Chapter 7 - The Open Gate
Lily was not in her bedroom.
She was not in the kitchen, the library, the playroom, or the upstairs den.
For ninety seconds, Dante Moretti became nothing but a father moving through rooms too quickly to breathe.
“Lily!”
Evelyn ran behind him.
“Check the conservatory!”
Teresa called from the stairwell, “She was with me ten minutes ago!”
“Where?” Dante shouted.
“In the breakfast room. She wanted Captain Flop.”
The rabbit.
The secure room.
Dante changed direction.
The basement corridor was dark except for red emergency strips along the floor. The door to the secure room stood open.
Marco lay against the wall beside it.
Dante dropped to one knee.
“Marco.”
His security chief groaned.
Blood marked his temple, but he was conscious.
“What happened?”
“Someone hit me when the system reset.”
“Who?”
“Couldn’t see.”
Dante looked into the secure room.
Lily stood behind the desk clutching Captain Flop.
“Daddy?”
The relief nearly dropped him.
He crossed the room and lifted her into his arms.
“What are you doing down here?”
“You said the bunny was safe here.”
“I meant the video was safe.”
“I wanted him.”
Dante closed his eyes and held her tighter.
Evelyn reached them seconds later.
“Oh, thank God.”
Lily looked confused by the adults’ panic.
“Why is everybody yelling?”
“Because we love you badly,” Teresa said from the doorway, crying and laughing at once.
Dante put Lily down only when Evelyn promised not to let go of her hand.
Then he returned to Marco.
“Can you stand?”
“With help.”
Two guards lifted him.
“The reset code,” Dante said. “Who has it?”
“Me. You. And your father did.”
“Anyone else?”
Marco hesitated.
“Gabriel knew the old system architecture.”
Father Gabriel was still in the mansion.
Dante found him in the chapel room near the east wing, kneeling alone.
“Get up.”
Gabriel turned.
“What happened?”
“Someone opened my gate using the old emergency reset.”
Gabriel stood slowly.
“And you think it was me.”
“You knew the system.”
“So did Antonio.”
“Antonio is dead.”
Gabriel’s expression tightened.
Dante stepped closer.
“Where were you ten minutes ago?”
“Here.”
“Anyone see you?”
“No.”
“That’s convenient.”
Gabriel looked exhausted rather than frightened.
“Search me.”
Dante did.
No phone other than Gabriel’s own. No security token. No weapon.
Then Evelyn appeared in the doorway holding something small in a cloth napkin.
“I found this beside Marco.”
A gold cufflink.
Engraved with a tiny cross.
Gabriel stared at it.
“That’s mine.”
Dante looked at his cousin.
Gabriel immediately unbuttoned his sleeves.
Both cufflinks were still there.
Identical.
Evelyn frowned.
“A copy.”
Gabriel looked at Dante. “Salvatore is framing me.”
“Or you prepared an explanation.”
“I gave you evidence against him.”
“You also had months to manufacture it.”
Gabriel’s face hardened for the first time.
“If you believe I would endanger Lily, say it.”
Dante said nothing.
Lily’s voice came from the hall.
“It wasn’t Father Gabe.”
Everyone turned.
Evelyn immediately looked guilty for allowing her this close.
Lily held Captain Flop under one arm.
Dante crouched.
“What do you mean?”
“I saw the man.”
His pulse rose.
“Where?”
“Downstairs. Before I went to get Bunny.”
“What man?”
“He was wearing one of the black guard shirts.”
“Did you know him?”
She shook her head.
“He had a funny ear.”
Marco, now seated in a chair with an ice pack against his head, looked up.
“What kind of funny?”
Lily touched the top of her own ear.
“Like this part was missing.”
Marco swore under his breath.
Dante looked at him.
“You know him.”
“Tommy Vescari. Worked temporary security for us three years ago. Got fired for stealing fuel cards. Salvatore hired him after.”
“How did he get inside?”
Marco looked toward the open gate monitor.
“Uniform. Old code. Clone cufflink. He wanted us looking at Gabriel.”
“Why open the gate?”
“To let someone else in,” Evelyn said.
Silence.
Dante’s phone buzzed.
A security alert appeared.
Motion detected in the west garage.
They moved as a group until Dante ordered everyone except Marco and two guards to stay back.
The garage was empty.
One vehicle was missing.
Celeste’s silver SUV.
Dante stared at the vacant space.
A guard checked the key cabinet.
“Key is gone.”
Dante turned.
“Celeste.”
They reached the guest suite.
The guard outside lay unconscious but breathing.
The room was empty.
On the bed rested Celeste’s wedding ring.
Beside it was a note.
Dante picked it up.
I KNOW WHERE SAL IS GOING.
I KNOW YOU WON’T LET ME GO AFTER HIM.
THIS STARTED BECAUSE I WAS AFRAID TO DO THE RIGHT THING.
I AM DONE BEING AFRAID.
DON’T FOLLOW ME UNTIL YOU GET THE FILE I SENT RACHEL.
TELL LILY I AM SORRY. DO NOT ASK HER TO FORGIVE ME.
—CELESTE
Dante crushed the paper in his fist.
Rachel’s phone rang at that exact moment.
She answered.
A second later, her eyes widened.
“It’s an encrypted upload.”
“From Celeste?”
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Rachel opened the file on her laptop.
Dozens of scanned documents appeared.
Transfers.
Messages.
Photographs.
A recorded video confession from Celeste.
She had collected evidence during four months of blackmail.
Not enough courage to tell Dante.
Enough instinct to preserve proof.
Rachel clicked the final document.
A map appeared.
The riverfront cold-storage property.
One section was circled in red.
Under it Celeste had written:
SAL KEEPS ORIGINAL ACCOUNT RECORDS HERE. HE WILL DESTROY THEM TONIGHT.
Dante was already reaching for his coat.
Evelyn stepped in front of him again.
“Do not tell me to move.”
“This is different.”
“Yes. This time I’m agreeing with you.”
He blinked.
“Go,” she said. “But bring the police. Bring everyone. Do not walk into another warehouse because your pride thinks fathers have to do everything alone.”
Lily appeared behind her.
“Daddy?”
Dante turned.
She looked very small in the enormous hallway.
“Is Mommy gone?”
“Yes.”
“To Uncle Sal?”
He did not lie.
“I think so.”
Lily hugged the rabbit harder.
“Bring her back too.”
Dante looked at his daughter.
After what Celeste had done, Lily still did not ask him to punish her.
She asked him to bring her home alive.
“I’ll try.”
Lily walked forward and held out Captain Flop.
“For luck.”
May you like
Dante took the rabbit.
Then he left to find his wife and the uncle who had spent nine years believing fear made him untouchable.
