Chapter 6 - The Moretti Secret
The attackers disappeared before police arrived.
One was captured.
He carried no identification.
But his tattoo gave Marcus the answer.
The Romano syndicate.
Dante knew the name.
His father had destroyed their financial empire twenty years earlier.
Apparently, they had never forgotten.
Vanessa finally told everything.
Nine years earlier, the Romanos threatened Dante’s unborn son.
Isabella Moretti arranged the disappearance.
Vanessa agreed because she believed hiding Noah was the only way to keep him alive.
Then Isabella died before she could reunite them.
Dante sat across from Vanessa.
“You could have told me.”
“I was afraid.”
“Of me?”
“Of what you'd do.”
She knew Dante would have started a war.
She was probably right.
But fear had turned into lies.
Lies into resentment.
Resentment into betrayal.
“What about my brakes?”
Vanessa looked at Julian.
“His plan.”
Julian finally confessed.
He had stolen millions.
Cross discovered it.
Julian killed him.
Then he sabotaged Dante’s car and planted Cross’s body inside.
The crash would make Dante look responsible for Cross’s death—or bury both truths forever.
The conversation at Bellini’s had been manipulated.
Vanessa had been attempting to lure Julian into confessing.
Cara happened to hear only part of it.
Dante looked at her.
“You saved me because of a misunderstanding.”
Cara shook her head.
“No. Your brakes were actually cut. I just misunderstood who did it.”
For the first time in days, Dante laughed.
Noah smiled.
The sound changed the room.
But the Romano threat remained.
Dante moved everyone to a secure estate.
Noah struggled with the transition.
He did not suddenly call Dante Dad.
Dante did not ask him to.
Instead, they started with breakfast.
Soccer.
Homework.
Silence.
Cara watched Dante become softer around the boy.
And Dante watched Noah trust Cara almost immediately.
“You like her,” Noah said one evening.
Dante nearly spilled his coffee.
“She saved my life.”
“That isn't what I mean.”
Dante stared at the nine-year-old.
“You’re unusually intrusive.”
“You're avoiding the question.”
“Go finish your math.”
Noah grinned.
Later, Dante found Cara on the balcony.
“You've corrupted my son.”
“He was sarcastic before I arrived.”
“He gets that from me.”
“Unfortunately.”
Their eyes met.
The attraction between them had been growing quietly.
Neither had acknowledged it.
Dante moved closer.
“You could leave.”
“You keep saying that.”
“This isn't your war.”
“Somebody kidnapped my mother.”
“I can protect her.”
Cara looked at him.
“Maybe I'm not staying because I need protection.”
Dante stopped breathing for half a second.
Before either could say more, an explosion shook the estate.
Glass shattered.
Security alarms screamed.
Dante grabbed Cara and pulled her down.
Fire erupted near the western gate.
Marcus ran inside.
“Diversion!”
“For what?”
Then Noah screamed upstairs.
Dante ran.
His bedroom door stood open.
The window was shattered.
Noah was gone.
On his bed lay a black envelope.
Inside was a photograph of Dante’s father.
May you like
Across it someone had written:
A SON FOR A SON.
