Chapter 11 - Anna Disappears
Vittorio denied everything.
Alessandro claimed his brother ordered the sabotage.
Vittorio claimed Alessandro was lying to reduce his sentence.
Both men had motives.
Neither could be trusted.
Then investigators discovered a payment made from Vittorio’s account two days before Luca’s crash.
The recipient was the mechanic who serviced Luca’s car.
Vittorio was arrested.
Dante looked shattered.
Anna remained beside him through the interrogation.
Vittorio eventually requested to speak privately.
Dante went.
When he returned, he said nothing for hours.
Finally Anna asked.
“What did he tell you?”
“That he paid the mechanic.”
Her heart sank.
“But not to sabotage the car.”
“Why?”
“To install a tracker.”
Vittorio had suspected Luca was investigating Alessandro.
He wanted to know where Luca went.
The tracker proved Luca met Alessandro the night of the crash.
It also showed Alessandro followed Luca’s car.
Vittorio had hidden the evidence because revealing it would expose his own surveillance.
Cowardice.
Not murder.
The tracker data finally gave prosecutors what they needed.
Alessandro’s vehicle had stopped beside the crash site for nine minutes.
Then left.
He had abandoned his sons.
Luca died.
Dante survived.
The truth devastated Dante more than Anna expected.
For years he imagined his father dead.
Then alive.
Now he had to accept something worse.
Alessandro had seen him injured and chosen to leave.
Anna stayed with him that night.
No speeches.
No advice.
Just presence.
At dawn, Dante woke to an empty bed.
Anna was gone.
At first, he assumed she had gone downstairs.
Then Marco entered.
“Boss.”
Dante knew instantly.
“What?”
“Anna’s car is gone.”
Dante reached for his phone.
No messages.
Her closet remained full.
Her purse was missing.
So was her coat.
Security footage showed her leaving at 5:12 a.m.
Alone.
No force.
No visible threat.
Dante called.
Voicemail.
Again.
Voicemail.
Then Marco found the note.
It sat beneath Anna’s pillow.
Dante—
I need to do this without you protecting me.
Please trust me the way I trusted you.
A.
Dante read it twice.
Then swore.
Marco said nothing.
“What is she doing?”
“I think I know.”
Anna had requested access to one file the previous night.
Luca’s recovered contact list.
One number belonged to a woman named Evelyn Shaw.
Former accountant for Alessandro.
Missing for six years.
Anna had found her.
And gone alone.
Dante’s first instinct was to order everyone after her.
Then he looked at the note again.
Please trust me.
He hated those words.
Because trust meant accepting that Anna could make decisions he disliked.
Exactly what he had demanded from everyone else.
He called Marco.
“Find her.”
Marco nodded.
“But don’t stop her unless she’s in immediate danger.”
Marco looked surprised.
Dante exhaled.
“I hate personal growth.”
Marco almost smiled.
Anna, meanwhile, sat across from Evelyn Shaw in a roadside diner seventy miles away.
Evelyn was sixty.
Nervous.
Exhausted.
She had spent six years hiding.
“I saw Alessandro tamper with the car,” she told Anna.
Anna’s blood chilled.
“You witnessed it?”
“Yes.”
“Why didn’t you tell police?”
“He threatened my son.”
“Why tell me now?”
Evelyn looked toward the television above the counter.
Dante’s face appeared in a news report.
“Because he finally stood up to his father.”
Anna looked at the screen.
Evelyn laughed softly.
“Bad choice of words.”
“No.”
Anna smiled.
“He’d like them.”
Evelyn possessed photographs.
Original accounting records.
And a video.
Enough to convict Alessandro.
Anna called Dante.
He answered before the first ring finished.
“Where are you?”
“Good morning.”
“Anna.”
She smiled despite herself.
“I found Evelyn.”
Silence.
Then:
“Are you safe?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“I am extremely angry with you.”
“I know.”
“And impressed.”
“I know.”
“And when you come home, we’re discussing the concept of leaving notes.”
Anna laughed.
Then headlights appeared outside.
Three black SUVs.
Evelyn went pale.
“They found me.”
The diner doors opened.
Men entered.
Anna whispered into the phone:
“Dante…”
His voice changed.
“What?”
May you like
“They’re here.”
And the line went dead.
