password."
He showed Dante.
SHEPHERD314.
Room 314.
Dante looked at Vincent.
"What was in that shipment?"
Vincent answered before Luca could.
"Records."
"What records?"
"The original placement ledgers."
Mara.
Emily.
Vivien.
Calumet.
Everything was connected.
Dante pulled out his phone.
He called Mara.
No answer.
Again.
Nothing.
His stomach dropped.
He called security.
One guard answered.
"Boss?"
"Where's Mara?"
A pause.
"She left ten minutes ago."
Dante's voice became deadly calm.
"She what?"
"She said you sent a car."
"I didn't."
Luca was already moving.
"Which car?"
The guard gave a plate number.
Luca typed it into his phone.
His face went pale.
"That vehicle belongs to Gabriel."
Dante stared at him.
At that exact moment Mara's phone sent one final message.
No words.
Only a photograph.
Mara was seated inside a dark vehicle.
Beside her was the star box.
May you like
And across from her, reflected faintly in the window, sat Gabriel Moretti.
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