PART 3
PART 3
The drive to Dante's estate took nearly an hour.
Neither of us spoke.
My entire life had become a puzzle with half the pieces missing.
Inside his private library, Dante unlocked a steel safe hidden behind rows of books.
From it, he removed a faded leather journal.
"I've been waiting a long time to give you this."
My hands shook as I opened it.
The first page contained only seven words.
For Ellie. Read this only if I fail.
Tears blurred my vision.
The handwriting was unmistakably my father's.
He wrote about the night everything changed.
He had worked as an accountant for one of the largest investment groups in the country.
While reviewing confidential records, he uncovered a network of executives laundering billions through shell companies.
Among the names listed...
Daniel's father.
Vanessa's uncle.
Several politicians.
Even men whose faces appeared on television every week.
When he reported the evidence, someone tried to kill him.
Instead of going to the police, he disappeared.
Not to protect himself.
To protect me.
Every year, he secretly checked that I was safe.
Every birthday.
Every graduation.
Every apartment I rented.
He had watched from a distance because anyone connected to him became a target.
My tears fell onto the page.
"He was alive..."
"He never stopped loving you," Dante said softly.
"So why didn't he come home?"
"Because the people hunting him never stopped."
Another page contained a recent photograph.
Only six months old.
My father looked tired.
Older.
But alive.
He stood beside someone whose face had been deliberately cut from the picture.
Dante's expression darkened.
"We believe whoever removed that person is the reason your father disappeared again."
"You mean..."
"We lost contact with him three weeks ago."
The room spun.
"So he's missing."
Dante nodded once.
"I was supposed to bring him home."
Instead, I had arrived too late.
Or so I thought.
At that exact moment, Dante's phone rang.
His assistant spoke only three words.
"We found him."
Before relief could reach me, the assistant added,
"But someone else got there first."
Dante grabbed his keys.
"We leave now."
Hours later, we reached an abandoned vineyard outside the city.
The warehouse doors stood open.
Inside...
There was blood.
Broken furniture.
Bullet holes.
But no bodies.
Only a single silver watch lying on the floor.
I recognized it instantly.
I had given it to my father on Father's Day.
The last Father's Day before he vanished.
Dante picked it up slowly.
Then he looked toward the darkness beyond the vineyard.
"They're sending us a message."
"What message?"
His answer chilled me.
May you like
"They know you're involved now."
"And they want you next."
