Chapter 8 - THE DEAD WOMAN WHO WASN'T DEAD
Dante had spent thirty-two years believing his mother was buried in Queens.
There was even a grave.
Flowers every year.
Mass every anniversary.
A lie carved into marble.
His mother, Sofia Moretti, had supposedly died from complications after pneumonia when Dante was six.
Salvatore now claimed she was alive.
Marco wanted to ignore him.
“It could be bait.”
“It is bait,” Dante said.
A field medic stitched his shoulder while he sat inside the church office.
“But she's still my mother.”
I understood that better than anyone.
The possibility of getting one parent back could make you walk willingly into hell.
Salvatore escaped during the firefight.
Eight of his men were arrested by Moretti soldiers.
Three were dead.
The ledger remained safe.
Carlo examined it.
“There's a property listed repeatedly.”
Dante looked over.
“Where?”
“Westchester County.”
A private medical facility.
St. Helena Recovery Center.
Payments had been made every month for thirty-two years through shell companies belonging to Salvatore.
Marco stared.
“That's less than an hour away.”
Dante stood.
The medic protested.
“You need a hospital.”
“No.”
Of course.
I looked at him.
“If you pass out, I'm leaving you on the floor this time.”
He gave me a tired look.
“You didn't last time.”
“I'm learning.”
Vanessa entered.
Her lip was split.
“I'm coming.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
She laughed.
“You've said that three times tonight.”
“And you've ignored me three times.”
“Marriage.”
“Divorce.”
For one second, they almost resembled a normal couple.
Then Vanessa looked at me.
“Stay near him.”
Dante frowned.
“I'm standing right here.”
“I know.”
Vanessa's eyes softened.
“That's why I'm saying it now.”
Something unspoken passed between them.
Goodbye, maybe.
The convoy reached St. Helena just before noon.
The place looked peaceful.
White buildings.
Flower gardens.
Expensive privacy.
A director met us at the door.
Dr. Nathan Bell.
He smiled until Dante said his mother's name.
Then the color disappeared from his face.
“There is no Sofia Moretti here.”
Dante placed the ledger on the desk.
“There has been one hundred eighty thousand dollars transferred to this facility every year since 1994.”
Bell swallowed.
“I manage hundreds of patients.”
Marco closed the office door.
“Try again.”
Ten minutes later, we were walking through a secure basement wing.
Room 17.
Bell stopped.
“The patient inside is registered as Anna Bellini.”
Dante's hands trembled.
He hid them.
I noticed.
He looked at me once.
Then opened the door.
An elderly woman sat beside a window.
Silver hair.
Thin shoulders.
A book in her lap.
She looked up.
Dante stopped breathing.
The woman stared at him.
Then at the scar near his eyebrow.
Her book fell.
“Dantino?”
Dante collapsed to his knees.
No one spoke.
The most feared man on the East Coast became six years old in one second.
His mother touched his face.
“My baby.”
Dante closed his eyes.
She pulled him against her.
I turned away because some moments don't belong to witnesses.
Vanessa cried silently.
Marco looked at the floor.
Carlo removed his glasses.
Sofia had been held under psychiatric commitment papers for thirty-two years.
Forged diagnoses.
Forged court orders.
Medication.
Isolation.
Salvatore had convinced everyone she was dead.
“Why?” Dante asked later.
Sofia held his hand.
“Because I saw him kill a man.”
“Who?”
“Michael Rinaldi.”
My father.
I stepped forward.
Sofia looked at me.
Her eyes widened.
“Elizabeth?”
“No.”
My throat tightened.
“I'm Cara.”
She covered her mouth.
“Michael's baby.”
Apparently everyone had known me except me.
She began crying.
“Oh, sweetheart.”
I sat beside her.
“Tell us.”
Sofia described the night my father died.
Michael had met Salvatore inside a warehouse.
He planned to turn evidence over to federal investigators.
Sofia followed because she suspected her brother-in-law was stealing from the family.
She watched Salvatore shoot Michael.
Then he discovered her.
