Chapter 5 - The Man at the Head of the Table
Samuel Carbone arrived at the penthouse at nine the next morning.
He was sixty-three.
Silver-haired.
Immaculately dressed.
To Dante, he had always been Uncle Sam.
Not by blood.
By something that had once seemed stronger.
Samuel had stood beside Dante at Alessandro's funeral.
He had helped Dante stabilize the Moretti businesses after Vincent's death.
He had toasted Dante's thirty-fifth birthday.
Now Dante watched him enter the study knowing that Thomas Ellison had nearly died protecting evidence that might expose him.
Samuel smiled.
Then he saw Rafael Bellini Sr.
The smile disappeared.
“Well,” Samuel said. “The dead are becoming unreliable.”
Nico moved forward.
Dante raised one hand.
No.
Samuel looked at Mara.
“So you're Thomas's daughter.”
Mara held his gaze.
“You knew my father.”
“I did.”
“Did you kill him?”
Dante watched Samuel carefully.
“No.”
Mara's jaw tightened.
“Did you order it?”
“No.”
“Then tell me what happened.”
Samuel removed his coat.
“Your father discovered something he misunderstood.”
Dante almost laughed.
“That sentence usually comes before a lie.”
Samuel looked disappointed.
“You've become cynical.”
“I had excellent teachers.”
Samuel sat.
“The operation Vincent ran was complicated.”
“Rafael says Vincent worked for you.”
“Rafael has spent years hiding.”
“Because someone wanted him dead.”
Samuel said nothing.
Dante placed the ledger on the desk.
For the first time, Samuel's confidence slipped.
Only slightly.
But Dante saw it.
“So that's where Alessandro put it.”
Mara leaned forward.
“You knew his father had it?”
“I suspected.”
Dante's voice became quiet.
“Did you kill my father?”
Samuel looked directly at him.
“No.”
“Did Vincent?”
“No.”
“Then who?”
Samuel sighed.
“Alessandro died of a heart attack, Dante.”
“Convenient.”
“Not every death is murder.”
Mara suddenly noticed something.
Samuel wasn't frightened by the ledger.
Why?
If it could destroy him, he should have been.
Unless—
“This isn't the complete ledger,” Mara said.
Samuel looked at her.
Dante did too.
Mara opened it.
“The pages jump.”
Nico examined the binding.
She was right.
Several pages had been removed.
Samuel smiled faintly.
“Thomas's daughter.”
“What was on those pages?” Dante asked.
Samuel stood.
“The part everyone has been dying for.”
“Where are they?”
“I don't know.”
Dante blocked his path.
Samuel looked up at him.
“You aren't Vincent.”
“No.”
“He would've threatened me by now.”
“I don't need to.”
“Why?”
“Because you came here voluntarily.”
Dante stepped closer.
“Which means you want something.”
Samuel's smile returned.
“Very good.”
He looked toward Mara.
“I want the photograph.”
Mara's hand moved instinctively toward her pocket.
Dante noticed.
“So that's what this is about.”
Samuel nodded.
“Thomas hid something in it.”
Mara pulled out her father's photograph.
“There's nothing.”
“Not visibly.”
Dante took the photograph carefully.
He examined the edges.
Then he felt it.
The backing was too thick.
Nico brought a small knife.
Inside the photograph's cardboard backing was a thin strip of microfilm.
Mara stared.
Her father had carried the missing pages with him.
Samuel stepped forward.
Dante immediately closed his hand around it.
“No.”
Samuel's expression hardened.
“You have no idea what you're holding.”
“Then explain.”
“That film contains account numbers, names, payments. People far beyond Vincent. Far beyond me.”
“And my father died protecting it,” Mara said.
Samuel looked at her.
“Your father died because Richard Vale panicked.”
“Stop pretending you weren't involved.”
“I ordered Thomas frightened. Not killed.”
Mara stared at him.
Samuel continued.
“Vincent wanted the ledger. I wanted Thomas convinced to stay silent. Vale drove the truck. He was supposed to force Thomas to stop.”
“He hit us.”
“Yes.”
“And then?”
“Rafael arrived first. He pulled you from the vehicle. Your father was alive.”
Mara stopped breathing.
“What?”
Dante turned toward Samuel.
“Thomas didn't die on impact?”
“No.”
Everything Mara had believed for eight years shattered.
“He was alive?”
“For nearly forty minutes.”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Did he say anything?”
Samuel hesitated.
That hesitation answered the question.
“What did my father say?”
Samuel looked toward Rafael.
Rafael's face was filled with regret.
“He asked me to protect you,” Rafael said.
Mara covered her mouth.
“And?”
“He told me the photograph mattered. I didn't understand why.”
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Vale found me two days later. He threatened Nico. My wife. Everyone.”
Nico looked devastated.
“So you disappeared.”
“Yes.”
Samuel moved toward the door.
Dante stopped him.
“You aren't leaving.”
Samuel looked almost amused.
“You think keeping me here solves anything?”
“No.”
“Richard Vale is alive.”
“We know.”
“You don't understand.”
Samuel's eyes moved toward Mara.
“Vale hasn't spent eight years protecting me.”
Dante frowned.
“Who is he protecting?”
Samuel gave him a tired smile.
“Himself.”
Then the lights went out.
Complete darkness.
Nico cursed.
Emergency lights activated seconds later.
Dante immediately turned toward Mara.
She was there.
Rafael was there.
Samuel—
Gone.
The private elevator doors stood open.
“How?” Nico demanded.
Dante ran toward them.
The elevator descended.
Security called.
“Boss, we have a breach in the garage.”
Dante looked at Mara.
Her face had gone pale.
“What?”
“My photograph.”
She searched her pocket.
Empty.
Samuel had taken it.
But Dante opened his hand.
The microfilm remained safely inside.
“He only has the photograph,” Dante said.
Mara exhaled.
Then Dante's phone rang.
Richard Vale.
Dante answered.
Vale spoke without greeting.
“You have something that belongs to me.”
Dante looked at the microfilm.
“No. I have something that belonged to Thomas Ellison.”
Vale laughed.
“You still don't understand what Thomas found.”
“Enlighten me.”
“The missing pages aren't evidence of what happened eight years ago.”
Dante's expression changed.
“What are they?”
“Evidence of what's happening now.”
The line disconnected.
Nico quickly loaded the microfilm into a scanner.
Records appeared.
Recent records.
Not eight years old.
Current.
Moretti Holdings accounts.
Millions being diverted.
Companies Dante recognized.
Properties he owned.
And one authorization signature repeated across everything.
It appeared to be Dante's.
Except Dante had never signed any of it.
Someone had been using his identity.
Then Nico reached the final image.
A transfer scheduled for tomorrow.
$84 million.
Beneficiary:
R. Vale Holdings.
And beneath it was another instruction.
After the transfer cleared, every fraudulent account would automatically become traceable to one person.
Dante Moretti.
Mara stared at him.
“They're framing you.”
Dante looked at the clock.
May you like
They had less than eighteen hours.
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