Chapter 12 - The Photograph That Changed Everything
Elena Moretti was alive.
She lived in Sicily.
She taught music at a private school.
And when Dante called her the next morning, she hung up.
Twice.
On the third call, Clare spoke.
“Elena, my name is Clare Jensen.”
Silence.
“I think you used my identity at a bank yesterday.”
Another pause.
Then a woman’s voice.
“I don’t know you.”
“That’s true.”
“Then stop calling.”
“You knew Alessia.”
The line went quiet.
Dante watched Clare.
She continued.
“We have photographs suggesting Alessia survived the explosion.”
Elena inhaled sharply.
That was enough.
“You know,” Clare said.
“I can’t talk.”
“Why?”
“He listens.”
“Who?”
Elena hung up.
Clare looked at Dante.
“He knows where she is.”
“Matteo.”
“Probably.”
Dante immediately ordered surveillance around Elena’s residence.
Clare shook her head.
“Do not send ten men in black suits.”
“I was thinking twenty.”
“Dante.”
“Fine.”
Marco smiled.
“I’ll use normal-looking people.”
“You have those?”
Marco looked wounded.
Clare almost laughed.
They found Elena leaving school that afternoon.
She carried sheet music and wore a blue coat.
Nothing about her suggested conspiracy.
Clare watched through a video feed.
“She looks like Alessia.”
Dante’s face tightened.
The resemblance was obvious.
Not identical.
But enough that from certain angles they could be mistaken.
Suddenly the hospital photograph became less certain.
Clare saw the same realization on Dante’s face.
“What if that wasn’t Alessia?”
He said nothing.
The possibility hurt.
Marco arranged a secure video call with Elena after convincing her Matteo’s people were not listening.
Dante sat across from the screen.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Elena looked at him with visible resentment.
“You look like your father.”
Dante stiffened.
“So I’m told.”
“He ruined my mother’s life.”
“My father?”
“Yes.”
Dante glanced at Marco.
Elena continued.
“Our mother had Alessia with your father’s brother-in-law. Then me with someone else.”
The family tree was messy.
Old secrets.
Affairs.
Deals.
Children moved between relatives to avoid scandal.
Elena had spent most of her life hidden because Matteo considered her useful leverage.
“Why did you access Richard’s bank box?” Dante asked.
“To remove something.”
“What?”
“Evidence that could get people killed.”
“Which people?”
“My students.”
Dante frowned.
Elena looked exhausted.
“Matteo threatened them.”
“So he is alive.”
“Yes.”
The confirmation landed heavily.
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I speak to him through intermediaries.”
Dante leaned forward.
“What happened to Alessia?”
Elena’s face changed.
“I tried to warn her.”
“About?”
“Matteo.”
“Why?”
“Because she discovered Hale’s operation.”
Dante’s jaw tightened.
“She planned to expose it?”
“Yes.”
“Then the explosion.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“I was told she died.”
Dante stared.
“You didn’t know she survived?”
“Not at first.”
“Later?”
Elena looked toward the camera.
“Matteo called me.”
“When?”
“Two weeks after the funeral.”
Dante’s hands tightened.
“He told me Alessia was alive.”
Clare sat beside him.
“What did he want from you?” she asked.
“To convince her Dante arranged the attack.”
Dante’s face went hard.
“Did you?”
Elena looked ashamed.
“Yes.”
Dante stood abruptly.
Clare touched his arm.
He stopped.
Elena continued.
“I was afraid.”
“You lied to my injured wife.”
“Yes.”
“You kept her from our son.”
“I know.”
Dante walked away from the screen.
Clare remained.
“Elena, did Alessia eventually realize the truth?”
“Yes.”
“How?”
“She remembered the car.”
Dante turned.
“What car?”
“The vehicle involved in the explosion belonged to a company connected to Hale.”
“Then what?”
“She tried to escape.”
Dante returned to the screen.
“Did she?”
“Yes.”
“Where did she go?”
Elena’s eyes filled.
“She came to me.”
Dante stopped breathing.
“When?”
“Three months after the explosion.”
“Where is she?”
Elena looked down.
“I don’t know.”
Dante’s voice shook.
“You just said she came to you.”
“She stayed two nights.”
“And then?”
“She left.”
“Why?”
“Because Matteo found out.”
“Did he take her?”
“No.”
Elena shook her head.
“Alessia left before he arrived.”
“Where?”
“She said she was going to New York.”
Dante stared.
“To me?”
“I think so.”
“Did she make it?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
“Because three days later Matteo told me she was dead.”
Silence.
Dante’s face emptied.
Clare felt her heart drop.
“Did you see a body?” she asked.
“No.”
“Proof?”
“No.”
Dante closed his eyes.
Again.
Dead.
Alive.
Dead.
He could not keep doing this.
Elena continued.
“But she left something.”
Dante opened his eyes.
“What?”
“A letter.”
“For me?”
“For Leo.”
Dante stared.
“Where?”
Elena looked afraid.
“I hid it.”
“Where?”
“In Sicily.”
“Get it.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Matteo watches my apartment.”
Clare leaned toward the screen.
“Tell us where.”
Elena hesitated.
Then gave an address.
An old church.
Inside the chapel, behind a loose stone near a statue.
Marco immediately sent someone.
Three hours later, a courier delivered a sealed envelope to the Salvatore house.
Dante recognized Alessia’s handwriting instantly.
For Leo, when he is old enough.
His hands trembled.
Clare stood several feet away.
“Do you want privacy?”
Dante looked at her.
“No.”
He opened the envelope.
Inside were six pages.
Dante began reading silently.
His face changed line by line.
Clare watched grief move through him.
Then confusion.
Then shock.
“What?”
Dante looked up.
“She knew.”
“Knew what?”
“Hale’s operation.”
“We know that.”
“No.”
He handed Clare the page.
Alessia had written:
If anything happens to me, the person who can prove the records were falsified is a nurse in Ohio named Clare Jensen. She may not understand why yet. Her login was used, but I do not believe she used it. Someone close to her did.
Clare’s stomach turned.
She continued reading.
I found payment records connecting Richard Peterson to Victor Hale. I tried to warn Clare anonymously but never knew whether she received the message.
Clare stared.
“I never received anything.”
Dante turned the page.
At the bottom, Alessia had written one final sentence.
Dante will want revenge. If you ever meet him, tell him Leo needs a father more than I need vengeance.
Dante sat down.
For a long time, he said nothing.
Clare read the sentence again.
Alessia had known him.
Known exactly what grief would make him want to become.
Clare looked at Dante.
“What are you going to do?”
His eyes were wet.
“I don’t know.”
“You do.”
He stared at her.
“You’ve known since the plane.”
Dante looked toward Leo sleeping in the next room.
Clare handed him the letter.
“Your wife left you a choice.”
Dante’s voice cracked.
“She left Leo a father.”
Before Clare could respond, alarms sounded.
Marco rushed in.
“Vehicles at the east gate.”
Dante stood.
“How many?”
“Three.”
“Police?”
“No.”
Marco looked at Clare.
Then back at Dante.
“And Richard is gone.”
Clare’s blood ran cold.
“What do you mean gone?”
“The guard outside his room is unconscious.”
Dante’s eyes hardened.
Marco continued.
“And one of the vehicles approaching the gate is registered to Victor Hale.”
The confrontation they had spent days trying to control had come to them.
May you like
And this time, Maya and Leo were inside the house.
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