“He couldn't kill me,” she whispered. “Antonio would have destroyed him.”
“So he imprisoned you.”
“Yes.”
“Why didn't Antonio find you?” Dante asked.
“Salvatore told him I died.”
Dante's face twisted.
“He showed us a body.”
“A woman from the morgue.”
Sofia squeezed his hand.
“Your father was grieving. He believed what he wanted to believe.”
“And then Salvatore killed him too.”
Sofia closed her eyes.
“I always knew he would.”
Dante stood.
“I'm going to find him.”
Sofia grabbed his hand.
“No.”
He froze.
“I lost thirty-two years because men in this family always believed killing someone solved everything.”
Her voice strengthened.
“Don't become them.”
Dante looked at me.
Maybe he remembered my father's words.
Blood is an accident.
Character is a choice.
Before he could respond, alarms sounded.
Marco drew his gun.
“Down!”
Smoke filled the corridor.
A nurse screamed.
Doors began automatically locking.
Dr. Bell shouted, “Fire system!”
But there was no fire.
Someone had hacked the building.
Salvatore.
A voice came through the speakers.
“Dante.”
Sofia went pale.
She recognized him.
“You found your mother.”
Dante stared toward the speaker.
“Come inside and face me.”
Salvatore laughed.
“I already spent thirty-two years dealing with emotional women.”
Sofia flinched.
Dante's face became murderous.
The speaker continued.
“Cara has something I need.”
Everyone turned toward me.
“I don't have the ledger.”
“No.”
Salvatore sounded amused.
“You have the encryption phrase.”
“What?”
“Michael didn't leave everything in paper.”
Carlo looked at me.
Salvatore continued.
“There is a digital archive. The ledger contains the location. Cara's key contains the password.”
I pulled out the brass key.
Marco examined it.
Tiny engravings ran along the side.
Numbers.
Letters.
I had never noticed.
Salvatore said,
“Bring it to the roof.”
Dante shook his head.
“No.”
“Or this facility loses oxygen support in seven minutes.”
Dr. Bell went pale.
“There are sixteen patients on ventilators.”
Dante swore.
I grabbed the key.
“I'm going.”
“No.”
“People will die.”
“That's what he expects.”
“He knows me.”
Dante grabbed my arm.
“I am not letting you walk onto a roof alone.”
“You're injured.”
“So?”
“So you're bleeding through your shirt.”
“Cara.”
I looked at him.
“People will die.”
His expression changed.
He knew I had already decided.
The roof doors opened six minutes later.
Salvatore stood beside a helicopter.
Two armed men.
Wind whipped my hair across my face.
Dante and Marco remained hidden below the stairwell.
That had been the deal.
Salvatore smiled.
“Michael really did curse me with an irritating family.”
“Turn the oxygen back on.”
“The key.”
I held it up.
“Oxygen first.”
He pressed a button.
Marco's radio whispered.
“Systems restored.”
I tossed the key across the roof.
Salvatore caught it.
Then smiled.
“Thank you.”
He turned toward the helicopter.
I shouted.
“You killed my parents for that.”
He stopped.
“Yes.”
“And ruined Dante's life.”
“Yes.”
“Was it worth it?”
Salvatore looked back.
“You poor girl.”
His smile was almost pitying.
“Power is always worth the cost when someone else is paying.”
A shot cracked.
One of Salvatore's men fell.
Dante emerged.
The second man fired.
Marco shot him.
Salvatore ran toward the helicopter.
I chased him.
He climbed aboard.
The rotors accelerated.
Dante shouted my name.
Salvatore leaned out.
“You want answers?”
He grabbed me.
Suddenly I was pulled inside.
The helicopter lifted.
“Cara!”
Dante ran toward us.
Too late.
The roof dropped beneath me.
I fought Salvatore.
He struck me across the face.
“Sit down.”
I looked through the open door.
Dante became smaller below us.
Salvatore smiled.
“You saved a Moretti from falling off a mountain.”
May you like
He shoved a gun against my ribs.
“Let's see whether he can return the favor.”
