Chapter 10 - THE SIN OF THE FATHERS
Rain hammered the chapel roof.
Emma stood completely still.
Her mother's words seemed to hang in the cold air.
Your father.
Dante didn't move.
Lucian stood behind Isabella, his expression unreadable.
Emma looked from one face to another.
“Say it again.”
Isabella's eyes filled with tears.
“Dante's father ordered your father's death.”
Dante's jaw tightened.
“You said you didn't know who killed him.”
“I said I didn't know if Lucian killed him.”
“You knew.”
“I suspected.”
“You lied to me.”
Isabella looked at him.
“I lied because I was afraid.”
Emma stepped forward.
“Afraid of whom?”
Isabella looked at Lucian.
Then at Dante.
“Everyone.”
Lucian gave a quiet laugh.
“Finally.”
Dante turned toward him.
“You knew.”
“I knew enough.”
“You've been manipulating this for twenty-nine years.”
Lucian's smile disappeared.
“I've been cleaning up your father's mistakes.”
Dante took one step toward him.
“You murdered people.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed families.”
“Yes.”
“You threatened my mother.”
“Yes.”
“And you call that cleaning up?”
Lucian's eyes hardened.
“Your father built an empire on blood.”
“So did you.”
“No.”
Lucian looked at Emma.
“I built mine trying to survive his.”
Emma couldn't take it anymore.
“Stop talking about yourselves.”
Both men looked at her.
“My father is dead.”
Her voice shook.
“My mother disappeared.”
She pointed at Dante.
“You knew parts of this.”
Then at Lucian.
“You knew more.”
“And somehow I'm the last person anyone thought deserved the truth.”
Silence.
Emma's eyes burned.
“I want everything.”
Dante stepped toward her.
“Emma—”
“No.”
She raised a hand.
“Not another secret.”
Dante stopped.
“I want the whole story.”
Isabella nodded.
“Then you deserve to hear it from me.”
Twenty-nine years earlier.
Thomas Morrison had discovered the Rossi ledger.
But the ledger wasn't merely a record of money.
It contained names.
Politicians.
Judges.
Police officials.
Businessmen.
People who had secretly financed the Moretti and Rossi organizations.
People who had been paid to look away.
Thomas had wanted to expose them.
Isabella had begged him not to.
“You don't understand,” she had told him.
“If you release that ledger, they won't just kill you.”
“They'll kill Emma.”
Thomas refused.
So Isabella made a deal.
She would disappear.
Emma would be raised under the Morrison name.
Thomas would keep the ledger hidden.
And when Emma turned twenty-nine, the Rossi trust would transfer to her.
“She was supposed to inherit everything,” Isabella said.
Emma frowned.
“Why twenty-nine?”
“Because your grandfather believed you would be old enough to understand what power costs.”
Emma looked at Dante.
“And your father?”
Isabella's expression changed.
“Antonio knew about the ledger.”
Dante's face hardened.
“Did he want it?”
“He wanted it destroyed.”
“Why?”
“Because he was afraid of what would happen if it became public.”
Emma whispered:
“So he protected the people in it.”
“Yes.”
“And my father tried to expose them.”
“Yes.”
“What did Antonio do?”
“He ordered Thomas taken into custody.”
Dante closed his eyes.
“Protective custody.”
Isabella nodded.
“That's what they called it.”
“But he disappeared.”
“Yes.”
“Who took him?”
Isabella looked at Lucian.
“His men.”
Dante looked at Lucian.
“You?”
Lucian didn't answer.
“Did you take Thomas?”
“Yes.”
Emma's breath caught.
“Why?”
Lucian looked at her.
“Because Antonio wanted him silenced.”
“You killed him.”
“No.”
“Then what happened?”
Lucian's expression darkened.
“I took Thomas to an old property in Connecticut.”
“What happened there?”
“He escaped.”
Emma stared.
“He escaped?”
“Yes.”
“Then how did he die?”
Lucian looked at Isabella.
“She knows.”
All eyes turned toward her.
Isabella's face collapsed.
“I found him.”
Emma whispered:
“When?”
“Three days later.”
“Where?”
“In a motel.”
“Was he alive?”
“Yes.”
Emma's heart pounded.
“Then who killed him?”
Isabella closed her eyes.
“Thomas had already been shot.”
Emma covered her mouth.
“By whom?”
Isabella looked at Dante.
“Antonio's security chief.”
Dante's face went pale.
“Who?”
“Victor Hale.”
The name meant nothing to Emma.
But Dante reacted immediately.
“My father's head of security.”
“He died twelve years ago,” Isabella said.
Emma looked at Dante.
“You knew him?”
“Yes.”
“Did you know he was involved?”
“No.”
Isabella shook her head.
“He wasn't acting alone.”
Dante stared.
“Who ordered him?”
“Antonio.”
Silence.
Emma looked at Dante.
“I am sorry.”
He didn't answer.
He seemed unable to.
Lucian finally spoke.
“Now you understand.”
Dante looked at him.
“Understand what?”
“Why your father wanted the ledger destroyed.”
Lucian pointed at Emma.
“Because Thomas had proof.”
“Proof of what?”
“That Antonio wasn't the respectable businessman everyone believed he was.”
Dante's eyes hardened.
“My father died believing he had protected this family.”
Lucian laughed bitterly.
“He protected the empire.”
“And you?”
“I wanted revenge.”
“You almost destroyed everyone.”
“I almost did.”
Emma looked at him.
“Why did you bring my mother here?”
Lucian's expression changed.
“Because someone else is coming.”
Dante immediately turned toward the chapel entrance.
“Who?”
Lucian didn't answer.
A black SUV appeared beyond the cemetery gates.
Then another.
Marcus drew his weapon.
“Dante.”
Dante stepped in front of Emma.
“Get her out.”
Emma grabbed his arm.
“No.”
“Emma.”
“You promised.”
He looked at her.
“No more secrets.”
Dante hesitated.
Then nodded.
The SUV doors opened.
Men stepped out.
Not Lucian's.
Not Dante's.
Marcus's face changed.
“That's Hale Security.”
Dante stared.
“Victor Hale is dead.”
Marcus shook his head.
“The company isn't.”
A man walked toward them.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
Cold eyes.
He stopped several yards away.
“Mr. Moretti.”
Dante stared.
“Who are you?”
The man smiled.
“Daniel Hale.”
He looked at Emma.
“Victor Hale was my father.”
Emma felt a chill.
Daniel raised a folder.
May you like
“And I believe you have something that belongs to my family.”
The ledger.
